The 24 Hours of Syllamo was...amazingincrediblephenomenalaweinspiringgroundbreakingearthshatteringawesome, and the most fun I have ever had on a bike... A few days have passed and IT is all still sinking in.. I cant wait to tell you everything... TTM decided to leave on Thurs. afternoon , so after dropping our trail monster off with family we headed to the HUB to pickup a couple necessities and then to our teammate Storms house to borrow some lights... Finally we head to Ark.. We had our jeep Wrangler packed to capacity and then some.. After a 6.5 hr drive we entered the park in the dark, put up our Hennesy Hammocks and tried to sleep... I was so excited to be here since I heard from everyone how epic the trails were..
Friday morning we moved our camp to the front of the park were the race start and finish was.. We had the best spot since we were there first... Jim and I decided to ride the course, but since we forgot the map that was going to be a challenge.. In true TTM style we guessed where the course would be and rode about 5 miles and headed back for lunch... A member of TRW, Don Daly, was circling our camp like a vulture when we returned... After he set up he decided to join us to look for the course again.. He did not have a map either... We knew that the course started with "the hill from hell" so we climbed ... It was not as difficult as i thought it would be, however, my heartrate reached 177 at the top... Not good... We took the trail to the right and that was our first mistake.... Syllamo trail has something for everyone, and a few things I was not prepared for... This ride was about 15 miles and took us 2.5 hrs since we cleared off trees and drained mud puddles.. The ride was amazing and exhausting and I started to question how I was going to ride some of the gnarly scary stuff for 24 hrs... in the dark too... We met the race promoter, Steve Kirk, after our ride and he informed us we were not on the course... Yahoooo... He told me the course was way easier than the stuff we rode... I felt better... I also learned that its stupid to ride 20 miles the day before a 24hr race...
Mr and Mrs Holtman had arrived and we sat around a small camp fire and chatted until it was time to retire... I had a hard time falling asleep since there was a raccoon, the size of a small child, harassing Jim.. He was yelling at it and throwing rocks and sticks at it... The raccoon was not skeered at all.. Finally all was quiet, or so we thought...
Morning arrived and Jim made coffee with the Jet Boil, that exploded, AGAIN... it was unfortunate my shoes were under the table and were assaulted with coffee and grounds... I was assured this would make me faster... Breakfast was oatmeal, well, no it wasnt... The Raccoon had eaten all 4 bags I packed.. Payback huh?? Now I am stressing about what I am going to eat... Todd and Karen returned from breakfast with a brown bag for me that contained toast and oatmeal!!! Things are starting to look up... Thanks guys..
Waiting until noon to race was hard... I put on my armour about 11 and finished organizing ALL my junk... I knew I had the best pit crew around so I did not have to do much.... Prerace meeting was at 1145 ... The rules and checkpoints were discussed.... My stomach was in knots since it was now Game Time... Did I train enuff??? I was going to find out.... At one point I wasnt sure if I was going to cry,vomit or shit myself.... Luckily none of the above happened....There was a 1/2 mile ride thru the campground to the 10.5 mile course and then 1/2 mile back to the start.... I did not have a goal , at first, only a strategy in mind... I would walk the hill every lap and ride like hell the rest of the course.. As I walked I passed 2 fellas already tossing their lunch and Don from TRW and Todd both had flats... It was going to be a long day....
The next 10.5 miles was glorious... The trail was very easy to follow and very easy to ride on my singlespeed.... Lap 1 was pretty uneventful, until I reached the campground... I picked up my bike by the seat to move it and the BACK tire and chain fell OFF... Yes it did... It was going to be a loooooonnnnnggggg day...
And there you have it Part One!!!!
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