Ok, It's been a long time since I raced any MTB events.  I had never done a 24 hour race and I had always wanted to since my twin brother Paul had done three and I wanted some of that experience.  So when Ron metioned on one of the Friday Flyer rides that this guy Will was looking to put together a team for Steamboat I threw my name into the Hat.  Ron, being one to never say no to challenge was in also.  We needed two more riders, hopefully a female so we could do the 5 man and our search was on......

We asked high and low for riders and got lots of maybe this and maybe that but it wasn't until Suzette stepped in and approached Ron that we had at least a fourth.... Well after a few days of searching Suzette's husband Jeff said that he would do it and we were golden.

So I didn't have any expectations at all about this event, just wanted to do it.  Especially after hearing how hard it was etc.   We picked a team name, well I missed the vote on this one and we ended up with "No where to go but up" as a name.  I would have preferred something more aggressive, like "Alien Attack Squadron" or somesuch, but since we weren't looking to kick-ass, the name didn't really matter to me. Only problem is that I had a hard time remembering it. .

I must say that we had never ridden together and I had only a nodding idea of how fast folks were or though they were.  We decided to do a night ride at Horsetooth park to at least ride together once and for perhaps some skills assessment on how comfy folks were riding technical stuff, night time skills and general bonding type stuff.

I got there late to Ron's house and thus, Ron,  Will and I got there late to the Park and it was almost Dark before the ascent.  Well I must say I would have preferred to ride up in the dark so as to get the maximum time in the dark and as a group.  Well, as it turned out Jeff , Aaron, Suzette started up the hill without us  cause they said, "They were slow and that we would catch them".  They got a good 4+ minutes on us and then Will and Ron and I took off.   I didn't want to hammer this hill cause, 1 did a ride earlier  2, I hadn't fully recovered from Elephant rock, and 3 I really needed to recover better if I was going to race on the weekend.

So  Ron and will  more/less walked away from me and I pretty much ended up riding the ascent by myself..  Hmmmm now it was getting dark and I was alone heading for a trail that I had only ridden once about a month ago and there are possibly mountain lions out there to get me.   Not sure it was a good idea to be alone!  Oh well I ain't chasing ghosts!  So I pedal and pedal and it's fricking Dark!  Finally I reach the group!   We then make the descent which for me was really sketchy cause the Wathum Trail is tricky and so I walked everything that I even had a question about....     Everyone waited many times for regrouping on the way down and all, but I must admit that I really did get a sense of the rest of the teams abilities, and that was a good thing....

Fast forward to Race Day.... Ron Will and I arrive at Steamboat early on Friday and Jeff and Suzette join us later in the evening.   We really hadn't done any planning, strategy or tactics yet and we didn't have much time.   Ron,  Will and I go and do dinner where we ran into Gale's Team at some local hot spot and we had a chat etc.  Oh did I mention that we prerode the course today!   Mentally I was glad I did it but physically I wasn't and I new  I wasn't going to be 100% for this start.....  Anyway we do dinner rather late and then go shopping for some food and then head back to the condo, which by the way is owned by Ron.

Saturday A.M and we decide the order of our racers.  We discussed a bunch of statgies, one of which was Gales Team strategy which was to be DFL after the Lemans start.... We decided that either Jeff or Suzette should start cause they were going to be riding in Sneakers!  Yes I said Sneakers!.  I must admit that when I say the platform pedals on their bikes that I was concerned, but I didn't really care cause I did think we were shooting for a place here.  The aspirational goal was to place higher than Gale's crew, but  that wasn't going to be easy given that they were top 10 last year and experienced at this event.   So Jeff volunteers to run and we are set.  So our Team order is,,, Jeff, Ron, Will, Steve, Suzette.

12:00 and the gun goes off.  Jeff takes it steady around the ~ 1/6 mile run and he is in the middle of the pack.   I got a movie of the start and I should try and post it somewhere for all to see....   We hang out etc. and  Jeff comes back with a time that I must admit, surprised me! Ok life is good and Jeff is really very strong!  Guess all that Ski racing in College made him pretty strong. I guess I am also surprised at how competitive Jeff and well everyone is for that matter, despite our meek mild appearances.

Ron is next to go and he comes back with a good time ~ 5min's faster than Jeff's time and we are doing really well.  I wonder how much of the 1st laps times are 1 shot deals and while I have no hopes for a medal, I know that everyone is in this for real.  Will is up next and he was chomping at the bit to go.  Another good time is dialed in and we are doing well. 

Finally it's my turn and I am hoping that I have recovered enough to hold my own. I am pretty sure I am good for 1 or 2 laps but I am uncertain at what my effort should be.  I didn't have my HR monitor with me so I was going to have to go by just gut feel on effort.  I wasn't concerned about not having it but I sure would have loved to have had the data... but I digress.  So I get the baton from Will and I settle into a good rhythm.  The climb is long and with 2300  ft of vertical I don't want to tire out my legs.  I resist the urge to go chase people down and per my brothers counsel,  that I should ride at a "fast ride" tempo keep the Warp engine at minium.   Even with the controlled effort I was able to bring back a lot of riders and it was fun to pass them.  I spent a lot of time spinning and going slower than I would if this were a 1 lap race.  I ended up jogging up some of the steeper sections so as not to fatigue the legs for a mere 10.. 15 seconds worth of effort, a strategy that I hoped would pay off later.

Finally I make it to the summit feeling good and ready for the descent.  This course is a real riders course, one that the pure roadies would have trouble with.  Lots of single trak, with switchbacks and  roots, rocks and grade/pitch changes.  Really close to east coast riding which I really like and grew up on.   In any case I ended up crashing on one of the tricky right handers and semi-sprained my left hand.  The bike was OK but the handle bars were crooked and I had to stop again to fix that.  Oh well,. as long as I am basically OK it's all good but I can't crash again.  I am still riding pretty hard on the way down, but I am keenly aware of the limitations of the Y bike.  That new Stratos XC shock climbs well but isn't very plush and I am taking a beating in the "Brake bumps".   I end up letting some guy pass me on the descent only to have him crash after passing me in a sweeper.  He was going ~28+ so I figured I should stop and see if he is OK.  I hung out with him for about 45 seconds and he said he was good and from what I could tell he was OK so off I went to finsh my lap with a respectable time.

Now I hand off to Suzette, who was really nervous about racing.  She was asking everyone questions about their ride etc.   She looked good taking off and I am sure she was happy to be riding in the cool of the evening.  In the mean time I head back for some food and a shower.  I should mention that Ron burned about 1800 cal his 1st lap and Jeff about 1400, so this was probably going to be a negative calorie day for all of us and we needed to eat, eat, eat to be strong.

After Suzette's return, I am pleasantly surprised that she too returned with a fast time!  Life is good for all and I am sure that Suzette was sooooo relieved that she wasn't letting anyone down. So this begs the question to my minds as to why Suzette every got the idea in her head that she was slow!...

At some point the 1st results were posted and we were pleased to find out that we were in 3rd place but only by 15 minutes or so over 4th.    It felt good to be in medal spot for a while, but we had no delusions of a podium cause we had no idea id we could hold our pace and if others were doing negative splits etc. being seasoned at this 24 hr race stuff.

After the 1st round of times by our group we started keeping track on Will's laptop of the times in a cobbled together spreadsheet, which made predicting when to go out next much more concrete.   It was actually a pretty cool collaborative effort, and it was kinda cool to be racing with Geeks that were into this stuff.  Also I could see that the team was beginning to bond more.  This whole experience reminded me of "The Real World" reality TV show where 5  people were picked to do a 24 hour race.   In any case with 3rd a possibility but 2nd  so far ahead of us it was at least cool for us to be competitive if only for a fleeting moment as the rabbit!

It was really hard to sleep for most of us.  I was doing some of the Spike energy pills and others were doing all manner of energy drinks.  Since the laps were so quick, averaging < 1:30 one would hardly be done showering and eating when the next rider would be exiting and the last rider coming in the door.  There was so much excitement wanting to hear how the lap times were going etc that that best I could do is just lay down.   My mind was racing all night and I could hear the vocies of the Dr. Who villains saying, "Regenerate, Regereate, Regenerate: over and over.  This seemed only to be interrupted by the "Cry of the Warrior" and the recitations of the "Klingon rite of ascention".  So now you are probably wondering what's in those little yellow spike pills, but since Spike does sponsor a bike team I am sure it's all good.

The Lap times from everyone continue to be good and it's time for my next lap which begins at night!.... I am a bit concerned that my 10 watt light might not be enough for the descent, but as luck would have it,  Jeff and Suzette had brought some extra Night Riders setup of which they offered me one to augment what I had.  This was just the ticket to a sweet descent and I made ready for the night assault.

My legs feel good for the most part and I was a bit concerned at what to wear since it was cool out and the descent would require much different garb than for the climb. I settled on just a long sleeve Jersey and light weight tights.  Now I have no idea how much sleep I have gotten so far. If I had to guess I would say none but I am sure I must have dozed off for at least a few moments.  Time to go and meet Will at the Start line.

I arrive at the time predicted by the spreadsheet. While I am waiting I see Todd from Gales Team there at the same moment.  We chat for a bit about the race strategy etc.  Before long Will arrives and I am off.  It's pretty eerie out there being dark and all.  There are lights behind me and they catch me this time.  I hold my pace and I must admit I like he cooler temps and the darkness.  Eventually I come upon a few riders and we exchange greetings before I  leave them.   I am passed by someone who was riding a bit over their head and after a while I catch them before the summit.   Time to turn on the extra lights  for the descent and it's good.  I am moving pretty good.  The ground is damp and the roots are slippery and I hit a couple of them a bit wrong and my front end was sliding a bit too much for me.  I didn't go down but I decided to take it easier so as not to waste time having to get up off the ground again.  Somewhere on this descent I lost my battery to my lights and I didn't notice this until I got to the bottom.  I was wondering why adjusting the light made no difference, but I didn't have time to investigate this earlier.   In any case this was a pretty slow descent for me due to the extra caution.

I arrive at the hand off a bit later than predicted by the Spreadsheet and and Anxious but ready Suzette was there to greet me.  I fumble for the baton and hand it over to her and my job for now is done.  Jeff is there with her and we go and check the results to see how we are doing.  I think at this point we were 3rd with maybe 15 minutes or so over 4th place.

Back at the Condo I get some food and shower and try to get some sleep.  I am really getting tired of Power yuk yuk food but my stomach is really ready to eat too much real food either.

Lap times from everyone are pretty good even through the night and we are lucky that everyone is pretty comfy at night. Guess Jeff and Suzette actually do most of their riding ant night so I am sure that this helped us keep the lap times down.  Ron is like a machine and his lap times are only like 3 or so minutes different between all of his laps, two of which I believe were at night.

In the A.M at some point I wake up and try to make ready for more laps.  I try and eat something but I really don't feel like eating anything.  I am able to force down about 1/3 of a power bar and some ensure, but that's it.  I check the spreadsheet and get the skinny of where we are so far and it became apparent that we made up much ground and that if we could hold it together that  we would keep our 3rd place.  Also looked like we were gaining on 2nd place and it now looked possible that we could catch them.

Time for my next lap and the way things looked it that this could be my last lap.  There was some banter of moving folks around for the 4th lap in order to make the time cut off for the next lap, so I kept this in mind.  Once again I head down to greet will who was right on time as far as the SpreadSheet was concerned.  I get the baton and I am off and running.  This lap I want to turn a good time and I plan to ride all of the crap that I walked before since it is clear that I have saved  enough legs to be able to do this.   The temps are good and I am having a good old time passing folks on the way up.  I could really use that 22 on this bike so as to make some of the sections easier but I was able to ride strong and clean all of the steep sections.   The effort to do this however confirmed that I made wise choices not to ride them the 1st couple of laps.

The descent was also good on this lap.  There we some grade changes that I walked before because they were  abrupt, steep and challenging.  This time however I was not to concerned about saving too much, and it was cool to be able to ride that stuff clean.   The bad part about the descent is that the suspension on the Y-bike was not dialed in for the washboard Braking bumps which seemed to go on forever.  The bike was packing up and It was a lot of work to keep it in check.  That Stratos XC shock I don't think can be dialed in for that course and the Manitou  didn't have enough travel and rebound not to pack up here either.  I got passed by 2 guys that I caught on the climb and they were flying.  I am sure that I would have saved Mucho time with a better suspension setup. Conclusion is that the Y bike is a good CC machine but not a plush All Mtn bike and that I may have to get a free ride bike for such things in the future.....

In any case I turned in a good time and this would help us in our quest.  I make the hand off to Suzette and it's back to the Condo Again.  This is starting to get old however and I am starting to get tired.

I think at this point we had somehow taken over 2nd place and there was Euphoria in our camp.   This was more than we could have hoped for and everyone was keen on keeping the lap times low.   Looks like everyone had metered there energy/efforts well or at least recovered well as we were good with no suffering yet.   All we had to do is hold it together and we would have 2nd locked up.  3rd was a given at least at this point.

For the last 2 laps it was decided that we would go out of order and Ron and I would do those.  I must admit that I really didn't want to do another lap but with thoughts of LeadVille looming in the distance I figured that should do it just for the training.

Ron turned in a blistering time for his 4th and final lap.  I think it may have been his fastest lap of the day and he came flying into the Finish like a man posssed. We make the hand off and now  I am off.

Now it's time for me to dig deep.  I figured I had enough in me to do about half the clmib strong.  I am climbing fairly well, but I can tell that the snap had gone out of my legs.  With about half the climb done, I started reeling in folks that were more spent than I was.  Did I mention how hot this lap was. No doubt the hottest of the event.  I am sure I am not well hydrated but I do my best to drink what I can.  I exchange greetings with a young woman on a borrowed bike and I bid her good racing.  Everyone in this whole event was really friendly which is really cool.    

When I near the section of the climb where the snow is, I am know that I don;t have too much futher to go, but there are some steep sections.  I must walk, or at least choose to walk them cause I am kinda tired now.   Did I mention how hot it was.  Finally I reach the top and for the 1st time in the event I stop for a few minutes to get some of what ever they were giving out at the top.  I take off after about a bit and it's time for the descent.   Right now I feel like I have been skiing all day and I am not fresh at all.  The bike is not working well and I am spent.  I take my time and walk anything that is steep or even moderately techincal.  On the way down I hit the brakes before this technical section and this 11 year old kid runs into and fall over.  I apologize he gets up.  I let him go ahead of me, and he starts whining about not being able to get started on this technical section. I tell him just to walk it down cause there are no gold medals here.  I take off after him just keeping the bike steady.  It's really a fun descent but just like a long day on the skis I am done and it;'s not that much fun.  Time is ticking away, but I don't care, I just want to get down.   I get passed by one of the guys I passed on the climb and then later by  Dennis, who is one of Gales posse.   Finally I get to the last fast sections with the wash boards and I am on the brakes and can hear the rims cooking!    My suspension is uselsess now and it's all I can do to just hold on.  At last I can see the finish line and Ron and Will are there taking pictures.   Gales posses is at the finsih line too and they congratulate us on our job well Done! 

A good time was had by all and it was good to finish in 2nd place.  Spirits were high as this was the 1st podium for some of us.  Yes!   Here are the Results for our Class.