24 Hours of Old Pueblo 4 man-2nd Place

Last Wednesday morning I departed for Tucson to participate in 24 Hours of Old Pueblo mountain bike race. The last time I raced in a 24 hour race was 2006.  Ever since then, I've wanted to compete in more of these events.  4 person seems to be a lot of fun as you get to race hard, recover, and go again.  Jeremy Young, Ben Jones, Adam Haid, and I made up team Trek RMR Velon Hangar. 

Our group met up early Wednesday to caravan down.  Jonathan Davis (solo race winner!) was driving down his RV, which was great to have so we could ride down in style, cook warm meals, and have a solid roof over our heads while at the race.  Jonathan's family, Jeremy, Adam, and I were in the RV on the way down.  Curt Wilhelm, Brian Sells (also solo racers) and their support rolled down in Brian's Sprinter van. 

Inside the RV on the way down

Thursday morning we set up camp, which was right on the course-both sides of the trail to be exact.  This is really helpful for solo racers so that they don't have to go off course to resupply as they lap through.  For the rest of us, it gave us a great location to see the race unfold.  Thursday afternoon the group went out for a quick lap.  It was fun to ride with the group to see their lines and get a feel for the course.  I felt pretty good throughout the ride, which included a few solid efforts.  The course is very fast and flowy.  From someone from Colorado's perspective, there aren't any sustained climbs.  The most challenging aspect of the course is carving in and out of the various cacti, which are relentless in sourthern Arizona, and the constant pedaling (no rest on long dowhills).  Course data here.

 24hr camp, Brian's Sprinter left, Jonathan's RV right

Friday it was much of the same.  Wake up, hang out, get some good breakfast in, and slowly get ready to do another lap.  The group took off fairly fast.  I had in mind what kind of effort I wanted to put in the day before the race, and quickly was dropped.  This allowed me to see the course on my own and get a better feel for it though.  I got to choose my line as opposed to following someone's wheel.  By the end of the lap, i was glad I had the opportunity to follow the group and ride by myself in consecutive days.

Gameday came and the weather was nice, sunny and 60s, but there was a bit of wind.  Jeremy volunteered to take the first lap, which included a La Mans style start (hundreds of cyclists running in cycling shoes-not fun).  I handed him his bike as he approached to save him some time.  He was  probably in the top 20 overall.  On the first lap Jeremy had a great time of 1:00:21.  Ben was up next, and followed suit with a 1:00:25.  Adam was out on the course (turned a 1:05 on his first lap), so I started to warm up.  I was a bit nervous and hoped I could turn out a solid lap.  Most of all, I wanted to be consistent from start to finish.  I went out hard, but held back a little bit on the first lap to keep from blowing up.  I rode smooth and put in a lap time of 1:06 per my GPS (1:07 with the time it took to get to my bike).  I was very excited about this, especially since I knew I had a lot left in the tank.



Jeremy

Ben

Adam

Laps two, three, and four were all night laps.  Over the last few years, I've done a ton of night riding in the front range.  I've always felt that darkness is not a reason to stop riding my bike.  I actually feel it brings a new sense of excitement and fun to the trails I ride all the time.  I pulled off all three night laps and was only a couple minutes slower than my day lap. 

As the race was unfolding, we were aware of our placing, which was pretty much 2nd in the 4 person mens open the whole day.  Sho-Air/Cannondale had us by 10-15 minutes, and third place was 20 or so minutes behind us.  We had to keep racing hard to maintain our place.  One mistake by the leaders and we could have been first or we could have fallen out of contention if we made a mistake. 

Lap 5 was at about 9AM.  It felt great to make it through the night without any hiccups and to still feel strong and get one final lap in the sun.  I knew this would be my last, so I wanted to leave it all on the course.  I cooked one turn a bit to much and went off course about 9 or so miles in.  Miles 12-14 seemed to hurt the most everytime through.  This time, I looked down, and even though I was working as hard as I could, I struggled to get my heart rate into the 150s.  I rolled through to the transition tent and the result was a 1:09! 

I was so excited upon getting back to the transition area.  I put down 5 laps with my fastest time being 1:07 and my slowest lap 1:11.  Consistent.  I knew that would be the case, but to have so little variance in time was amazing.  I also knew I had done my part, and with only two more laps for the team, things were looking good.  Jeremy and Ben cranked out a lap each, and we secured 2nd place.  Lap times here.  Category results here. 

It was amazing how the team came together.  We didn't really talk much stategy, but it all played out well.  Everyone did what they needed to do.  We didn't have any missed transitions, burnt out lights, or mechanicals.  We had great support and an unreal camp/setup. 

The rest of our group had great results as well.  Jonathan Davis battled the field and finished 1st solo male!  Curt rode to 2nd, and Brian Sells finished 4th in his first ever 24 solo.  Tanner, Jonathan's son, cranked out 8 laps in his solo effort for a new distance record.

Podium shot, Adam Haid, Ben Jones, me, Jeremy Young

Video produced by Adam Haid here.

Rays Mountain bike park

Video courtesy of Jim Parman

Feets of strength

It was good to get in a week of riding with great weather and a short week of work during Thanksgiving.  21,000 plus feet of elevation gained with most of it on dirt in late November is quite a surprise.

Sunday I rode Nice Kitty, which is a newer trail at Buffalo Creek, with Mike.  Thanks to all of those who helped make the trail.  It is well designed.  It is mile .5 to about mile 4.6 in the link below.

Buffalo Creek ride with Nice Kitty

Into the darkness

The last bit of light on Sunday nights ride before a 2,000+ foot descent with Ben, Tim, and Brandon.

Kenosha Pass to Breckenridge and back

Park City Point 2 Point wrapped up a long, mentally and physically challenging two months.  A few to many big events and lots of traveling (5,000 miles in two months) left me drained.  I was looking forward to relaxing after the race, but was invited to ride with a group of friends from Kenosha Pass to Breckenridge, spend the night in a rented house, and ride back the next day.  It was going to be a pretty tame ride on some really fun trails at about the time the leaves begin changing colors in the high country. 

Saturday morning the eight of us departed Denver to park at Kenosha Pass to begin the journey.  It was a little cold at 10,000 feet early in the morning, but the first half of our day consisted of a lot of climbing up to  Georgia pass.  Few riders were out as we started.  It was nice and peaceful having the trails primarily to ourselves.  I felt a little tired, but set the pace and was riding pretty well, which enabled me to stay at the front and get a few pictures.  There was a chance of rain in the forecast for the weekend, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky during our ride.  The last few miles of the descent down Georgia pass was quite rocky and technical.  Once we made it to Breckenridge, I had to make a quick stop at a local bike shop and then met the group at Breckenridge Brewery for lunch.

Part way up to Georgia Pass on Saturday

Sunday morning's start was quite a bit colder.  As we departed our house, the temperatures were in the upper 30s.  The ride to Tiger road was quick.  Not long after we reached the pavement though, Nick's chain broke.  Thankfully I learned my lesson from Pierre's Hole 100 and had a couple SRAM quick links that I used to fix his chain.  The technical section after Tiger road proved to be a bit of hike a bike, but once we got past that, the climbing was consistent.  Again, once we got above treeline the sun and temperature was perfect.  

 Brisk but sunny start to the day

 Back on the CT to Kenosha pass

 Brad leading the way up to Georgia pass

 Justin just out of treeline

Nick riding through the Aspens

The weekend was just what I needed.  About four hours of riding a day, no pressure to ride fast, a good group, and lots of good trails. 

Park City Point to Point

July

July 4 Fireworks in Breckenridge started at 9:32.  AM.  The Firecracker 50 Expert 30-39 field was the second wave of racers to begin the July 4th parade and two lap 50 mile race.  The road lead out and 6 mile climb up Boreas Pass separated the field early.  I rode conservatively consistent on the climb and worked in with a few riders as we gradually picked off riders that could not keep pace.  I rode well and let it go on the downhills as much as I could handle on the hardtail with sort of numb hands from a couple big early season rides.  I had a small crash, but besides that, the first lap went well and I lapped through earlier then I expected. 

A very quick pit thanks in part to Eric, who handed me two new bottles, and I was off.  The second lap was a little slower as I felt a bit tired.  A friend offering encouragement on Little French Gulch kept me moving up the rocky, steep, loose climb.  One of my water bottle cages broke, so I had to stop and "fix" it.  A case of chain suck due to the dry course slowed me for a few moments also.  I actually thought I was not going to be able to get my chain free after a few moments.  I was pretty worked the last 1/2 of the second lap, but still managed a solid time.  I was a bit faster then I thought, but it was hard to compare times from this year to last year as the course was a little bit different and probably faster.  I was 50 minutes faster though, and am happy with the result. 

The Breck100 a week and a half later was a far different story.  I didn't ride much between the two races since they are both fair efforts and I wanted to be fresh for the Breck100 which climbs over 13,000 ft.  I took the start line Sunday morning at 6AM with questions on how recovered I was and if I was ready to rock.  30 minutes into the climb I knew it was not my day.  The two previous years I had to hold back the effort on the climb up to Wheeler Pass.  This year I could barely turn the pedals over.  My heart rate was really low and I could not get it to the zone I normally climb in.  I couldn't even get it to my normal endurance effort.  I continued on with the hope my body would come around.  Who knows.  Sometimes it takes a few hours.  My lap one time was slow.  I didn't feel right.  And I didn't feel another 70 miles.  I pulled the plug, which was difficult to do.  It had been 4 years since I DNF'd at a race, the last being a triple flat day.  I was pretty disappointed I was not ready, but I think DNF'ing was the best idea as I did not want to dig a deeper hole and not be able to get out of it for a while.  Some days you have it, some days you don't. 

I took five days off the bike after the race, which was mentally challenging.  This past weekend was the Courage Classic Children's Hospital fundraiser, and I wanted to make sure I was ready for a good weekend of riding in Summit county.  Most of team GTRI stayed at a condo that we rented in Frisco.  The goal was to ride from the condo each day.  The start line for the day one route was in Leadville, 31 miles from the condo and over Freemont pass, which was almost 2,000ft higher than our start.  Tim and I rode to the start and got going a little later then we planned.  Most people probably started IN Leadville before we started in Frisco.  Our pace was a little different, so we each rode on our own.  Turquoise lake is surrounded by 12,000ft peaks and a thick pine forest.  The ride around the lake consists of steep climbs and descents.   Flat sections don't really exist here.  I was tired and uncertain how I would react to big rides less than a week after having nothing, so I took it easy on the way back to Frisco.  Ride data here.

Sunday's ride was 100 miles.  It was a lot of riding on Summit counties elaborate bike paths and then out to Ute Pass, which was a new climb for me.  I felt pretty decent for the first couple hours.  I worked in with a pace line before the Ute pass turn off to save energy and keep moving.  I worked to the front a few times, even jumping ahead when it seemed to slow down.  When I was at the front I was keeping speeds between 25 and 35mph, which surprised me quite a bit.  The route had us going up and over Ute pass and turning around when the rough pavement turned to gravel.  Its a nice climb from both sides.  I don't think it ever got over 8% on either side.  A little rain for a while was the only notable thing for the rest of the ride.  Ride data here.

Mondays ride started off quite painful.  Turning the pedals after 180 miles the previous two days was brutal.  It took about 30 to 40 minutes for the legs to come around a bit.  The steeper pitches up Freemont Pass forced a greater tempo.  My "pacing" for the long ride turned to an all out effort to the top 15 miles into an 80 mile ride.  I used the frustration from DNF'ing the week before to keep the pace up.  The ride was very similar to Mondays ride, but this time it was supposed to end in Leadville.  That was our lunch break before the final 31 miles back to the E.  A quick coffee stop for some extra fuel and we were on to beat the rain and lightning.  My legs felt great climbing up to Freemont.  I reached a new top speed on the bike on the ride down, 58.1mph.  Monday's ride here.

The Courage Classic was a great weekend for a great cause.  My legs felt good for most of the weekend, and I really needed a good weekend of training.