|   my story of the 24hrs of adrenalin worlds | poz
Sep 6, 2002 2:14 PM | | I just returned this past Tuesday night from one of the most exciting and intense weekends of my life, the 24 Hours of Adrenalin Solo World Championships.
Chris Eatough, two time defending world champ, asked if I could accompany him and his father, Mike, this year to help support his attempt at a third straight title. I answered yes without a moment's hesitation.
We arrived at Silverstar Mountain on Thursday evening, around 5 pm, and the plan was to build our three bikes ASAP and hit the course, which we did. The trail was awesome! It started with 15-20 minutes of solid climbing on a cinder path. There were parts that were nice and windy with dips and hills, and made for fairly high speed climbing. This path led us nearly all the way to the summit of the mountain, and turned off into singletrack with some rooty technical bits before the climb ended. As the climb concluded at the top of Silverstar, riders were treated to unmatchable views in every direction. After passing the uppermost lift stations, it was into the woods for some world class descending. The first third of the descent was pretty fast, open trails, but wishes for tighter trails were soon granted with extremely twisty, narrow and treacherous sections that forced all but the boldest of riders to dismount their bikes. At one point the trail traversed along the side of the mountain for a stretch and was extremely narrow, looking to the left offered only trees and mountain shrubs at less than an arms reach, while looking to the right revealed the mountain falling away at such a steep pitch you knew that if you fell you would keep falling for a while. The descent continued with more of this until riders were spit into a tunnel under the main access road of the mountain, pitch black inside, and full of whoops and bumps. After popping out the other side, riders trudged up another ski slope climb to checkpoint three. At this spot, team riders turned off to finish their laps, while solo riders began the extra 2 mile section that made up the rest of their loop. It consisted of continuing the rest of the way up the ski slope, then winding through some tight singletrack with lots of short steep ups and downs, finishing with riders flying down an access road and rejoining the trail on the way down the finishing straight. Most riders were turning about 1:20 to 1:40 lap times. Mike and I were able to do the ride in just over an hour on Friday, when we had to chance to ride the course a second time. Highlights included a high speed two and a half foot drop off, the narrow traverse that lasted three minutes, and a super steep rooted out section just following the tunnel exit.
Friday saw more race preparation, laying out our pit area and finding homes for all the backup supplies, meeting many of the other competitors and staff, and running through possible scenarios and what our responses would be. Mike and I rode the course a second time that afternoon, enjoying the vistas and challenging trails. Friday night we relaxed in the room with a pasta dinner and talked strategy. Both Chris and his dad are master planners and I felt like we had the entire race mapped out in our heads that evening. Chris was getting mentally ready for the effort of riding this type of course for 24 hours without stopping, and Mike and I were trying to think of any details we might have missed. Early to bed that night to get ahead on sleep, since none of us would see a bed for the next 36 hours. . . .
Saturday morning was beautiful. Temps in the 70's, blue skies, and a light breeze. The race preparations continued, and after a large breakfast we headed down to the pit area to make sure everything was in it's place before the noon start. The race follows traditional 24 hour format, that is it begins with a Le Mans start, the riders running a 10-12 minute loop on the trail and then returning to the start area to retrieve their bikes and begin riding. Chris seemed almost serene, and was all business as the time ticked away to twelve, in sharp contrast to Mike and me, who felt all jittery and nervous, tingling with excitement.
At noon sharp Adrenalin fired the starting gun and the race was off. Chris took a good start on the run, getting in to retrieve his bike in the top five, with Tinker Juarez hot on his heels. Tinker, who is a mountain biking legend and is in the MTB hall of fame, was Chris' main competition. Tinker has been focusing exclusively on 24 hour endurance racing this year, and is the defending national champion, as well as holding an impressive list of wins at other 24 hour events. Other strong riders were not to be discounted either, and they included Ariel Lindsley, for Subaru-Gary Fisher(riding this year without a support crew), Mark Henderschot, for Alger Racing (4th last year at worlds), Rishi Grewal, (former world champ in 1999), and Tom Zidak ( a Canadian rider gaining notoriety) among others. After the run there was a prologue lap, and tinker came out first, with Chris pursuing. At the end of the first lap it was Chris in the lead, with Tinker only a few seconds off the pace, and the rest of the field chasing hard.
Chris seemed to be riding an unsustainable pace, turning lap times under 45 minutes for his first several laps, then barely going over an hour. He put several minutes on Tinker by lap five, and at the end of that lap, Tinker was overheard in his pit saying,"He is going too fast." Chris's strategy was to ride his own pace up the climbs, where Tinker was thought to have had the advantage, and then make time up with his superior descending skills. The plan was working, and it seemed that Chris was making so much time up on the descents that Tinker couldn't make it back on the climbs! As the hours wore on, Chris continued to extend his lead a few minutes per lap. After 6 pm, riders had to go out with lighting systems, and we knew things would only improve then. Chris had the advantage of having at his disposal incredible new lights provided by Lupine lighting systems. These lights were extremely lightweight, with far superior wattage and burn times then anything else on the market, and his lap times reflected this as they hardly changed from his day lap times.
In the pits, Mike and I had settled into an efficient rhythm. I would ride out to checkpoint three and meet Chris on his way up the final climb. There I would find out from him what he wanted to eat, drink, how his bike was performing, etc. Then back to the pit area to await his arrival. When Chris came into the pits, he would swap bikes (nearly every lap) and grab whatever food and drink he wanted. His pit stops were kept to the shortest time we could manage. After he came through, Mike and I divided duties getting the bike washed and prepped for the next lap, readying the next round of food and drink, and trying to anticipate any other needs our rider might have. The system worked wonderfully and we kept down time to a minimum. There were a few times we broke rhythm though. Chris came thought on one lap and told me he had twisted a chain, but it was rideable. He finished on the tweaked chain and Mike and I replaced it for the next lap. Later, on a night lap Chris came through (after turning two back to back 1:11 laps) and informed me he had flatted and spent some time fixing the problem. Despite the delay, he still put time on his competition that lap, a 1:17.
The night laps continued, with clouds moving in and a light rain falling. At first this was warmly received, the rain was laying down the choking dust and helping the trail surface tack up. As the hours wear on though, riders began to get wetter and wetter. Chris stopped to put on leg warmers and a rain shell around 1 am. The rain got steadily heavier, until it was no longer a drizzle but a full shower, and the clouds pile up thicker on the top of the mountain. Adrenalin staff reported that the weather service believed the front would break by early morning and blow through without incident, but they couldn't be more wrong.
Chris had just finished his last night lap, concluding at around 6:20 am, and headed back onto the course for lap # 18. The rain that had been falling was now being driven by increasing winds, and there was no end to the weather in sight. In a short time the rain was falling nearly sideways, and tents and metal barriers were being blown over and away. Tinker came in from a lap clad only in short sleeves and knickers, and was in pretty rough shape. He was wrapped in a blanket and whisked away, to a hot tub to warm up, we later found out.
The conditions continued to worsen. It felt like we were near the center of a hurricane. No lightning, but powerful wind gusts probably over 40 mph and freezing cold rains pummeled the venue. There were several reports of sleet and snow at the top of the mountain. By this time Chris had put over an hour on his closest competitor, Tinker, and Tinker had just left the race. When I went out to meet Chris at checkpoint three I knew he would be in bad shape, but strangely, I never even thought about him quitting. Chris came up the climb that lap with his teeth chattering and soaked to the bone. I told him Tinker had left the pits, all he had to do was keep riding, just keep moving, and he had the race won. I remember exactly what he said to me. As though he were on lap # 2, and in no hurry, Chris said, "Poz, I am really cold. I am going to want all new dry clothing and something hot to drink, maybe hot cocoa. And I will want the splits on the other top guys." I was positively amazed at his iron will. Stopping never even entered his mind!
I radioed back to Mike to get dry clothing and a blanket ready and I rushed back to the pits. When Chris came in, he was in the worst shape I had ever seen. The next 20 minutes would be about the most intense I had ever experienced in bike racing. Chris arrived with his hands shaking, completely drenched by the cold rain, and nearly hypothermic. We gave him hot chocolate and rushed to strip him out of his wet clothing and replace the drenched articles with warm dry stuff. We applied heat packs everywhere we could, and layered as much technical clothing on him as we had. There were TV cameras and flashes going off all around us, and media people leaning in and asking Chris,"How cold is it at the top? Did you see any snow? Are you going to stop and rest?" I barely noticed they were there, the adrenalin was flowing. At this point the race all but stopped. Every solo racer arriving off a lap in those sixty minutes was in the same condition and no one was heading back out onto the course. Fortunately, Silverstar is home to the Canadian National Altitude Training Center, and the center was opened up and hot blankets and large heat packs were made ready for the scores of frigid racers coming off the mountain. Thanks to dozens of thick blankets handed out by the Adrenalin staff and the training center facility nearby, everyone in need of warmth received it promptly. Some riders went to hot tubs, others stripped nude and huddled in vehicles with the heat on full blast. A few were forced to abandon due to near hypothermic conditions.
Through all of this Chris' mind never left the race, and he inquired about splits and who was on what lap. We sorted out that Chris was a full lap up on the nearest competitor, and all that had to be done was to wait and see if and when anyone went out on another lap. At least one more lap had to be done according to the rules of the event, which state that you must finish your last lap after 11 am, but before 1 pm. So while Chris and his dad went to the med center to get fully warmed up, I cooked oatmeal and coffee for my popsicle of a rider and kept a close watch to see if someone went out on another lap. We were mostly concerned that Tinker had gotten warm and would be going out again, which would force Chris to do another lap. The next closest rider was Ariel Lindsley. Ariel did just that at about 9 am, a determined look on his face. By now the storm actually had blown itself out, and though it would rain several more short spells before the day was done, the really severe stuff was over with. I radioed that Chris would have to start another lap, and within minutes he was back on his bike for lap # 19. While he was out, Mike and I worked out all the times and figured out beyond any doubt that Chris had the race won, he had only to finish the lap he was on and wait until 11 am to cross the finish line. I met Chris at the end of the lap before the finish and presented him with all the numbers and splits. He agreed that it was a done deal, and, per the Adrenalin rules, he left the course to get changed and cleaned up again before rejoining the course at that same spot to cross the finish line.
Chris crossed the line at 11:04 and won the 24 solo world championship title for the third straight year. What a feeling to see your rider cross the line to take that title! It seemed like a thousand flashbulbs went off and there were camera crews everywhere wanting interviews and quotes. A frenzy! The drama was not over for Mike and me however. All along we had been using whatever time we had free from working for Chris to work for several other competitors, and three of them were locked in a battle for 2nd 3rd and 4th. Ariel Lindsley and Mark Henderschot were two riders gunning for 2nd and 3rd and within 4 minutes of each other! Tom Zidak was chasing not far behind. Mike and I had been helping Mark and Ariel in their pits for much of the race. We helped Ariel get set when he came in, only 5 minutes ahead! and pep talked him into going out for another lap. If he quit Mark could go out again before noon and ride another lap! I stuffed a radio in his jersey at the last instant and told him to keep his ears open for me. Mark came in off his lap only minutes behind Ariel, and we made him see that he had to at least give chase for second place. Mark was beyond spent, but he dug even deeper and headed out to chase down his rival. I radioed to Ariel,"Mark has left just 4 minutes back. Keep your head down and ride a steady pace, you have this thing locked up." Mark simply couldn't make his body keep going however, and returned to the pits 15 minutes later. Ariel somehow managed to finish his last lap and secured second place, with Mark behind him in third, a place better then he finished last year.
The 24 hours of Adrenalin staff was absolutely awesome! They were there to answer any questions we had regarding rules or where to find resources. They came around with hot chocolate in the wee hours of the night, and they flawlessly put on a world championship event! Special thanks to Stuart, Chad, and Sylvie, who each helped us stay sane and on top of things. Go to www.24hrsofadrenalin.com to read their reports and see the upates as they unfolded!
Chris' lighting system was a clear factor in his win, with lights provided by Bill Gentile from Lupine Lighting Systems. I strongly recommend checking them out if you nightride seriously, www.gretnabikes.com
The Trek Fuel 100's Chris rode were also an advantage. Awesome suspension for the downhills, fast efficiency for the climbs. If you haven't gotten one yet, you are missing out. www.trekbikes.com
Other sponsors that helped us attain this goal were Platypus hydration packs, Hayes Brakes, Powerbar, Nike A.C.G. clothing and shoes, Volkswagen, JBL, Time pedals, Chris King headsets, Rock Shox forks, Joes Bike Shop in Mt Washington, and SRAM drivetrain components.
I hope I haven't left anyone out. This was one of the biggest weekends I have ever experienced in cycling, and I can't wait to go back for a fourth title next year!!!Thanks to everyone who made it possible and all the awesome people I met there.
Jonathan Posner
Trek/VW/JBL East Coast Factory Team
Joe's Bike Shop, Mt. Washington, Baltimore, MD |
| you guys did an awesome job.... | Carter Taylor
Sep 7, 2002 12:20 AM | | also thanks for the encouragement in the middle of the night, middle of the day and at all times, from checkpoint 3.
Also thank Chris for me for the encouragement he gave out on the course. For a person like me who is just starting out in these solo ventures, to have someone with Chris's accomplishments take the time for a word of encouragement, sure had a way of lifting my spirit.
Thanks,
#66 Carter Taylor |
| Thanks 66, forwarded your message... | jpozz
Sep 7, 2002 12:42 PM | | Thanks for the kind words. I forwarded your message to Chris.
Did you love it or what? You definitely get bragging rights for not quitting in that storm - the mental strength of you guys it amazing.
see you at the next one, you going to moab? |
| No Moab... entered in | CarterTaylor
Sep 7, 2002 7:25 PM | | Idyllwild Ca. and also Conyers Atlanta.
Thanks for the forward, see you somewhere. |
| Conyers, Atlanta? I meant Conyers,Ga. (nm) | Carter Taylor
Sep 8, 2002 1:25 PM | | |
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