Saturday 7 September 2013

24hrs of Flathead



 

 

 
 



So......
After some deliberating (post 24 hours of adrenaline, drunkenness ) I figured what a great way to end the summer by doing another 24...

Fast forward to our 2 week vacation in Idaho, a fantastic holiday with the family, and some really great training rides and experiences. I think I'm ready for Montana.

A 5 hour drive got us into Kalispell,  MT early Friday evening, the plan was to arrive early enough to be able to put a prelap in on the  course. (Herron park). Here we meet the race organiser, her family and some very nice volunteers. I knew after meeting this bunch of people I was going to have a great time, and after putting a lap in on the course I felt even better about the event. The course itself was 8miles , and 1400'of gain per lap. Using Canmore's Nordic centre as a bench mark of 1700'vert gain in 12miles, it showed that this no nonsense course was a bit steeper per hour.

I like the course plain and simple, really not much tech, 2 full climbs, and 3 downhill sections and a tiny bit of flat after the start finish line. The soil was hard packed from rain and then dried to a cake  from the sun.  28C for Saturday with a 32C finish on Sunday makes for a hot dry dusty race.

With the preride behind me, I was ready for some dinner (pasta) and a good sleep. We had dinner at Mckenzie River  Restaurant and it was perfect, then off to Rosauer's for water and snacks for Zachary, Zoey, and Coralee.

We finally got to bed around 10pm Friday evening at the Motel 6 in Kalispell.  I consider myself a pretty sound sleeper, so when I was awaken at 2am in the morning to someone trying to come into our room, I was ready for battle. After the gentleman identified himself as the night manager and that he had thought the room was empty I got it  that he had made a mistake.  It makes sense, mistakes happen, try knocking first.

An hour goes by and I am  able to get back to sleep. Up at 7am my wonderful wife got up a few minutes earlier and made me a great cup of Rossland Mountain roasting coffee, freshly hand ground that morning.

Breakfast down and off to the race course to get our tent and gear setup for the event. Cor as usual would run my pit, and Zach was there with Zoey for bottle handups. 

With the pit setup, All I had left to do was get into my AST/Pedalhead/Marda loop Vet clinic race kit on and try and get some relax time in before the race.
With around 10 mins to go to the start of the race I head on down to the Leman start area , and wait for the gun to go off.

12pm the gun goes off and we start our run to our bikes, the good thing for me is that it's only about a 100' lemans run to the bike, perfect for a guy like me. As I head out on the first lap with the other racer's I start to notice how hot it has become, I would surmise that it was hotter than the 28C forecast, or at least it felt that way. I had my Jersey zipper wide open within the first few minutes of the race.

As we ride into the single track I end up riding alongside with a couple of Cat1/pro riders, (Craig, Chance,) as well as Jessie Mong, (Carmichael TS)and John Cadman (Deadgoat racing), 2 other open solo riders like myself. It was cool chatting and catching the cool vibe of the race for the first lap. It was funny because all 4 of us rode into the start finish at the same time causing the USAC referee, to ask if we were on a group ride, So fun.

All of us started to head out for the 2nd lap and as expected the pro guys with Jessie leading pulled out ahead at a decent riding pace. John C and myself kind of hung out riding for the best part of this lap, and probably around the start of the 3rd lap we got separated, and then the race became a true solo event for me.

The heat, it was hot, ( hot for me anyways) well into the low 30's with a ton of exposure on the some of the longer climbs, and especially at the start finish area. I was glad that Coralee took the extra time and installed sides on our custom AST event tent otherwise they would have been in trouble.
I like racing in the heat, I have an innate ability to change my pace and effort to suit this I was able to tolerate this condition, even though I wasn't a fan of it.

Somewhere around the 5th lap I was able to catch up to Jessie, he was starting on the last climb before the last downhill of the course. We shared a couple of words, then I was able to get ahead of him going into a tight single track and maintain my lead to the end of the lap.

At 6-10laps I was riding my race and feeling very good, my bike was working well except for the normal dry chain ( thanks to the dust) that I would re lube every 6 laps for the balance of the event. otherwise I was really setting my pace.

The night lap, at 6:30pm I was told to get my lights on by the USAC official, which I happily did.
You see I was fortunate enough to meet Tommy from Nite rider lighting systems, and he was able to set me up with a sweet system. He installed the LUMINA 700 cordless on my helmet, and the PRO 1800 RACE on my bars. I can tell you. this I have never used a lighting system as nice or as bright  as this. The 2 lights integrated themselves so well, it was like having one single beam, until you came to a corner and then you would get the full advantage of the twin beams. I won't be able to go back to my Majicshine/light and motion combination now.

Back to the race, the night laps are normally my favourite and this event was no different for me, however around the 3 am mark I was noticing some discomfort in my stomach and experiencing some chills while I was riding. I came in on one of my laps and sat down for 15 mins hoping to clear my stomach and get rid of my chills. The next lap when I came in I actually stopped for 30 min or so and had to go to my truck to warm up. 

What  I was finding challenging was, the actual temp difference between the lower open section of the course were cold,  low single digit temps cold. ( through the start finish line and then around a kilometre into the course),  after that it  was into the woods and the climbs which were holding the heat from the day and siting around the low 20's ( in my estimation). I was consuming a good amount of fluids, and perspiring pretty good in the tree's but when I would pop out into the clearing I would catch a chill and the cold drinks I was drinking were playing havoc with my stomach.

I was able to figure this out while sitting in the truck with the engine running and my teeth chattering  I came up with the idea  of wearing my light wind vest, and consuming my drinks that I hadn't put in the cooler.

When I went back out after this break I was able to execute my plan, and I didn't have any physical issue's for the rest of the race. Coach Shaun  always told me that anything can happen in a 24hr race and usually does. I was fortunate enough to solve this before it became worse.

It was around this time I found out that I was leading my category, and challenging 1st place overall. At 7am I was sitting in first overall with a 2 lap buffer, on my closest competitor. The sun was just starting to come up and I was totally enjoying the money lap, it gave me chance to think about my good friends and family, and feeling pretty good about making it through the  night and my trials of the event so far. With 5hours left in the race I felt I had a pretty good chance at maintaining my lead.
It felt good to be here and I was feeling good overall, just ticking off the miles and enjoying the vibe and encouragement from the volunteers, and fellow racers.


 

At 10:30 am and with 21 laps securely in the bank I pulled the pin. It was starting to get  hot  and dry again.




Thankfully with the help from Jessie and Heather we were able to pack up fairly quickly. In fact just in time for some leisure time, free hot dogs and drinks prior to the award ceremony.



 
 
Some highlights from this experience:
 
  • Swimming with Zach post race.
  • sharing a beer with Cor on the tailgate of my truck at 2am Monday morning.
  • Meeting some great fun people.
  • Chatting with the fellow racers during the event.
 



PROPS:
My wife and son, I don't do this without them.
My Coach Shaun Taylor, we need to go riding soon, we need to clink some beer glasses soon.
Nite Rider Lights, for hooking me up, and letting me enjoy the goodness of your system, Thank you Tommy.
AST  I am grateful for your continued support. 2 years behind me. Thank you.
Pedalhead Bicycle works, you make my bike flawless, one less thing to worry about.
Heather Mong, for supporting Coralee with a winter jacket and hot coffee in that cold night.
Jessie Mong, for towing the line  a pure racer, much respect bro.

To all my friends and family checking in with Coralee via mobile electronic devices, it was awesome to hear about that afterwards.

To the organisers/volunteers of this great grassroots event, supporting  the cause for people with life altering disabilities I was glad to be a part of this.


See you next year
 








Tuesday 3 September 2013

Summer vacation!




Cor and I decided it was time to try a different place for our summer vacation this year. In previous summers we have opted for the B.C. holiday, packing up the family and heading west was the norm for us.
This summer we decided to take a trip out to Farragut  park in Idaho state. It was a different venue which is what we were all craving.

We drove out to  Cranbrook Saturday morning andhad planned to stay the balance of the weekend as, we weren't booked into Farragut until Monday morning. It was a nice stopover that had us going swimming at the local pool and afterwards myself getting some great riding in at the Community forest area. or better known as the trail system that sports the "six in the stix" race course.
It's a great trail system and very well groomed, the temps were in the high 20's and low 30's and I was enjoying myself.






Monday trailer hooked up and on the road to Farragut, which is surprisingly closer than you think. A 4hr drive from Crannie, (not counting the border delay) and we rolled into the park ready to have some summer fun.

Lot's of swimming and and a couple of trips to Silverwood park, I had the great fortune to find a bike shop in Hayden just outside Coer d alene, that was able to service me with some new cables,housing and a few water bottles. Even more importantly they were able to describe in great detail (which turned out to be my favorite training course) Bernard's peak.  Bernard's peak trail is a 8mile hill climb course that gives you somewhere in the neighborhood of 2500'vert gain by the time you reach the top/finish of the trail. Then it's back down the same trail to the bottom with some sweet flowy fast riding. A typical out and back lap (according to the local guide) was just under 3hours.


I was throwing down some multi lap day's with some other trails in the area for some fun.


  I figure I was getting close to being ready for my next event in Montana, 2weeks away from then.

I can't say enough about Farragut, lots of kids to for Zach to play with lot's of bike riding for him, including some night rides with my light kit. He was a pretty popular dude with the other kids when he would set the light on "strobe"and they would all ride laps at the campground.












Some highlights of this vaca, included :
great family time, great food, some great IPA's,  and met some really nice people.

Some lowlights from this vaca, included:
wasp's were nuts and aggressive, me sitting on a wasp, me riding in excess of 6okm/h and having a bee fly inside my open jersey and sting me just to the left of my right nipple, Even better having the  bee deciding to hide in the front of my jersey for later fun.
Me meeting one  not so nice person.
Otherwise all good, coming back next year.

Sunday 28 July 2013

3rd times a charm, 2013 24HOA

2011 24HOA, was about completing the race, and trying to bring awareness to Helen, and her fight against Cancer. check*

2012 24HOA, was about preparing for the 24WSC, and pushing for a podium. check*

This year 24HOA, was just about being the best I could be, to really try for the top of the podium......

Read on,

This season really had  it's ups and downs, A DNF at OP, a win at Salty Dog, a 4hr race finishing out of the top ten at Giver8r with a trashed bike. To the Organ grinder with a 7th place finish and another beat up bike. The weather and the flooding in Calgary, really took its toll on my training, a lot of the trails were destroyed at Fish creek, Bragg creek, and at Canmore. I got stuck riding the road more than I like this time of year. However, with a month to go for this event I started to really get some invaluable training in Canmore as soon as the road reopened.
























As for my fitness, it was hard to find anybody willing to ride with me as the trails and conditions sucked so badly. I would summize my fitness never really seemed "great" to me based on the above conditions, and the mindset that goes along with it, throw in a new position with a new company, and training turns into late nights and "whenever I can training blocks with," family time" suffering because of it. I am very blessed to have a supportive family as both Cor and Zach understood how close this event was and how important it was to get these blocks in. It was at these times I was able to lean on my coach Shaun, and my closest friends for the mental aspect of preparation.


Off to the race, Friday after work I drive out Canmore ahead of Coralee and Zach, this way I could get checked in and get my pit setup. The check- in was seamless, however I was unhappy with my original pit as it had us backing on to the small creek/water runoff. I normally would be ok with this but having a small kid and sick dog staying over the whole night with us during the event It was added pressure, sand  concerns,  that as parents was a bit more than we anticipated. It was great as I was pondering my pit location, 2 volunteers with 24HOA were riding by and seeing the look on my face they asked if I was happy with my location.  5 mins later we were all moving my tent and gear to another drier location. All I can say is well done, 24HOA for being flexible, as I seen others soloists being moved as well.

Afterwards Cor, Zach, and Zoey show up, they hung around while I do a half lap for a prelap, then off to check in to our hotel and hopefully a pasta dinner and an early night.

We booked at the same hotel that we have stayed at  for the previous 2 years, while checking in we found that this hotel does not allow bikes or dogs on site, Last year they did, and nothing on their website (this year) said to the contrary. So being asked to leave, and ultimately forfeiting our  hotel room and  payment, were off to find a hotel for the night.....  I was fortunate enough to put some workers up at the Ramada Inn, recently  and I knew they took dogs so we drove over and sure enough they had a room for us, quite a nice one too.

Now off for a big pasta dinner... Check! sphagetti and meat balls. Back to the room and off to bed.

Morning:
My b-inlaw Mitch arrives at the hotel has a coffee with us and we all head to the Nordic centre to get ready to do some racing. Rewind 2 years ago and Mitch was there to give support to me during my first attempt at this race, With Zoey not well and Zach, staying overnight it was great that he could help us with this.

We arrive at the Nordic centre and it's really getting busy with activity, it's an exciting time of the event , as they are a lot of things going on, even for the spectators, of course it always gets my head and gut into the race with the pre race competition.

11:40am I head over to the start/finish line and end up meeting and chatting with a Dead goat racer (Graham) he is on a 5 person team. I decide to wait under the tent as it is starting to get warm outside and I wasn't a big fan of standing in the sun anymore than I had to....  11:55am and I trot over to the other racer's I find a spot approx. mid pack and off to the side.  12pm and its go time, I get passed by all the runners (some pretty fast ones too), I run the best I can with my bear spray in my hand as I have already seen some bear spray littered on the running course as it has fallen out of some unlucky racer's packs or jersey's, I take extra special care running as to not roll an ankle or trip on the loose gravel. I never like this part of the race, something really silly can mess your race up.

Approx  5mins later I'm on my bike, and I start riding a pretty good clip, passing anybody I can knowing that this is my strong suit and a lot riders have burnt a few matches in the Lemans start.

It doesn't really matter as I/we have to stop in the middle of the course thanks to some bottlenecking on course. This is normal and expected.  On this lap for the first time I eye up a pretty strong soloists, ahead of me and he was climbing very well. I knew this would be somebody to watch as the race progresses. #12 rode away from me and I did not see him again until later that night..

First few laps down, I feel good, I 'm not happy about the course change (2 days prior) but whatever, 1 km longer and some extra vert gain isn't a deal breaker.

Around my 5th lap out on course I noticed that my bike isn't shifting into my higher gears, forcing me to ride more SS, than ever. I start tightening the barrel adjuster, pretty much adjusted all the way out with a tiny bit of improvement, I am surprised that my cable has stretched that far, I grab the raw cable at the down tube and manually shift into that gear followed by indexing the shifter wherever was tight enough to hold it. I do this for the balance of the lap and limp back into the pits. This is where I see Steve and Danielle, Mitch's daughter and fiancée. I throw my bike on the stand and start trying to figure out why I am having these issue's and sure enough out of the corner of my eye I see that the cable guide under the bottom bracket, and the screw securing it has fallen out. Good to find out not good to have happen during a race.... where to find a weirdo screw like this??.

Fix and Grind to the rescue. I ask Steve to run down and ask them if they can help and he is back in less than 2 mins saying yes and that they need the bike. Awesome! I took advantage of this and got my lights on my helmet  just when my  bike is back with a new screw, a bit of barrel adjusting on

course later and my bike is as good as new.
This issue never came back for the rest of the race. Now, I have a spare bike, but if I had the choice to use my TI hardtail or my Al hardtail to finish the race...  Thank you Fix and grind!


Back to the race, with bike confidence in hand I really start to tick over the lap's. I'm still feeling good, no discomfort and my nutrition is in hand and by 10 pm I was sitting 2nd place overall.

Cor and Mitch updated me that I was 2nd to #12, and being followed by #38 in third position. I was in my zone and riding my race. It was at this time halfway up the first climbs I passed the #12, I kept an eye out for him as I had mentioned earlier I felt that he is a very strong rider. Sure enough, at about the halfway mark into the lap. I know he is right behind me, as we sort of just ride through some crowds together and he hangs onto my wheel for a good portion of this. as we round the corner heading into the biathalon court finishing off our lap we are side by side and chat for a little bit. as we turn the corner and pass pitlane we are still side by side, he ducks into his pit and I keep riding through.

I was able to hold this position for the balance of the night, I love the nights and truly enjoy this type of riding. Somewhere around the 5:am mark I lose my lights. Like all the planets were in alignment both my battery's went dead. This isn't a big deal as I normally change my batteries on the trail when I do these event's. The difference is  I usually only have one light go down at a time that way I can see with the other light to change the battery. Yeah, I would wait for a rider to come by and for that brief few seconds in the light of his headlight I would set about changing the battery. Of course it took a bunch of  riders passing  to do this and, I was  always thinking I was losing a position in the race as this went on. As luck would have it I was back on course fully powered, I'm not sure if I would practice this method in the future :)

The money lap:
This is the last lap of darkness and the first lap of daylight, it is all on the same lap. My buddy John in Austin calls it this( after we raced together in Austin 2011) and it has stuck me with me ever since.

This is the time when I start either planning how many laps it is going to take for me to get where I want to be, this is usually the time where I write a cheque that I can't cash, it all depends....
I never really knew how many laps I have/had in at this time I usually spend my time working from 1pm back and mathematically figuring how much time I have left to compete and lap in.

I figured my last lap will have to be when I come in at 11am or around about. This was because there was 2 position changes in the night, #12 fell to 3rd due to a mechanical, and #38 went to 2nd because of it. However, since then #12 has made a comeback and put himself back in 2nd with around a 30min spread into #38 who is now in third.  I told you he is a very strong rider.

I roll in at 11 am and told by Cor, that in order to seal the deal I need to go back out for another lap, I told her I knew this already, I feel good let's get it done. I did feel pretty good, I had a bit of discomfort in my knees  thanks to "Long road to ruin" otherwise I was good to go.

An uneventful last lap, ( thank God) and I roll into the finish line 24:34:01 with 18 laps, in  first place.

It felt good to get it done, it felt even better to see my family at the finish line. I will probably draw from this for sometime now.

First things first, I have to say thanks:

To my wife Coralee, She ran me bottles all night long and I mean ran. I couldn't do any of this without her.
Shaun my coach, a guy you want with you in a bar fight. ( I don't know ) I'm just saying he's tough really tough. and he's my friend.
John my bro in Austin, he get's it.
My Sponsor AST in Calgary, Dr. Dave has as much enthusiasm as any athelete I have met when it comes to sports. He keeps my biomechanics in line.
My Sponsor Pedalhead bicycle works in Calgary, always on top of my bike and sorting it out in time to be flawless during race day. Congrats to Alex on his 2nd place finish in 5 person team!.

Mitch, Christina, Danielle, and Steve. Totally appre
ciated you there to share this with me and to help me make it happen.

For Steve and Julie for the daily affirmation.... still makes me laugh.


For the volunteers and staff at 24HOA for  bringing this great venue to us, and for making it happen as well as you do.

As for the future, Yeah, I'm not done yet.








Update: as of 2months ago :)

Well, it's been a while since I have posted on my blog. There are several reason's for this.
So in going forward I'll do a little recap of my season thus far as to substantiate my lack of blogging.....

After  24hrs of OP, I returned home, got  my eyes checked out. Outside of not being able to wear contacts for a week afterwards all was good.  Back on the bike and training almost, all indoor of course being that it was still winter up here in Calgary. What I didn't get in on the trainer I was able to saddle up my Lynskey 29 SL with Ïce spiker pro's" tires (which Shaun suggested) for some mental relief and to hone some technical skills. Which it really did help on both fronts.


Truly desperate for some dirt action I was able to get some quality riding in with my coach Shaun and fellow racer's Steve, and Julie. It was a great weekend of riding the "Round the clock"24hr course. A race that everyone else  in the group was competing in. I had other plans like, being support for Coralee  for  her first half marathon being held that same day, in May.  Back to Spokane, it was a great weekend of great food and drink with some great friends.


I did sign up for the "Salty dog" race held in Salmon arm B.C. I have never competed in a 6 hr race before so training for 6 hrs of intensity was a bit different than I was used to as I am normally a "diesel" type racer and prefer the longer races. Well as luck would have it I started a new job 1 week before the Salty Dog, so with saying that it meant no extra time off, after the race which was being held on Sunday and would have me back to work on Monday. Yikes!. Oh well, still worth the effort to drive out and get in some dirt as it has been at least 6 weeks since riding in Spokane.

After working all day Friday, we drive out and arrive around 1am at the Comfort Inn, in Salmon Arm.
2 dogs Zachary, and all that goes with it....  Up at 8am grab some breaky and head out to meet up with Steve, Julie, and Shaun. They were here to compete in this event as well. With the sign in a prelap and a great dinner, I climb into bed Saturday evening with thoughts of the race to dream about.... However, Cor, was pretty busy juggling dogs and a 6 yr old.

The course: 11km's long with a mix of single track and  highly exposed fire road, with around 1100'of vertical gain.

Race day: 8:30 am meet up with my friends and get my pit setup, ride  down to the bottom of the hill to get a good starting position for the race on the start line. Today was a tad bit overcast with expectations of either rain or sun, I know this much, the humidex was pretty high.

The Start: I was able to make some good time on the first climb up at the start, I felt really good considering all the driving and humid type environment so different than desert like Calgary.
I was able to see some really fast racers, and to see how really slow I was...
The Result: I was able to have a great day, The three of us had a great day:

Julie got 7 laps and 2nd place finish, I got 8laps and 1st (Solo sport), by 40seconds over 2nd! Steve got a 3rd with 8laps within a few minutes of us. It really was a race from start to finish. Then there was Shaun, his seatpost broke, his first lap in the race. No one had parts, or a post that would fit his Orbea frame, so he did what none of us would/could do.... He rode, errr. raced the course without a saddle and post, for 6LAPS! only 2 less than us, or around 65km's.  unreal......

After the awards, and some terrible food fast food to tie us over for the trip home, we hit the road. Cor and I taking turns to drive as needed to make it home that night for work Monday morning.

3am and back home, I get 2 hrs sleep in with 2 coffee's under my belt I go to work...

I wouldn't have had it any other way.

My wife Coralee,(spending her mother's day handing me bottles) and my sponsors, AST/ Pedalhead  and as always my coach Shaun  were absolutely key  in delivering this result for me.


http://zone4.ca/results.asp?ID=5829&cat=all

Sunday 14 April 2013

24hrs of Old Pueblo

 
 
So let's get started... around the beginning of January I started thinking about maybe racing Old Pueblo. I know, I know I left it way too long, but I was getting bored sitting on my trainer and getting a bit tired of riding in the -temps here in Calgary. Plus I knew 2 other racers doing this event (Julie Kelly, and my Coach Shaun Taylor) so that kinda of got me thinkin. Which is dangerous if you ask my lovely wife....


So the hunt was for a spot. You see the official registration for the race was closed way back in December. So it was up to me to possibly purchase a spot from another racer who would sell me their spot.
Sure enough a spot came open from a racer in California wanting to sell his spot as he had a new baby on the way and the race would not work for him. So with a little admin work I was in the race. Now to complete the cycle of doing things backwards I started looking for a flight. I had told Cor at the start of this venture to not worry about cost of flight as I had a ton of airmiles so all I had to cover was the taxes and the extra cost of shipping my bike. On to Airmiles.ca, and discovered no flights available around or near or on the days I needed for travel to and from this event. Are you kidding me? So I started looking at other options, driving to Spokane, Billings, Kalispell, and then flying off to Tucson. None of those options worked as they would have me taking more time off work and in the end cost more than trying to find a flight out of Calgary. Which BTW was becoming more expensive by the minute thanks to the demand of travellers for these dates.

 This is where Marda Loop Vet Centre comes in, I have known Jeff and Laura (the owners for a few yrs now) thanks to Diesel and Zoey. They stepped in were able to secure me a flight to and from Tucson out of Calgary so that I could make this race.  Excellent! Now all I have to worry about is to get some solid training in leading up to the race and off we go.

 Around the middle of January and in the middle of a big training block, I started to get a nagging cough, (here it comes) I get sick and not just sick, I get a bad case of the Flu, and it goes into my lungs and put's me out work and training for 5 days, with the help of antibiotics I was able to finally beat this thing with about 10 days to go before the race. This included me losing my voice for the 2 weeks .
Fast forward with a bit more training and the bike loaded and my gear loaded off to Tucson I go.  "The Plan" was to arrive in Tucson on the Thursday, get settled into our accom's at Oracle and setup our bikes on Friday. Friday afternoon we were going to ride a lap at the race course and get any fine tuning out of the way. Saturday 12 noon sharp start racing for 24+ hrs.

 The Trip:
 
First stop was in Lax to transfer planes, where I am told by the  flight attendant and again once more from the ticket agent that "Yes, your baggage will get transferred to your connecting flight". Ok, great!  I jump on my flight from LAX to Tucson.
 
I'm greeted by all smiles as I see Shaun, Julie, and her husband Steve. We stand around for a few minutes and then head off to the oversize luggage office for bike pick up.
This is where I find out that my bike and luggage did not make the trip with me from LA to Tucson. Delta assured me that I would get my bike delivered to me by Friday afternoon where we were staying in Oracle.
So with some groceries bought at 'Whole Foods' in Tucson (where Shaun was as happy as a kid in a candy store). Around the 9pm mark we make it to our cabin in Oracle. The Triple L Ranch, this was made with a few turnarounds and side stops, but we made it.
                                               The view from our cabin porch



 Friday:

While everyone else is unpacking their race bikes, I am on the phone with Delta's  baggage service on the lookout for my bike and my luggage. This proves to be non confidence inspiring when I get a recording and then I get an attendant telling me my luggage is on its way... but they weren't certain whether it got picked up or not. Really??

1pm my bike and luggage appear at the front gate. I run down and with the help of Shaun and Steve haul my gear back, only to notice a fair size hole has been smashed into my hard rubber maid case. I inspect my gear and no damage. I get my bike together and within an hour we are all loaded up and heading to the race course for a pre lap.

                                                     Heading to the course for a prelap
 
I started my pre lap with Steve and thanks to a close call with a huge boulder (on my part) and taking the easier (by mistake) of the 2 separate routes through an area called the "Bitches", we ended up getting separated from Shaun and Julie. So approx 16 miles per lap and 1200' vert gain later we called it a pre lap and headed back to our cabin for a great dinner and some fine tuning of our bikes (with a pre race IPA of course).  Good music and some great laughs, I turn in for the night.

 

Raceday:

 We get to the course setup on pit row and find an area to get setup literally a couple of feet off the course. We were really setup barebones, not tables no tent just our premixed bottles on the ground, a box or two setup with spare helmets and shoes, batteries. In essence nothing like I am used to, but very much doable thanks to Steve
,                                                        Our pit site, our tree but not our tents 

I knew that  Steve signed on to help us with support, but I knew he would be super busy the first half of the event, so I  wanted to be as self sufficient as possible and then maybe later in the event when things settle down, maybe he would have a little bit of time for me. Boy was I wrong! Steve took care of each and everyone of us without question or flaw for the whole event. I was impressed and thankful.

 Before you know it, our bikes are racked and Shaun, Julie and I are standing at mid pack of the race group at least 1000 people deep ready to run and race. Countdown and we're off'. Shaun and Julie disappear into the abyss of bodies while I get swallowed up by the fast runners as I trot to my bike in my own mediocre fashion.
A few minutes later I see Steve and he is waving where my bike is as the place is just a maze of bodies and bikes everywhere. The place looks completely different at this stage of the race. You could totally run past your bike if you weren't paying attention.
The first few laps went very well. My laps were very consistent and the course was well groomed and fun to ride except for some really scary cactuses that lined some parts of the course. Very important to keep this is mind and to say focused.

 As the day wore on the winds seemed to pick up especially on the top portion of the course where you ride into a headwind that was sporting 70km/h winds.
Around the 8pm mark I start to get some upper neck pain, I know it has a bit to do with a lot of things; my rushed fit trying to get my bike together, the stress of the event and probably some residual effect of my flu virus that has only subsided 10 days earlier.

 

Anyways, I start working myself through this, knowing that it will get worse before it will gets better. The pain is getting worse... a whole lot worse. So bad that at the 9pm mark I have to stop and do some stretches in the van for 20 minutes. I rode in on this lap in 14th position and went back out in 16th. But I felt better a lot better.
As I go out and in the next few hours I am able to work my way to the  top 10 of the field.  I feel great, the stretching helped and I was in my zone. However,  I was having a hard time keeping my  riding glasses clean. The dust from the wind and the smoke from the campgrounds  was noticeably worse. Several times a lap I would have to give the glasses a quick wipe and it was getting difficult to see in the dark thanks to the shadows and the riders coming up behind me.
When I came in with 17 hours of riding behind me, I was making good time and had worked my way up to the possibility of a podium position. However, with 8 hours to go, anything can happen and in my case it did.

 When I went back out ,I noticed that my eyes were a tad dry but not out of the ordinary.  I made a mental note to  remove my contacts and start wearing my actual glasses when I come back in after this lap. This will be the first time in 3 years that I have needed to do this. Little did I know that I should have turned around at that point and taken care of that right then....

 Within 40 minutes of being out on course on that lap my eyesight started to diminish a little bit every few minutes . I kept thinking to just keep wiping my glasses and all will be good, but I was wiping my glasses and it was not making any difference at all. In fact it was getting to the point that I was starting to lose my way on course. For instance, the detail items, like stones and small ruts I couldn't see at all.  Then it got worse. I even missed a turn and rode off course a couple of feet, because I just couldn't pick out any sort of detail. I kept thinking that my contacts were just plain dirty and dry and so if I just take them out I'll stand a better chance of getting through this lap and go put my glasses on.

Bad idea. I pulled over to the side of the trail and with my dirty fingers pulled my contacts out and my eyesight did not improve at all. At this point I am pretty much riding blind and I'm starting to get a bit concerned that maybe this was permanent. I rode on for another 20 minutes incredibly slow... wandering all over the trail, until I finally came up to a checkpoint where I asked a medic for help.
With the help of 2 medics guiding me into the first aid centre I was pulled from the race by the acting physician. Just like that... my race was over.

After a  few eye washing under my belt, the medic explained that they had had this type of race weather conditions in past years and that it was not uncommon for this type of eye condition to develop from it.  In fact I was not the only one to get pulled from this event for this year thanks to this condition.
 
I meet up with Shaun and find out that between a bad wreck with a cactus (that involved a trip to the medic tent) I told you those cactuses were bad . Throw in a busted fork,  and his race was over  as well.
 
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That left Julie, to get the job done.Which she did, she busted out a 2nd place finish in the largest 24hr MTB event in North America. We were all very proud of her accomplishment and happy to be there to see it.

 A day later and some awesome Tex Mex and lots of laughs (not to mention  a small run in with a young Bark Scorpion), I am back on a plane headed home.

 
I got me some sunburn and some chapped lips to show for the race, and most important, my eyesight returned to normal by the following day after the race.  


Conclusion:

I enjoyed the race, I enjoyed the camaraderie with my friends, the great experiences there, but I was glad to be home to see my family.  Rest assured I am totally racing this event next year (just without contacts) and I am hoping that everybody can make it again.

Of course, I want to send out big thanks to my sponsors.  As always they go above and beyond to help me with this endeavour.

 

Active Sports Therapy, Dr Dave and Dr Claire.

Pedalhead Bike/Ski Works

Marda Loop Vet Clinic

 

 

 

             

 

 

 

 

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Update time



I've been busy , after returning home from OP In Tucson, Az. I started a taping,drywall project for my friend Jeff. My schedule has been pretty hectic with work,family, a side project and throw in some training and you get the idea very quickly. I was able to balance all of it, but it was challenging.

The fam and I were still able to get down to Spokane a few weeks ago and spend the long weekend with Shaun, his family and fellow racers Steve, and Julie Kelly. It was a great time had, with good food and great beer and excellent riding. The weather was in the 20-25C range and it was a welcome relief from the winter in Calgary.

Some important highlights include (me) trying out a Nitrogen charged Beer,
OakShire Esspresso.


Next race is the Salty dog 6hr race in Salmon Arm B.C.
http://www.skookumcycle.com/index.php/2013-salty-dog-enduro/

I have included a link to a vid for the 2011 event.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1LOFkzfr0o


Looking forward to an amazing year of riding and racing