When the cannon shot rang out at 12 o’clock noon, I hadn’t yet realized what the ensuing 24 hours had in store. I knew that there would be a lot of pain, a good deal of exhaustion, some saddle soreness, and hopefully some excitement, however, what I didn’t know was how eventful the race would be.
Delayed for various hours by an exploded RV motor and the resulting consequence of having to be towed off the Mass TurnPike, my friend Matt and I once again began our trip north to Great Glen in NH. Here, on that the following day, we would begin a 24 hours mountain bike race.
The format was simple—a team, comprised of either 2, 4, or 5, raced an 8 mile loop over a span of 24 hours in hopes of completing more laps than their competitors. Though the rules were pretty straight forward, a good deal of strategy was needed as teams didn’t have to maintain a regimented race order and live timing was available to track everyone’s progress.
The race began at noon on Saturday, however my first lap, being that I was third in our rotation, didn’t come until about 2:30 PM. When the time came, I was pretty nervous as I hadn’t previewed the course and hadn’t really trained for the event. Despite my worries, I was on course before I knew it. Though much of the course was on hard-packed double track, the sections of technical single-track broke up the rests and proved to be quite tiring.
After the first lap I said “oh, [expletive], what’ve I gotten myself into” at the thought of having to do 7 more laps at what seemed to be full speed. Nonetheless, with ample rest between laps (roughly 2 1/4 hrs) and lots of carbs, I managed to maintain relative strength and speed through the afternoon and into the night. More importantly, my team, with the help of some consistency from my roommate and his brother, pulled into the lead (of our respective category) after just a few laps. With the live timing, we were able to track the other teams progress to ensure that we were doing everything in our power to maintain the lead. Through the night, even when sleep was sparse and temperatures were cold, we continued to attack and push onward. When dawn broke, we were all happy to put away our lights and continue riding by daylight. As the second day continued, it looked promising for us as we had gained a surprisingly large 35 minute lead over the second place team.
At 11:20 A.M I began my last, and the team’s last lap. Exhausted and with the win essentially secured, I took the final lap slow and eventually coasted into the arena with delight. And with cliché on my mind, I gave a strong fist pump to cross the finish and end our race.
Following the race—and perhaps the most deserved shower of my life—we packed up camp and prepared for the long ride home. Though I wasn’t able to stay for awards, my teammates stood atop the podium and celebrated the win. However, the weekend did end as all such events should—with a free tee-shirt and a whole lot of pictures.
Descending the stairs at the end of the course
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