Cool Twenty Ten.....The Race Recap

 

Here we go; let's start with Friday. I left Santa Rosa around 9:30 and arrived at the venue just before noon. I met up with Team Manager and event Promoter Jim Northey to get the low down on our pit area. I was the first person on team Global Biorhythm Events (GBE) to get there, so I got to secure the best pit area on the course. I off -loaded my truck and discovered that my 10 X 10 EZ-up wasn't so easy by myself with the wind howling. Things were coming together slowly but surely. I started to stress out a little when the primo trailer spots were being snatched left and right, but that all changed when Mike and Kerri Self arrived with their 35' travel trailer just in time. The next hour was spent dialing in the trailer and the pit tent. I finally sat down just before 2pm and enjoyed my favorite lunch; garden green salad with all the fixings topped with two cans of tuna fish.

After lunch I donned my brand new GBE kit and went out to check out the course. As I rolled out, my friend and teammate Zol Whitman, was also planning on doing a pre-ride. We hit the course together and discussed race tactics as we committed the course to memory. This was going to be Zol's first 24hr solo race. The course was great; about a dozen or so muddy sections, but altogether a fast course. I got back to the trailer, finished dialing in the tent, and then finally got to relax. I had my standard ops pre-race dinner meal of spaghetti, salad, and bread. The night came on fast and before I knew it, it was dark. I got to bed early and although I was anxious about the race, I got a great night sleep.

Race day came and as I ate my breakfast I was able to finally embrace the moment. I had been training for this race since November. The goal of this race was first and foremost to raise as much money as I could in an effort to fight cancer the only way I knew how. Then I wanted to win the Pro Solo SS division. I felt relaxed and not stressed out at all. 24Hr mountain bike racing is so much more mental than physical. Don't get me wrong; there's a HUGE physical component, but never under estimate the mental side. I recall after my last 24hr race in July, I had a kind of aversion to night time. For a few weeks, whenever I went outside during the night I was reminded of the pain that I experienced in the race during the night. It's so lonely and your mind starts to really mess with you. I mean, why would anyone choose to ride their bike for 24 hrs straight? Let's not go there. Anyway, I knew all the pain and sleep deprivation was ahead of me, but I also knew I was going to get through it. I had a great pit crew and support system, and I was ready to battle.

The rest of the morning went by super fast as it always does and before I knew it, it was time to line up. 3-2-1 and we were off starting to ride our bikes for hours and hours and hours. Before we hit the dirt, Brad Cole, the one guy I had to keep a close eye on as he was and is a fierce competitor, rolled next to me. We encouraged each other on what was certainly going to be another epic battle. I say another because the last time we raced each other in a 24hr event we went neck and neck for the entire race. I sqeaked out the win, but only by a mere 20 minutes. I knew he was coming to this race ready to even things up.

The race started off fast as usual, but I was able to keep a tight reign on my excursion level, yet was still able to start putting minutes on Brad and the rest of the SS Solo Field. I felt great and just kept ticking out the laps. The weather was ideal, my pit crew was on point, my legs were fresh, and I was mentally unbeatable. My split times to Brad was hovering in the mid-teens so we kept the pits to under ½ a minute and waited for the night. The first 10 to 12 hours of a 24hr race can be misleading. The real race starts when it gets dark. You've got to race hard to get to the dark, but it's what you can do during the dark that counts. It was apparent early into the night hours that Brad was once again on his A-game.

The hours and laps started to all blend together and because I wasn't wearing a watch, I had no idea what time it was or what lap I was on. I just kept turning the cranks over. I recall during the cold night hours when I was approaching the end of a lap, I noticed that my rear tire felt low. I had so many things on my mind as to what I wanted to tell John and Mike to get ready for my next return that I completely forgot to check my tire in the pits. I rolled out quickly and got a ways down the trail before I was rudely reminded that my rear tire was indeed low. I stopped and confirmed that I had a leak but that the tire sealant might have done it's job in sealing the leak although my tire was still dangerously low. I had a choice to make, I could use my CO2 to inflate the tire and see if it held or keep riding and try to make it to the feed station at the halfway point and hope that they had a floor pump to use. If I used the CO2, I would run the risk of not being able to fix a possible secondary flat. I didn't want to stop, as my lead to Brad was only around 14 minutes. Every time I sat down on the saddle I felt the squishy rear tire splashing all over the place. Consequently, I spent the first part of this lap out of the saddle. It was hard on my legs but I actually gained some time. I got to the feed station and grabbed their floor pump and filled up my tire. It held and I was able to sit down and peddle away the rest of the lap. Crisis averted.

The following lap presented some other mechanical issues. On the final hill of this lap, I was caught by my friend and overall race leader in the Pro Class, Dezmin Wilder. We rode together and talked about the race. His pace was a bit stronger than mine, but I managed to stay with him. However, while doing so, I noticed my bike started to give me grief in a hurry. The chain needed replacement, the brake pads were also needing a change, and the bike was overall very muddy. I rolled into the pit and quickly jumped on a good friend of mine, Jay Bretz's bike. I couldn't get the saddle height dialed in and unfortunately turned a slow lap. I was able to give the GBE Team Wrench, Peter, time to give my bike some love. I was back on my bike for the remainder of the race.

I think it was around 4 in the morning when I was just praying for the sun to come up. A while later, I rode up to another GBE teammate, Sean McDevitt. It was at the beginning of a lap that he said, “This is our last night lap.” I was elated. There's a point in 24hr racing when sun comes up and you just get a renewed boost of energy. You can see the trail again in the dawn light and it starts to feel normal again. At this point in the race, I started to try and do the math in an effort to figure out how many more laps I had to do. It didn't help that I had no idea what my laps times were as well as what time it actually was. On one hand I wanted exact inform so I could figure it out, but on the other hand, I didn't want to know for fear of what the math might going to conclude.

My lead over Brad was not getting bigger, it was actually narrowing. Brad was getting stronger and it appeared like I was fading. I broke down and asked a fellow racer what time it was. He said it was almost 9:00am. Immediately I did the math. I knew my laps were over in an hour, but by how much I just wasn't sure. The pre-ride I did the day before was 1 hour and 5 minutes. So I knew it was more than that. Anyway, I figured I had two more laps in addition to the one I was halfway through. I got pumped up and started to race again. Two laps! I can do that.

I rolled through the pits and John said I was 17 minutes up on Brad. Great! The next lap I came through John said I had 14 minutes. No big deal, he got three minutes on my last lap. I am now on what I think is my last lap and I start to put the hammer down. When you're on your last lap of a 24hr race you can dig pretty deep. Each hill you climb you mentally check it off. I got to the halfway point right before the feed station and I saw Mike Self on his bike riding up to me. I actually thought to myself, “Mike's going to tell me that Brad didn't go out on his last lap and I can just cruise to the finish and win the race.” That's NOT what Mike told me. He in fact said, “Mike, you're doing great. You've got one more lap after this one.” I'm thinking no way, there's not enough time based on the time I thought it was. Or better yet, based on what time that fellow racer told me it was. I quickly found out that time I was given was off by one hour. That meant Mike was giving me accurate intel. I had one more lap after this one if I wanted to contest the win.

I had to mentally get over the fact that if I wanted to win this race I had to do ONE more lap. That was hard to do. I had moved on and was ready for it to be over. I was tired and the fight to stay in it was diminishing rapidly. I also had a little bit of a physical problem brewing. The nerves in both hands were firing like crazy and I could barely hold on to the handle bar. My pace dropped off on the final hill as I started to think to myself that 2^nd place wasn't so bad. After all, my first priority of this race was to raise money to fight cancer. My mind was going a mile a minute which was mentally and physically draining. I just flat didn't want to go out again. I got to the pits and my brother John was there saying, “Let's go, get out there and do one more lap, you've got 13 minutes on Brad!” I said, “J, I'm done, I can't safely ride my bike. My wrists are on fire. The sharp pain is killing me.” I started to ride with my forearms on the grips. This was point in the race when my twin brother knew what I needed to hear and I was going to do whatever he said. He said, “Mike you've trained so hard for this WIN, do this for Dad!” With no more words said, I turned and left on my last lap.

The weather was getting warmer and warmer and now knowing that the faster I went, the faster the race would be over and the pain would go away. I dug really deep and buried myself on every hill. I turned myself inside out as I fought through the pain that was now radiating into my arms. I attacked every hill with a vengeance.

I got to the halfway point and saw John riding up to me. He gave me words of encouragement and told me that I had 13 minutes on Brad at the start of the lap. If I kept a solid tempo he wouldn't be able to catch me. On the last big hill climb at the end of the lap I began to start to talk to myself out loud. I knew that if I was to get to the top of the hill without him in sight, I'd have it. “Come on, keep going, don't stop, don't walk, you can ride up this hill.” I got to the top and turned back to see nothing but the open trail. I descended like a rock from the sky. I saw the finish line and eased off the pedals and coasted to my second straight 24 hr Solo SS Win.