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.