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My first 24 hour! (Race report, long) (22 posts)
|  My first 24 hour! (Race report, long) | Zonic Man
May 20, 2002 8:10 AM | | Well, the race started out INTERESTINGLY.to say the least. When Team MTBR-1 (aka Number plate 420) was doing their LeMans start, I was walking down the aisle of Sacramento Memorial Auditorium graduating from school. Following the graduation the family went over to a nice restaurant, got the grub on, said the requisite "roasting" things in various speeches about me, and spent good quality time together.
Immediately following dinner, Suzy and I RACED home to an already packed car. We hopped out of our dress clothes and into more appropriate attire for the 3-hour drive down to Laguna Seca.
After 3 Red Bulls and a half a can of Copenhagen, we arrive at the 24 hours of Adrenalin. Oh, what a site at 11 in the evening, hopped up on caffeine and ready to ride! I was SOOO fired up.
Suzy and I quickly hooked up with the team, emptied the car, pitched the tent, and I put on the appropriate bike clothing for my scheduled 2 a.m. lap.
We head over to the staging area, where I am instructed on what to do. You see, I'm a total 24 hours rookie. Hell, I had only done one other night ride before, and that was basically on a dirt bike path. Here I am going to be RACING at night on an 11 mile course. Whooo boy.
So all of a sudden, they yell, "TEAM 420!" and I see Mike round the corner into the staging area. He passes me the baton, and off I go!
The course starts (after the bridge) with a mellow climb up.. middle ring stuff. Then there was LOTS of fast, rutted, bumpy as hell singletrack.then a nice meandering climb up to hurl hill.then TONS of SWEET downhill, then a LONG ASS climb back out. I swear, the climb felt like forever! (It was really only about 3 miles, but FELT long at 2:45 a.m. after the day I had.) When I reached the top of the climb (where the sea otter dual slalom is) I gave out a loud "WOOOOOHOOOO" knowing it was all downhill from there. I rushed into the staging area, and heard some teammates yell out "Jed, is that you?" from the staging area..I hauled ass around the campground/course area, and came in to pass the baton to beautiful Laura, who was off on her lap. I checked my time and did a respectable 1:02 in the dark, out of my car, with no preparation. I wasn't pleased, however, I wanted to be under an hour.
Off to sleep for 3 hours, up for coffee and another lap.
My morning lap was good.I did a 57 minute lap and took about a 1-2 minute break to talk to a friend of mine at aid station number 3 before the big climb.
I was pleased as punch with that.
All in all my 24 hours experience was freaking AWESOME. Major props go to Forrest and Richard for their 51-minute laps on DH bikes. That's just sick.
HUGE props go out to MTBR-2 Singlespeed, who took home 2nd place in the 5 man division all on SINGLESPEEDS. You guys are SICK! Seriously tough.good performance. Are you guys sleeping like ALL day today or what? Mark Weir, you are one sick mofo. Still a rammer though. Guys, his laps weren't 41s.. they were 40s! Holy S!
Special Props to Gina as well, for her 3-lap performance. That was great!
Camaraderie was there, the racing was there, the fun was there.
I'm glad I was able to be a part of.next year I'll be there for the FULL deal.
Ray, coming in about 3:30 off a night lap. |
| Passing the Baton on the night lap. | Zonic Man
May 20, 2002 8:12 AM | | |
| Pooped. | Zonic Man
May 20, 2002 8:14 AM | | Post race. |
| Morning finish. | Zonic Man
May 20, 2002 8:20 AM | | Suzy's just learning to pan. Sorry. |
| Before my first lap. (Posing) | Zonic Man
May 20, 2002 8:25 AM | | |
| What I did BEFORE I got to the race. | Zonic Man
May 20, 2002 8:28 AM | | Graduation with family. |
| re: My first 24 hour! (Race report, long) | The Toninator
May 20, 2002 8:28 AM | | hey congrats Z!
I cant believe you actually got to sleep though. I was team captain for my 24h team and i didn't sleep a wink the whole time. Welcome into the best of what XC has to offer.
t |
| Nice recap, Zoomic Nan! Why didn't I sign up to do this? | Biking Viking
May 20, 2002 8:33 AM | | I have no idea.
Next year, I'll be there.
BV |
| Congrats! ... | ®andyA
May 20, 2002 8:51 AM | | ... on both the Graduation & Race. You sure had a long day... ;-)
Randy
PS. If you don't mind, I took the liberty of editing your pics. The originals were a little too dark.
* Ray, coming in about 3:30 off a night lap (v.2)
* Passing the Baton on the night lap (v.2)
* Pooped (v.2)
 |
| The MTBR singlespeed team... | terminaut
May 20, 2002 8:51 AM | | Had a blast! Here's a group pic of us right after Weir crossed the finish on our final lap. The guy's not human, I tell ya... The race announcer was in disbelief when he learned that the fastest lap time for the race was done by Weir on his singlespeed.
It was awesome meeting/hanging out and racing with everyone! My thanks to Francis for a phenomenal weekend of racing! |
| Those guys kicked ass! | Zonic Man
May 20, 2002 8:55 AM | | I was in CONSTANT disbelief at them going, and going, and going.... |
| Maybe you didn't deserve to be on the same course as them | Luke
May 20, 2002 9:22 AM | | |
| Maybe you're right. | Zonic Man
May 20, 2002 9:33 AM | | And maybe you're a dickhead.
Tough call. |
| LOL, hurts when somebody disses you, doesn't it? | Luke
May 20, 2002 9:37 AM | | |
| *Yawn* | Zonic Man
May 20, 2002 9:49 AM | | ...It's a beautiful morning...la la.... |
| There's no way a singlespeed is faster than a geared bike!! | radair
May 20, 2002 5:01 PM | | At least, that's what BV said. |
| Let the bait cover the hook completely next time(nm) | Biking Viking
May 20, 2002 7:36 PM | | |
| Haha - I knew you would at least nibble on it! | radair
May 21, 2002 3:34 AM | | The lightbulb will go on if you go ride a SS. |
| Good job Z.M. & team ... (?) | Nick
May 20, 2002 10:02 AM | | The question being, why didn't you ride your new steel XC Jericho bike?
Nick |
| Jericho XC bike= | Zonic Man
May 20, 2002 12:24 PM | | "At paint".
Hopefully I will have it by the end of the week. |
| Race results | Spreyatch
May 20, 2002 10:06 AM | | Nice writeup Jed! It was good meeting you and hanging with you all. Props to you for making the trip and riding on graduation day!
I had a blast. This was my second 24 hour event. My times were 58, 1:03 (my dusty 11pm lap - including one wipeout) and one 11AM ride with Gina where I rode with her on her 55 minute lap until she dropped me on the Long Climb Home. Maybe next year we will try our luck with a 5 man team.
Here are the race results:
http://www.trilife.com/results/events/Laguna_Seca_2002/agg_results.html
Check out the non-pro dude who did 22 laps and the woman that did 21 laps. Holy crap! Also, Weirs times were 40s not 41s- that guy is a machine! Congrats to the SS team - you guys kicked ass! |
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