2014-24hrs of Adrenaline

2014 24 hours of Adrenaline

At the beginning of the season I started contemplating racing this event.  I mean what's not to like about this event...  it has a great vibe and being that it is basically in my backyard... I was in!

I was able to talk Julie and Steve Kelly into running my pit for me, which helps a ton. Cor was going to help with Zach, but it was good knowing that they could take a step back. It's big job to have a 7 year old all night and put up with my shenanagins for 24hrs.

With some great training volume and a crappy result at Spokane (due to some stomach issues), I certainly had the motivation as well.

July 19th had us set up at our pit location that evening, a prelap, a chat with friends and then off we head to the Stoney Nakoda Hotel for a quick dip in the pool and some much needed sleep.

Saturday morning we were running a bit late, but we still were able to hookup with Steve and Julie, got the bike prepped with my race number and we were able to chill for the next couple of hours before the gun goes off at noon.

Some chatting with fellow racers in the start lineup, had me next to Ryan Gardiner, Andrew Bovard, and Jesse Mong. Jesse looked fit as always and he looked like he brought his Ä game which I expected. I like Jesse a lot, he is a fierce competitor, and as genuine as they come.

The gun goes off and I run my leman start, make my way back to the start finish and climb on the bike for some 24hr goodness. An hour or so later I ride down solo pit area just in time to see our mechanics tent get blown across the course with Steve ending up on his butt trying to stop it and Cor chasing after the tent as it righted itself across the lane and stood straight up like it was meant to be there.

Julie, was on task running after me to hand me a bottle, and I went out on my 2nd lap with a few thoughts on my mind. When I returned from my second lap I had found out that everyone was ok, and all things were back to normal, and knowing some kind souls had lent my pit crew some tent pegs to make sure that the tent wouldn't blow across the course, again.

The next few laps were uneventful (thank goodness) and I was enjoying riding with Ryan for the most part of them.  I found the temps a bit on the warm side but the descents made up for that as they were a bit cooler.  Around 8pm Ryan and I separated to ride on our own. It was a bit after this that I was riding the Matching Jersey's section of the course and feeling great when I heard a loud, "snap" as my chain disintegated into 2 pieces. I pull off the trail and add 2 quick links, within 5 mins I was on my way to finish this lap.

Ryan leading

When I came in I asked Julie if she could get my spare chain (I kept on hand) installed for me by the mechanics on site. Then I would take out my spare bike and not lose any valuable time. I now had a trust issue with my primary bike and its chain, I figured it best to get it fixed while it was still quite bright out. Then I wouldn't have to worry about repairing this chain again, especially when it would get dark.

Out I go on my spare bike, it's nice and light but not very compliant.  I had installed my rigid fork for training on much smoother terrain, but it wasn't much fun to ride the choppy descents on and I was happy that this was only going to be a one lap affair on this bike.

I pass check mark 1 and head into the tree's (and roots) for some more climbing and I hear a really loud  "snap"! and my bike stops immediately.  I look down and see a branch jammed into my derraileur, pushing it into my spokes. One of the roots I just rode over has snapped back and hit my derraileur and chain . Seriously?! I take a a few minutes to fix it but it requires me to bend my deraileur by hand out of the spokes and my chain ends up in 2 pieces as a result. I sling the chain onto the side of the course and start pushing and coasting my bike back the way I came.

I get stopped by the marshalls as I ride back to the checkpoint I just pass and am told that I will have to forfeit this lap or run the balance of the 17kms to make it back to the pit to make this lap count. The idea of running the balance of the lap in my carbon soled biking shoes was not appealing at all.

So there it is, I forfeit my lap via the Marshall's radio call. I  start running and coasting my bike back down to the pits. When I arrive at the pits, I hear from Cor that Julie is on her way back with my  Carver... fixed and ready to roll. I can't say thanks enough to Outside Bike and Ski, for bailing me out!

Julie runs back into the pit, and I jump on my Carver 420 Ti, and head back to the timing tent first so that my laps can restart. Now I can get back to the task at hand... trying to make up lost time.

I'm told I lost 54 mins (not counting the ride around to the timing tent). This also put me a lap down from the leaders, and put me somewhere in the 6th placing, from my previous 3rd place standing.

Ugh, anything can happen in a 24hr race and it just did. So I settled into some smart racing, ticking away the miles hoping that I could make up the time and maybe try for an attack in the morning.

After this lap I come back in and get my lights on the bike and helmet, and get out for some night riding.

The night goes pretty much as expected, just chipping away and cautiously planning for the money lap. I get back out on my last night lap and decide to pick up my pace a bit as I seemed to be closing the gap on some of the current podium contenders. I get deep into the climbs on the first part of the course and come up on Ryan. We chat for a few minutes and I get back after it, and start pulling back some riders.

Trying to make up some time and feeling it

Money Lap

I come upon the 4th place rider and he and I chatted for a quick sec and I could see that he was hurting so I just pulled away. Around the last bunch of climbs after "long road to ruin", I recognize a familiar jersey riding ahead of me.  I could see that it was Jesse, and I was looking forward to riding with him.

I pull him back just in time to the last downhill before the only piece of pavement in the event. It's at this point I decide to test our legs a bit.  I ride up next  to Jesse, and he sees me and we both start sprinting, which is funny as we still have quite bit of riding left to go. I look back now and I start laughing, because of how funny it must have looked as we both sprint up the hill and down to the pit lane, especially with some cheering coming from the sidelines kinda going like this "way to go solo's" way to finish a lap". We were both full on racing.

I drop into my pit just ahead of Jesse and he drops into his, ahead of mine. A split second later and he is back out on course riding for all he was worth. I had Cor and Julie take my lights and gear off, I take a sip of coke and start mashing away at the 3-4 min lead that Jesse has just  put into me. I'm feeling good and my legs are feeling awesome, 5kms later I am able to grab Jesse's wheel and pull past him with just a bit of jostling between the two of us. I love racing with and against Jesse he will make you work right to the finish. I had better legs today.

I get out in front and start mashing away to put sometime into him and to pull back the second place contender, who is on this current lap as well. 40 mins later I was able to pull back this rider, .

A lap or so later .....

I am now somewhere around the high 30 mins behind the leader and I am trying to catch him, but I'm running out of time. It was around this time that  it starts raining, and up near the top  on all the exposed rocks it is getting slick. With a couple of close calls I am forced to slow down. The upside of this was that it only rained for around 30 minutes or so. It was then that, I pretty much knew 2nd place would be the best I can do today, there just isn't enough time left....

Goofin around

Heading out for the rain lap

 

I'm happy with this result, I had to overcome some challenges, not to mention race with and against some of the best endurance racers around.

In summary this is the 4th time I have raced this event solo. 1 top 5 finish and 3 podiums.  The icing on the cake was that this was the 10th 24 hour solo event I have competed in and it all began here.

 

I want to say a huge thanks to my wife Coralee and my son Zach... they put up with my training schedule....

To Steve and Julie Kelly, (mostly Julie) :) I owe you this one, totally there Julie, top notch support. and friendship

To my coach and friend Shaun Taylor.

To Forrest Carver, (Carver bikes) thanks for the bike, the setup and advice. Carver Bikes are awesome. If you don't believe me ride one. (And no you can't ride mine!)

NiteRider lights, Tommy Bryant, You guys are always  in the trenches with the racers... all night long and it shows. Thank you

NOX composites for the dope wheels.

 

To Dr Dave and the staff at AST Sports Therapy, for putting up with all my injuries this year and for fixing me up, as always...  I couldn't do this without your continued support

To Pedalhead Bike and ski, thanks to Al for the post race recovery beer, and the rest of the guys at the shop.

Next race

http://25hoursinfroghollow.com/

2014 24hrs of Old Pueblo

Let's get to it:


Back in November I decided to sign up for this epic race. 24+hrs of racing in the middle of the desert sounds like a great idea when winter comes a calling in Calgary, especially this winter as it seemed to start earlier this year and man we had some cold cold days to show for it. Now throw in the fact that I didn't finish the race my last attempt, thanks to some eye sight issues.

So for a quickie update, I'm on a new bike, I hooked up with Carver bikes and Bikeman internet sales, to get me a sweet Ti frame (a full review to follow), with  Ti post and carbon fork.

I was planning on racing this setup at OP as I really didn't see the need for suspension on this course. Not extremely bumpy or choppy, long laps (16 miles) and the vert gain is somewhere between 1000' and 1200' per lap. Everybody's GPS was different so pick a number.
  
Leading up to the race Shaun had me riding outside (when the temps were warmer than -20C) and the balance was spent on the suffer machine in the basement (trainer). I got some great sessions out at Fish Creek on my Giant HT, running SS and Ice spiker tires. Later on I was throwing down some riding with my Carver 420 TI with gears and race setup. A weekend retreat had Julie, I and Shaun getting some great snow riding in at Rossland. Great food and great laughs rounded out the weekend.

Before that, I was able to get a good day of riding in the Tustin, CA  (Sierra mountains) while holidaying in San Diego over Christmas.

Some highlights from this 3 month training block were:

• A 1" half thickness tear in my right rotater cuff.
• Full fingertip dislocation 3 weeks prior to race day.
• An annoying cold like cough that just seemed to hang on.

Gotta throw a big thanks out to AST for sorting my shoulder out, the pain was manageable during waking hours, but as soon as I went to bed the darn thing would wake me 2-3 times a night with a dull aching pain. In the last few weeks leading up to the event my shoulder had normalized quite nicely.

 All thing's aside, Suffice to say, I was in really good form when it was time to load up my gear and head to Oracle, Arizona for this event.

I met up with Julie at the airport, and then we boarded our Alaskan Airlines flight for the roughest flight possible to Seattle. We were supposed to meet up with Shaun in Seattle but that busted out as he was having his own challenges with flights, as we later found out. Off to Phoenix, AZ rent a car and wait for Shaun to arrive from his flight with Delta (ugh) and off we were to Whole Foods and then a drive to Tucson and then over to Oracle, AZ.

Julie booked us in the 3C Ranch and it was perfect. Great accommodations and only 20 minutes or so from the race course at 24hr town.

Here we meet up with 2 more of Shaun's athelete's; Ryan (Jasper, AB) and Tony (Austin, TX) and their wives. We were lucky enough to secure Antonio and Holly for pit support, who were scheduled to arrive Friday evening. They drove 14+ hrs from Austin to helps us out and we were all very thankful they did. It was unfortunate as we were expecting JR, and his girlfriend Laura to head out for the race as well, but their schedules just didn't mesh with the race. Too bad as we all missed them.

Friday early afternoon the 5 of us went out on course for a prelap. It was interesting for me as this would be the very first time I was able to get out on dirt and ride my new bike and setup. It felt great after that first lap, and here's hoping it feels the same after 10+ laps in the middle of the night.

Ok... enough of the prelim, let's get after it.

Race day:

Standing at the lemans start line about 1/2 mile away from my bike in the desert sun was uncomfortable. Hearing the gun go off was a welcoming sound. I start my run and watch Shaun and Julie disappear ahead as I fumble my way through my run. I'm swallowed up by the crowd but that's how these starts go for me.

First lap, it took me almost a full lap to catch up with Julie.  She was riding very, very strong...the strongest I have seen her ride. We literally pull into the pit almost side by side and I notice about half way through that lap my BB is making a grinding noise. A minute on the stand or so with a dab of oil at the crank arm and off I go to start another lap. This doesn't concern me a whole lot as sometimes you can get some noise and it will work itself out or not. It doesn't matter until it matters. What was starting to irritate me was my new jersey. I ordered a medium and normally it fits me quite well. This one, well it fit like a large, and so it was flapping all over the place.  Once I started to sweat it felt like I was wearing a parachute with the zipper bouncing off my nipple. So fun.... I'll be wearing a small before the next event, that's for sure.

2- 4 laps my BB is really starting sound like a squeeze toy my dog has gotten hold of. At this point I really don't care. I am going to keep riding until that damn thing seizes, or whatever sand has gotten itself in there has worked itself free. Around the 5:30 mark I pull into the pit and set about getting my lights on my bike, which was the mandatory time to get your lights on. I was thankful for this as it gave Antonio much needed time to try and get my BB sorted out. Which he did. It turns out it was my left side crank arm that had worked itself loose and was moving around on the crankshaft. Not the BB itself like I had thought.

Interesting time of the race for me.... I'm starting to feel off. My legs and body feel good, but I am really starting to feel thirsty and dehydrated. With desert racing even though it's only in the 90's (which I don't mind) it's the never ending exposure to the sun and no shade, (which I do mind). I grab a couple of sips of water and head out on this lap.

I'm loving my setup. I'm quick on the climbs and hitting the flowy sections nice and smooth. Some of the course is showing signs of chop, so I'm having to choose my line a bit more on the tight downhills, the typical drag your back wheel into the turns by some of the team racers was the cause of the rutting.

So getting back to this lap.... I am out on course and about 1/3 of the lap in I start getting a dry mouth, my first real concrete symptoms of dehydration. So I make a big mistake and start hitting my nutrition harder, like gulping it. This was really getting difficult for me as I didn't even have enough moisture in my mouth to swallow my own spit. Between the intense sun and the neverending wind, I was hitting a wall. 

It was around this time that Shaun rode up to me and asks how I'm doing. But I can't even answer... my mouth is that dry.  A few minutes later he passes me with a 3 riders on his wheel and starts pulling all of them up the series of climbs and as I am watching, he is even gapping the dude off the back. It was cool to see but I couldn't do any of that action (which I wanted to) as now I am dehydrated and I have a protein gut from gulping my nutrition.

My race has turned side ways in the matter of a lap, I'm out of nutrition and fluid and I am so dang thirsty it's not even funny.

I make it through this lap and I get back into the pits. I grab an extra bottle of water for the lap, and my regular bottle of nutrition and off I go.

For the next series of laps it goes like this:
Ride until I get super hungry, take a small sip of nutrition, a few seconds later get stomach cramps, sip some water as I am dying of thirst, have another bout of stomach cramps. Repeat until this crap sorts itself out. Absolutely rubbish, my legs are great, I just can't initiate cause I have no power to drive them and my stomach hurts like no other time in recent memory.

Some highlights in this stage of the race for me:

• Pulling long cactus needles out of my forearm with my teeth as I ride
• Pulling short cactus needles out of my legs as I ride (no teeth)
• Dreaming of an ice cold slurpee

On some parts of the course the cactus lined both sides of the trail and were  daring you  to screw up or even brush up against . Not "if "but "when " you did, you paid the price.

3 am I come in on my 10th lap and I'm starting to get cold (as the temps really drop in the desert at night). I'm fighting the cramps and I am still thirsty beyond belief. I get some warm clothes on and chat with Amber and Antonio for a few minutes. I take a few minutes off the bike hoping I can at least burp and feel better but it's not happening. I do something I never do and ask Antonio if I can drink his coke so that maybe I can clear my stomach. The look on Antonio's face was priceless as I drank his Mexican coke. I felt a little bad about it really, but I got over it as soon as my stomach started feeling better :)  Now I have been sitting in the pit for at least 20 mins, the top ten place I was sitting at when I came in, now had me down to 14 or so.

Back out on course and yeah, the caff is working on my brain and the sugar is helping me get some power back. But that feeling is short lived as the cramps come back again because I am drinking my nutrition and water again, I don't have a choice.  I can't race on Cokes, that would be worse. So I'm just pounding out the miles knowing that my dream of a top 5 finish is diminishing.

I can honestly say that it's not about that anymore for me now. It's about digging myself out of this hole and finishing the best I can with no regrets. I know and accept that this is the hardest event I have had to race and now it's all about that.

The witching hour...I roll in and see Shaun, Julie, Ryan and the rest of the crew at the pit. Everyone has had their own challenge and they are all knee deep into it the same as I am. I pull off my helmet and my helmet light and decide it's time to go back out with just my bar light as we all figured that it was maybe 30 mins or so before sunrise. This felt awesome on my head and I decide that I am going to ride a hard lap as my stomach is starting to sort itself out a bit and I am feeling a bit better.

A 1:14 lap and I make up 2 placings in the race and now I am just interested in as many placings I can make up as possible. Next lap I do about the same time, a bit slower maybe and I'm feeling so much better.

So out I go and the sun is sitting higher in the sky. After a sip off my bottle I notice that my drink tastes weird, like... warm water.

It's starting to get really hot by now, (for me anyhow) and I know that I may be in trouble with just water in my bottle with these temps and my current effort. As the miles tick off I start bonking, I mean hard, I am super hungry and now I am seeing stars.

I start thinking about when Shaun went out on a lap without a bottle at this event (by mistake) a couple years past and how he says he scoured the ground for used gels or bottles or anything that can help him get through this lap and start doing the same. My head is all over the map and I am having a hard time focusing on this new task until I come upon a bottle that's lying in the middle of the trail. I stop to pick it up and see if it has anything in it besides water, and dang it's bone dry.  It was bad enough that the bottle was empty it was even worse trying to get back on my bike and try and ride  again.  It was then I decided I wasn't stopping again unless I was interested in walking...

I make it back in to the pit. I don't know how long it took to finish this lap, and to be honest I haven't even looked at my lap times since the race. But I do know this, I threw my bike down and almost fell on my head. Shaun, Ryan and everyone else got me cooled down with ice and water as I was seriously overheated and dehydrated again. I was glad they were there to help me. Holly ran and got me an RC Cola and with a couple of handfuls of ice in my jersey pockets I'm going back out.

This lap went much better.

16 laps at 16 miles a lap and a whole lotta stuff in between means I get it done, with an 8th place finish. 

As for nutrition, I usually get 20-23 bottles of nutrition down in a typical 24hr event. I would think that with the temps I should've been up around 25 bottles.  All toll I was told it was more like 10 bottles, and 2-3 bottles of water, with 2 cokes.....  messed up. 



Next year... 3 times a charm!

A big shout out to those who support me:
Pedalhead ski works, AST, Nite Rider, Forrest Carver/Carver bikes, Shaun Taylor.

 Shaun, Julie, Antonio, Holly, Amber and Ryan, Tony and Patty. All people I consider my friends, thanks for your help.

 a special thanks to  my wife Coralee and Zachary, my son.

A little snowriding 2014

I got out the other morning (early) just in time for the snow to hit.  Almost whiteout conditions on the way to and from the trailhead thanks to the 40-50 km winds. This was a couple days  earlier than our current cold snap. I was glad  temps were only in the low single digit - temps.

 

 The conditions and trail were giving me a great session. As you can see the trail was hard packed under the 100mm of fresh Powder, and riding SS I was having to really engage some body action, just  to stay on course  It was a fun ride.

 Thanks to Nite Rider lights there wasn't much I couldn't see on the trail. I was operating the Pro 1800 (bar )  on low and the 750 (helmet) on medium. 

D

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

 

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.

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.


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