One week after this race, and I'm still buzzing from it. For me, it was one of the best races of the 2008 season. No surprise though; the 12 Hour of Temecula series has become my official favorite event, and having this event as the final race of 2008 was a perfect way to close out a great season.

 

First up, the riders: Our 3 man team consisted of Ben, myself, and guest rider Amanda who normally races for the Platinum Performance team from Santa Barbara. She's a great friend of ours and offered to ride with us since Michelle was away on business. Big thanks to her boyfriend Greg who came in as our support and photographer!

 

The race day started dark and early at 4:30 am. I made the drive out to Temecula in some intense Santana winds. Later, we would find out that these winds would be the start of some huge firestorms in SoCal.

 

Set up went as planned. We secured a prime spot for our pits right along the exchange area and across from the timing tent. It was a perfect spot for us to watch the race and for others to check out our very unique Rivette bikes, which we proudly displayed along the course. They turned a few heads and we fielded a few questions.

 

Ben was up first, followed by Amanda. I would go 3rd. No real strategy to our order, other then I was starving after set up and needed some time to have something to eat before going out! In a 3 man race, it's pretty much all out. There is no pacing, so our order was not important.

 

Out on the course, riders found a mix of long steady climbing (aptly titled the "Damn Climb") followed by rocky switchbacks, rolling ridge-line downhill sections, short sandy climbs, and some of the most fun, flowy single track sections I've seen on any xc race course. This event had it all!

 

The raced progressed as it should. We had no mechanicals, no crashes, and no nutrition issues. During the day, the course was re-routed to eliminate a very technical section of the course. Personally, I enjoyed it. On my first run, I came into it and was able to pull off a little jump off a rock mid-way down. I was pretty much sitting on the rear wheel to keep control, but I managed to get a few cheers from the fans at the bottom who were camped out to watch the carnage.

 

It wasnt till the end of the race when the drama began to build. We were holding ground somewhere in the top 10 (of the 28, 3 man teams. Yes.... 28). Amanda came in off her night lap with a solid time and relayed to me. At that time I believed that was my last lap. But after I came in and sent Ben out, Amanda and I began to do the math and it turned out that if Ben came in with a really good lap time, it was possible for us to get in one more and secure our position! I ate something, and readied the bike for one more effort.

 

Sure enough, Ben came in with a killer lap time at 7:59 pm. That left me with 1 hour to get back to the finish. The rules of the 12 hour are simple: if you're not back before the siren goes off at 9 pm, that lap does not count. I headed out, and was the 2nd to last rider to leave for the night.

 

I had no room for error. I was immediately in my big ring and cruising along the fireroad to the bottom of the Damn Climb. Once climbing, I mentally "tuned out" and just pushed. It hurt, but at the same time, felt great. I was alone and had no distractions. I could see faint bike lights on course in the distance, but all around me was darkness. I was in my element and loving it. I began to heat up, so I unzipped the jersey. Almost to the top of the climb. I was out of the saddle and pushing hard. I rode the though switchbacks, unfazed and focused. I took a drink, and continued to push to the first aid station. No time to stop. Pushing again out of the saddle, I hear the support crew cheer me on.

 

The end of the course brought riders into campground and along an area where many teams had set up to camp and use that as their pit area. According to my watch, I was running out of time and was going to cut it close. I was again in the big ring and sprinting through the campground. I pulled my earphones out so that I could hear the timing tent count down the last 10 seconds, but other teams were out and cheering "you got it- you got it!" I took a hard left, down a sandy chute, and sprinted to the finish area with 1 minute and 15 seconds to spare! I was spent, and yet this lap was one of the most fun laps of a race I had ever ridden.

 

Our 3 man finished 8th in the field of 28. It was a great race against some heavy competition. But for the series overall, the team took 2nd! Congrats to the team from Don's Bikes for taking 1st, and to the team "Where the fox at" who took 3rd and was great competition!

 

The first 12 hour race for the 2009 series is only 8 weeks away!