There are times in life when your family will question your sanity. Your friends will tell you that you have lost your mind. People you don't really know might just ask 'Why?' What on earth would make you want to sit on a bicycle, go round-and-round on a course in the woods, in the day, night, and back into the day for 24 straight hours? Some kind of madness for sure.
There are times in life when you question your own sanity. Usually it's about the time you realize your friends, family, and those strangers who questioned your intelligence were probably right. Why would someone want to do this to themselves? But then it's too late, because you are on the bike, you have been on it for 14 hours, and you now think "Hey self, You are well past the halfway mark.... just hang in there for another 10 hours.
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| Racer Dammule setting up sleeping quarters before the race. |
My awesome girlfriend stayed awake for almost as long as I did. She refilled my camelbak for me with a properly mixed concoction of GU-BREW endurance fuel at least 6 times. She helped me find my GU Gels when I came through after each lap, and also helped grab other odds and ends and throw them to me when they were requested.
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| My own personal pit crew: Nikki G, getting ready for a loooong day of refilling my camelbak, drinking beers, and telling me to keep on pedaling! She is the best a guy could ask for !!!!! |
A close friend of mine, Jeff, came up from Florida just to hang out during the race, and give me shit. I'd come through and he would say stuff like "You are so slow, I'd have about 40 laps by now..." and far worse things. Luckily I was having a good ride, and I wasn't about to let anything interfere with that. I broke 100 miles around 2:30 am. Slow and steady, I picked a few monster hills on that course and walked them each lap, so I could save valuable energy and ride just a bit longer. On lap 9, at around 2:30 or 2:45 a.m., right in the middle of this crazy song by Static-X, my iPod came unclipped from my camelbak and swung around in slow-motion. Right into my front wheel. This was a rough, bouncy downhill section in the woods, the only light being the one attached to my handlebars. As soon as the iPod hit the spokes, my song was replaced with silence. Just long enough for me to hear the iPod go skipping off through the bushes and leaves somewhere off to my right. It's one of those new Nano touch models. The thing is hard enough to find when I know where it is.
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Nikki had a couple friends up to hang for a bit. My parents came out to show their support too. From left to right:
Mike, Mom Top, Jeff, James, and Pop Top |
Continuing on for a bit, with only headphones in my ear and nothing attached to them, I decided I should wrap them around my hand and wrist until I found a good stopping point. They fell off my wrist before I stopped. "Well, what good are they without the iPod?" I asked myself out loud. Now slightly pissed off that my iPod and musical source of motivation was gone, it was even harder to continue. I finished that lap and stopped to try to eat some solid foods. I whipped up some pasta shells with some very mild olive-oil sauce the night before, and I was hoping it would still mash well with my stomach. Not the best plan.
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| Someone told me my legs would stay cleaner if I shaved them. Not only was that NOT true, but it also made me colder at night. At least my girlfriend loved it... |
My stomach clearly wasn't in as good of shape as I thought. On top of that, the wind was blowing from 5-25 mph all day. It stayed basically the same at night, and being sweaty with damp clothes in windy 55 degrees is not a great idea. Between nausea and chills, I knew I was going to be sick if I didn't get warm. I jumped into my tent, changed to all dry clothes, and buried myself in my sleeping bag. After 30 minutes of shaking, with my teeth chattering, and rubbing my chest, I passed out. 2 and a half hours later, I woke up feeling great! Back on the bike!!!
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| Tim, one of the local volunteers and very skilled riders, let me ride his Penny Farthing around after the race. That was the scariest contraption I have ever ridden! The whole thing wobbles, and it's a fixie! |
I finished up my tenth lap around 7 a.m. (120 miles) and caught the sunrise in doing so. I never did get that solid food down earlier though, so my 'Great feeling' wore off kind of fast. Liquid food was keeping me moving, just barely, and I knew i only had one lap left in me. I took another Gu gel, jumped on the bike, and went out for one more. Being exhausted makes navigating tight twisty downhills that much more difficult. Hell, they are usually pretty easy. Having daylight back was helpful though and I couldn't help but think about my iPod. How I missed it... that playlist was awesome too. "I'm going to find it!" I shouted to the trail and hammered on. I stopped within 20 or 30 feet of where i thought it fell off, and walked along with my bike. A few steps and sweeping stares into the leaves, and nothing. A few more steps. Still nothing.
I swear it was on the last glance before I gave up, and I looked down next to this small sapling. There it was!
AWESOME!!! In my excitement, I failed to realize I didn't have earphones anymore. DOH!!!
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| Practicing proper chain-lubrication technique, clean, lube, wipe - approximately 20 hours in... |
In the end I made for 5th place in my first ever 24 hour race, I did it on a singlespeed, and hit my goal of 125 miles. I got 132. My friends Charles Weaving III (19 years old from Macon, Ga) and Tim Winters (one of the local GATRs) Took first and second in the singlespeed class. Charles ended up with 15 laps and 180 miles! The crazy part is, he never rides a singlespeed! I'm impressed. Tim got in 14, as well as the next 3 places. I had never even ridden 100 miles in a day before, so 132 was a victory for me.
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| Pop Top, Jeff, and Tim talking about his crazy bike. Tim came by our tent a few times to see how I was doing. Thanks TIM!!!! Nikki G. is in the background too!!! |
It was great seeing so many people come out to the first 24 Hours of Georgia event. Chain Buster Racing and DirtySpokes Productions put on really great events, and this was no different! For probably 20 hours of the 24, Bruce Dickman announced, heckled, and promoted Pro-Gold lubricants. It's amazing how much energy that guy has....
As always, thanks for reading and I hope to see you out there on the trails soon!
-Daniel
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