24 HOUR WORLD SOLO CHAMPIONSHIPS
 
I'm back from the 24-Hours of Adrenalin World Solo Championships that was contested in Canmore, Alberta this past weekend.  While the Australians dominated many of the categories this year, Doug Smith from Gainesville FL and I would make sure that the US was well represented in the 50-54 category.  Doug finished 1st with 10 laps in a time of 23h 13m and I placed 2nd completing 10 laps in 24h 44m.  
 
This year’s World Solo course was one of the most challenging I've done.  With about 15 miles per fugure-8 loop and 2,200 feet of climbing per lap, this would not be a cake walk.  The first section had some nasty roots and rocks that were very ride-able when dry but became greasy and treacherous when it rained. There were bear warning signs all over the course.  But as it would turn out, the real bear was the course.  It was a tough ride when dry; it was downright mean and nasty when it rained and being the Canadian Rockies where weather can change in an instant, rain it would.
 
My crew consisted of my wife, Mary Ann, son Dan, and Sophie Pulverman.  Mary Ann was crew chief, Dan handled bike maintenance, and Sophie took care of nutrition.
 
Without a doubt, Canmore was one of the most beautiful settings for the Worlds.  The course was a real mixed bag of single and double-track, fire roads, grassy ski slopes, newly cut trails, and a little pavement.  Since we were so far north, the sun did not set until nearly 10 PM and rose at about 5:30 AM.  It was still light enough to see without lights in the more open sections of the course at 11 PM.
 
The X-Fusion front fork and rear shock were a perfect match for this course.  They are by far the most tunable suspension components I have ever used.  I dialed in the damping on Friday when we pre-rode the course and had a great mix of plushness and pedaling efficiency.  It was not hard to do with eighteen clicks of rebound damping on the fork.
 
The race followed the typical Adrenalin routine: LeMans start and prologue lap.  Racers would have until 1 PM Sunday to complete as many laps as they could.  As a unique touch, we would do the prologue lap through the town of Canmore.  Very European. 
 
On my first lap, I would experience my only mechanical mishap when the return spring on my rear derailleur snapped, so I was basically riding a 3-speed bike.  My crew put me back out on Lap 2 on my spare bike and then swapped out the derailleur while I was on the course.
 
I started slowly and found my pace, which is my style in events like these.  When my crew told me that I was riding in 7th place at about 6 PM Saturday, I feared I may have gone out a tad too slow.  But I felt strong and kept it coming around.  While I was out on Lap 3, I chatted with a rider from Poland.  When he found out that we were in the same class and that we were on the same lap, he gassed it and jumped out ahead.  I lost contact with him but I felt that he could not sustain his pace.  He would not be able to make it stick.  
 
We had a mixed bag of weather and had several downpours.  I usually am at my best when the weather turns ugly, which it did.  The course characteristics changed every lap from nice damp hardpack to peanut-butter consistency mud not unlike Blackstar Canyon back home.  Conditions were so bad, I had to change bikes after every lap.  Dan always had my second bike cleaned, lubed, and ready to rock and roll.  Although the mud would get less sticky as the race went on, it never dried out. 
 
This was the perfect course for my Eggbeater pedals.  I never had one instance when I could not clip in nor did they ever release unintentionally.  More importantly, though, was the fact that I could bail out in a heartbeat when I got sideways on the roots.  I love them!
 
I was riding steadily and cautiously during the overnight to avoid crashing hard.  When the sun came up Sunday morning, my crew told me that I had moved up into 4th place.  The rider from Poland was holding onto a short lead over me.  When I came in at about 9 AM, my crew told me that the third-place rider was still in his pit and was not looking too good.  I could have third place if I got out before him and then held off any attacks.
 
In the final hours, all of the support the crews were playing their usual game of cat-and-mouse seeing what the other competitors were doing: who was riding well, who was struggling, and who planned to go out for another lap.  The second place rider was sitting in his pits.  My crew said that he looked like he was having some issues.  His crew kept coming over to my pit to see when I would finish my lap, how I looked, and whether I would go out for another. They were asking Mary Ann about my lap times in an effort to determine if I could squeeze one more in; she never gave them a straight answer.  If I went out, their rider would have to answer my challenge and go out for another lap to defend second place. 
 
Our Hincapie team kit was a mixed blessing.  Many riders commented on its unique looks but I was an easy target to spot on course.
 
I came in at 10:50 AM, 2 hours 10 minutes before the end of the race and had third locked up.  As I rolled into the timing area for what I thought was my final lap of the race with third place in the bag, Dan jogged with me over to our pit and told me that if I could bust out another lap, I had a shot at second.  I would have a little over 2 hours to get around the course.  This was not even debatable: I had to go out!  I was ready to leave it all out on the course.
 
Back in the pits, the crew was ready for me.  We did a quick Camelbak and water bottle exchange and I went out for Lap 10.  I’d find out later that the second place rider did not answer the challenge and sat it out. But when I was on course I kept looking back over my shoulder.
 
I rode the first section well and cleaned all of the gnarly roots and rocks although I am sure there were plenty of funky moves going on as I bobbed and weaved over the more technical stuff.  My crew was waiting for me at the mid-point feed zone at Mile 9; they told me that I had 1 hour 20 minutes to finish the second loop. 
 
I was riding sections that I had been previously walking.  I was re-energized and pushing hard to make the  1 PM cutoff.  Second could be mine if it all came together. 
 
With about 4 miles to go, I heard the rumbling of thunder.  A storm was approaching and I hoped it would hold off, but the skies opened up again.  I was getting pelted by marble-size hail and the temperature dropped a good 10-15 degrees.  Lightning flashed above as we got the hardest rain of the race.  The course actually got a little better in spots since the rain kept the mud from sticking to your drive train.  And how often do we get a chance to play in the mud?
 
I'd ride the rest of the course cleanly and would finish my 10th lap at 12:44 PM with 16 minutes to spare. The final results would show that my splits were getting progressively faster on my last three laps.  My last lap was actually the third-fastest one I would turn.
 
Thanks to all of our sponsors.  Your products got me around the course in great shape.  Thanks also to Hammer Nutrition for your excellent products and support.  I fueled exclusively with Perpetuem and Hammer Gel and never experienced one issue.
 
I also owe a big amount of my success to my crew: wife Mary Ann, son Dan, and Sophie who pushed me, encouraged me, and made sure that I only had to focus on riding. 
 
Now for some sleep. 
Thursday, July 31, 2008