I thought I would start a new topic for us to share rides in.

Just anything you think is interesting.

 

So I'll start:

 

 I rode the Burn 24 Hour Challenge the weekend of the 23rd and 24th in a team of five. I had some respectable lap times in the 38-39 minute range on the seven mile trail. We started the day with some necessary decisions like what order to ride in which was easily solved by riding in the order we were standing with the exception of the fastest rider going out first which would get us in the front of the pack giving us less riders to pass on the single track trail. Our pit was near the exit of the woods. After that you rode a path bordered by yellow tape to the start/ finish line. We developed a strategy of signaling the next rider in the lineup on exiting the woods which would give him time to get to the start/ finish for the hand off. Instead of saying "NEXT" or "GO" which was heard constantly we decided on the word "SPOON". Unique enough not to be confused. I think if I yelled "SPOON" to one of them today they would jump out of their chair.

 

Start time was at noon Sat and the race ended noon Sun. If the last rider went out before noon Sun the lap counted as long as he was back before 1. That wouldn't be a problem as we were doing 40-50 min laps by then. So we went through the rotation twice doing one lap each before night fall. Through the night we would do two laps each giving the others a longer break in the rotation to get sleep. At 7pm they required the riders to have lights. Riding the trail at night with 700 lumens strapped to your helmet is such an awesome experience. The shadows move in weird directions. On the fast bits its a rush to weave down the trail standing on the pedals having the trees and bushes whiz by in your peripheral in the dark while the trail in front of you is flooded with light. Everyone is a little slower on the trail at night which is understandable. At around 3:30 in the morning the rider before me was about half way through his second lap when it started to drizzle. Not enough to get the trail wet and muddy but enough to make the roots and rocks on the trail death defying slippery. Oh great. Soon I hear the war cry "SPOON" and I jump on my bike and make my way to the start for the hand off. The day laps were mostly uneventful apart from pushing the edge a bit and getting the adrenalin rush after the recovery. My first night lap was like tip toeing. You try to pull on the bars and "unweight" the front wheel at the moment you hit a slick root or rock to minimize  the chances it will skip off said obstacle in a random direction and you find yourself splayed out on the ground. The rear wheel is a completely different story. Theory has it that it should follow you. And for the most part it does. But the occasional big kick left or right really gets your attention. I manage to stay on two wheels during my two laps and as we finished the rotation it started to get light out and we went back to single laps. The drizzle turns to a very light rain  for a few moments but the trail never did get muddy which I was thankful for.

 

At one point I was waiting for my predecessor to exit the trail with my bike leaning against one of the awning poles and within 10-15 minutes of expecting him I notice my rear tire is FLAT! I flip the bike over and yank the wheel off while one of the others rip a new tube out of the box. I get the tube exchanged and the wheel back on the bike pronto and everyone sits back down. That was the only mechanical problem we had the entire time. Mind we all riding single speed bikes so there are less bits to go wrong with. I dropped the chain twice but that's just feed it back on the cog, give the crank a quick spin, and in a few seconds you're off again. I adjusted some of the slack out later. We're going through the second rotation on Sun and trying to calculate who would get the last lap and yours truly looked  like the likely candidate. As the rider before cried "SPOON", I checked the time and had about 45 minutes to get to the handoff and do my lap in the hopes we could get one more rider out before the cutoff.  I hit the trail hard, roots and rocks be damned. I would reconsider this decision a couple of times during the lap. As I yelled the obligatory "SPOON" coming out of the woods the next rider was already at the handoff. I passed the clock with four minutes to spare and the he was off. In the end we completed 31 laps with our team finishing 14 out of 40 teams which was better than the midpack finish we had hoped for. It's ashamed they didn't have an all single speed team category. I think we were the only one.

 

 Here is the GPS data on Motion Based: 9th Annual Burn 24 Hour Challenge

Lap one and two are the day laps on Sat.

I didn't take the GPS out for the two night laps. I was afraid if I hit something and it popped off the bike it would take too long to find it, if I found it.

Laps three, four, and five are the Sun laps. Laps four and five are one lap the GPS decided split for some reason.

Each of the lap times include about a minute of riding to/from our pit.

 The trail stayed wet all day Sun and the "black ice death roots" would reach out and grab you if you let your guard down.

   

Friday / Saturday helping lay a MTB course out in some local hiils, 

That's great! I need to do more "trail work days"

 

       

Saturday night the stag party from hell, I'm still tryng to work out what happened but one of the highlights was the groom kissing a Canadian Dwarf.

 

As punishment for my failure to get home Saturday night ( I slept on the grooms floor ) I was taken out hillwalking today, I felt rough, it was hot and it felt like a renactment of the Bataan March.

 

 mmmm... sounds like a weird dream

 

 

When I've recovered I will post a more detailed account!

 

 There's more!!

I did find some video of the race.

There's  about 6 seconds of me at the 3:30 mark. Right after the guy tried to take out the tree with his forearm

 

Burn 24 Hour Mountain Bike Race

 

And one photo.

 

Ryan Sigsbey Photography

 

click on gallery, 24 Hour Burn, then photo # 12

No, I'm not sticking my tongue out. Weird camera angle I guess

 

...No wonder you're hooked on trails.

 

Wow - that was an exciting report! Hope you are OK and congrats on your finish! Please keep these reports coming!

8th Annual Cowbell Challenge Marathon Mountain Bike Race

54 miles at Fisher Farm Trail

The trail was modified to 8 miles.

A 6 miles road section and 6 laps on the trail

 

Finished 4th in Single Speed Class

My day started at 7. I had loaded the car with what I could the night before and packed the cooler with bottles, gels, and a couple of PBJ's that morning. Out the door at 7:30 for the hour drive to Fisher Farm. That would give me an hour and a half to park, set up, and get the shuttle to downtown Davidson. With that sorted out I'm in Davidson waiting for the 10:00 start. The start of this race is a six mile road ride back to the trail but that will certainly split the groups up. I was surprised at some of the riders the announcer was introducing. Harlan Price, Andy Applegate, Rebecca Rusch, and part of the Niner Bikes Team, Rebecca "Wiki" Tomaszewski, Dejay Birtch, John "Fuzzy" Mylne.

10:00 arrives, the Mayor of Davidson sounded the start horn, and I began 25 minutes of mad spinning down the road section. Finally on the trail I'm more comfortable but my legs aren't. The first hill we hit is steep and slick. People are walking so you get in line. The first lap is an eye opener. My heart rate goes over 170 a few times, the heat/humidity is bad, and there are three brutal hills on the eight mile course. I'm really regretting going with the 19t. The technical bits weren't bad. A few rock gardens and log piles to mix things up. The roots were still slippery from recent rains but dried out by early afternoon. One section I walked each and every time. It was a deep ditch that had an approach through large momentum killing roots. The other side was slick red clay and rather steep. It just wasn't worth the effort to power through this section for six laps. There were a few people who had to hand their bike up to someone then climb out. After the first lap I knew this was going to be a bad, bad, day.

I backed off on the second lap hoping to conserve enough for 32 more miles. Backed off again on the third lap and started walking two of the hills. By now I'm going through almost two bottles per lap and I only planned on one. Fortunately, for me, a friend of mine broke a chain and dropped out. He had a gallon jug of water which I would finish before the end. On the forth lap I noticed hardly anyone on the trail. By now when the trail left the woods and went across the fields the sun would just bake you. It was noticeably hotter and miserable. I wanted to throw in the towel walking up the last hill on this lap. There was no way I felt like I could do this for 16 more miles. I knew attrition was going to play a major role in the finishing placement. Then I had my first major cramp. I had just stood on the pedals on a short hill when my right calf just locked up. I stopped, gritted my teeth, and was growling loud enough a passing rider asked if it was cramps. It was none other than "Fuzzy" who basically said hang in there, it will go away. That was actually a confidence booster so I got back on when it did go away and didn't have another one the rest of the day. I decided to go straight to the car after this lap get what I needed to go and not think about stopping. If I made myself go out on the fifth lap I would certainly not quit with one lap left. I felt bad not going out on the last lap at the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek and I wasn't going to do that again.

I've finished what I brought to drink, almost finished the gallon of water, and started scooping ice water from the bottom of the cooler Clint and his guys brought. They had stopped riding on the forth lap and told me to take what I needed. On the fifth lap I notice at least four bikes beside the trail without a rider in sight. I would find out later EMT's had taken these people out on ATV's probably heat related. I was riding by myself almost the whole lap. I saw a few riders on the open field sections but it was obvious most riders had quit by now and I knew I was going to do the last lap if I had to walk most of it. I was certainly drinking a lot and sweating like mad so I felt like I wouldn't have any heat related problems apart from just being completely worn out. Finished the fifth lap, reloaded, and began the last one. This one was miserable. I haven't been racing anyone for the last three laps. And the last two laps there hasn't been anyone *to* race! After 6 hours and 45 minutes I ride up the last hill, around the turn in the field, lined up with the finishing chute and the announcer cheers, the bystanders cheer, you would have thought I won. In the end over 130 riders started with only 41 finishing. This turned out to be more of a test of enduring the heat and not so much a race. Finishing fourth was nice but I was mostly glad to just finish.

130 starters and 41 finishers??????

Croyden - you are an animal!

Congrats on a really tough race - how are you feeling now?

Don't you think it's time for a recovery run

 

Jules - congrats on your lifetime PB! WoW!

Glad to hear your new physio is working out for you.

I've entered this event as a runner with n option to bike it if my leg is playing up as happened last year but its a bit tame compared to your events.

 

http://www.nineedges.co.uk/