First off, it was a pleasure riding this event with the White Mice. Thanks Doug, Morris, Byrnes and Roz for the good times. It was also a pleasure sharing space with Rob & Nathan and watching them coolly annihilate the competition in the 2-man event.
I'll skip to the action.
Toeing the line 15minutes prior to the event, loud music blaring in the background, some lame announcer yelling for us to get pumped-up, all I could think about was the RUN. Run? You mean with my feet? Jeez... I ran track in HS & college, and since have hung-up my cleats and avoided running as much as possible. But as the clock ticked down, I realized I was excited. I was fired-up about running. Nathan had grabbed a spot on the front line and I figured I might as well keep him company. For once, at the start of a xc race, my line of sight was completely clear of human impediments. Sweet! Nathan seemed cool and collected and for some reason that got me even more fired-up. Of course we were on the front line! Moments later we were off and so was Nathan. I was no longer excited about the run. Where in the hell is my bike? This is a mountain bike race, right? By now, the 90 degree temps felt like 120, but within moments I was clipping into my bike and sprinting-off, the cool air a reminder of why I left the cleats hung-up in my college locker.
So, why does a person compete in a 24hour mountain bike event? For a 4 or 5 person team, it's a blast; for a 2-man it's tolerably painful, and for solo, well I just can't quite imagine why... I guess that's a question better left to the soloists. That challenge beckons to me, but for now I'll keep having the good times.
Everyone on White Mice gave everything they had each and every lap. Roz pulled-off a stunning array of endos while smiling and hammering the course, Jason Byrnes kept getting faster as the race went-on, Doug was solid and hung-in there through painful end-of-lap leg cramps, and Jason Morris tore through the course with impressive skill and fast splits.
As far as my own performance goes, my first lap was good, but not quite as fast as I had hoped. I hammered on the 2nd, coming-in a few minutes above my main goal - breaking 50 on a lap. Nightfall yielded little good news, with my hub pooping-out on my Giant NRS. The old 1995 GT LTS-3 came out of the bullpen and gave me some trouble on that first night lap, slowing me down to a 62mins. After I got accustomed to the bike, the last 2 laps went great and steadily improved in time.
The overall fastest time of the day was set early-on, with a 43:18. This alone is an impressive time, not considering the fact that it was on a singlespeed! That's right, a singlespeed... let that soak in a bit... a singlespeed.
A huge round of congratulations go out to Nathan and Rob for their dominance of the class.
With 2 more 24 hour races to be run this year, Dalton was a great first run. See you at Great Glen!
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