24 Hours Of Syllamo

Since my pit crew, Jim , was out on the course taking pictures about 1 mile away I freaked.. I am not as familiar with my bike as I would like to be.. I know how to fix a flat and that is about it.. Luckily, Don and Noelle fromTRW saw me struggling and came to my aid.. I thought we could just take the back wheel off Jims bike, but the chain would need to be shortened. So they put Jims wheel back on and I would have to ride his bike.. I love this bike , but it was set at 34x20.. I refueled and hopped on it... I walked the hill and went as fast as I could thru the rest of the course..Some would have been crushed by this.. I have been trained in the art of superior attitude so I just rolled with it.. My bike was fixed for lap 3 , so I changed my socks and shoes and headed out again..Last month Jim bought me a pair of Specialized mtb shoes for my b-day.. They are super and make me faster but they are not quite broken in yet..

. . Heading out on Lap 4 I was feeling very comfortable with my riding and had the course memorized.. This helped a lot since I was on a singlespeed and needed to keep momentum up and over the short grunts.. I learned to use the trail and conserve energy by using a few quick pedal strokes up the grunts and then just recover and flow downhill.. I had borrowed a fantastic light from Busken.. OMG what a great light ..NITERIDER Lights. I knew I would not need it for this lap but took it just in case .. I returned from lap 4 at 730 and refueled and changed jerseys since I wanted to wear my white" old school" jersey at night...

Lap 5 came and went.. I now know what it is like to have a bright as f*** light... I loved the way the light fanned out over the trail.. I usually ride with just a helmet light , but this bar light has me rethinking it..It was so dark by 830 but with that beacon I was still able to ride fast downhill... If I learned anything on this trail it was how to downhill.. I was needing to work on this since I use my brakes way too much.. I had made a deal with myself that if I was going to walk the hill I needed to make up time and lay off the brakes.. .. I continued to pedal and pedal.. I almost hit a raccoon and chased a skunk off the trail.. I could hear other animals but tried to keep my focus on riding.. I did not get to ride with anyone. We were all doing our own thing.. I had intended on doing at least one lap with "Babyfood Bob" , but that never worked out...

Laps 6 and 7 were tough.. I made a couple of calls at the top of the climb to check on things back home and hear a friendly voice... Jim is an excellent pit crew and motivator, however sometimes I need to hear it from someone else... I was beginning to feel the pain.. Until now my longest ride was 65 miles.. I had completed 80 miles and it was starting to get cold... Somehow I misplaced one of my arm warmers so I rode this lap with one..

After lap 7 I rested for an undetermined amount of time.. I think I had been riding about 15 hours by this time... I got very cold since I stopped riding so Jim built me a fire and covered me with blankets and a sleeping bag.. He set his watch , he hit snooze once and then I HAD to get up.. I knew the longer I stayed the harder it would be to get moving again... I put on my leg warmers and Underamour shirt ... Jim had checked my bike, Connor, and lubed the chain about every other lap so I had no worries.. I had tried to eat a bagel, but choked on it.. Liquid fuel is the way to go for me.. Hammer Sustained Energy , electrolytes, and Expresso Gels were amazing, but sticky and just plain gross after 18 hrs.. I knew I had to keep forcing at least one bottle and one gel each lap in order to keep going... I did experience cotton mouth so my Extra gum came in handy..

Lap 8 ...