|   24 Hours at laguna Seca: A family thing... | DougP
May 24, 2003 4:46 PM | | The 24-hour sickness:
Last summer, my dad talked me and my Brother Greg into doing the 24 Hours at Idyllwild. It was our first 24-hour race and we had a blast. Missing was our younger brother Dan who was away at UC Santa Cruz. While we did not have a great showing in the standings, we had a fantastic time and decided to race again as a family team at Laguna Seca since it is less than an hour away from Dan's dorm room. We are now addicted to endurance racing.
Team Black and Blue:
Of the five of us, Stephan was the only one that was not blood family. Steph is a strong rider from the Bay area and this was his first 24-hour event. My brother Dan is the young guy at 19. A volleyball player for UC Santa Cruz, he is built like a bike racer at 6'3" 170 lbs. What Dan lacks in technical skills, he makes up in strength, endurance, and guts. Brother Greg is 22 and he is a strong rider both climbing and in the technical stuff. I'm 25 and a downhiller, and my dad is Mr. Non-stop. Dad has been training since January. He gets up every day at 4 AM and puts in his time on the bike. He does about 150-170 miles a week. He's nuts, although the training paid off as he was the fastest member of our team. Not bad for a 48 year old guy. Dad's team also came in second at Castaic three weeks earlier.
The course:
One word describes the course: FAST! As compared to Idyllwild and Castaic, you can really rock on this course. We were hitting 40+ mph on the fire road between checkpoints 1 and 2. Dad again smoked us here turning a max speed of 44.5 on that stretch. It must be the new bike or maybe we just need to check the calibration on his speedo.
After leaving the timing tent, you have the one and only hike-a-bike on the course over the Bridgestone Bridge. Then it's urban assault time as you ride down the stairs on the other side. After a short climb away from the Expo area, you enter a field of ups and downs. It is all single-track and all fast. After winding around on the side-hills, you see Hurl Hill and the first checkpoint. Middle ring all the way except during my last lap on Sunday. Grab a Clif Shot or Gatorade and sprint to the fire road for some fast downhill action. We passed many riders here, as we're not afraid of going fast. Everyone on the team hit at least 40 mph on this stretch.
Off the fire road onto some sweet single-track winding down to checkpoint #2. Grab some more Gatorade or water and do some single track again. It is tough passing here and there are thorns on either side if you go into the tall grass. Down the last stretch of single-track to the final checkpoint and start grinding up the fire road back to the track. After about 2.5 miles of gradual climbing with a few increases in grade, you cross a footbridge at the famous Laguna Seca Corkscrew and quickly ascend a steep single-track. Once on top, you see the entire track infield and camping area. Check in on the radio to make sure your next rider is up, bomb down the hill, cross the road, up and over the Bridgestone Bridge, ride the steps down, and do one lap around the campsite.
The race:
Greg was our first rider up and he did great. There were about 1,100 competitors at Laguna Seca and it seemed like they all were trying to get across the Bridgestone Bridge at the same time. Greg's hydration pack chest strap broke during the Merrill LeMans start and I had to make some emergency repairs while he waited his turn to cross the bridge. Other than that one minor issue, we did not have any mechanicals the entire race. Dad must have done a good job preparing our bikes (Dad is our pit chief as well). I was up next and I turned in my fastest lap of the race. Dad is up third and he turns in a 54-minute lap. Steph comes in at 56 minutes and Dan loops the course in one hour flat. Greg does another good lap and I am our first rider with lights mounted although I never turn them on. Dad does a 57 and Steph goes out for lap #2. He is the first rider that needs to turn on his lights. He turns in another great lap though times are slowing with the reduced night time visibility. No more 40 mph downhills for us until the morning.
The wind is making the climb back to camp longer than it actually is. Dad tells us to use a roadie technique and draft the rider up front if you can. This is where you can sit on someone's wheel and conserve some energy. My problem is that everyone in front of me is slower than I am.
Although it cooled down at night, it quickly warmed up in the morning. The wind finally dies down at about 3 AM when Dad was out doing his two back-to-back night laps. The morning is beautiful and the temperature is warm.
Who was that annoying woman?
Bike in hand, you run into the transition tent, call out your number to the timers, and pass the baton to your teammate. Your next rider is off and you can finally start to come down from the rush of adrenaline.
It seemed that on about every other lap there was a lady official that took issue with something that we did or did not do. Either we ran through too fast (this is a race isn't it?) or she complained that our helmet lights were on. This was new to us since at Idyllwild and Castaic they wanted your bar light off but it was OK to leave your helmet light on. Either way, if I'm racing and I am going out for another lap, I'm not going to shut down both of my HIDs. This is a race and it is easier for a course worker to look away than for a racer to shut down and re-start their HID lights.
No one on one wheel will beat me:
On the last climb of my last lap, I am in recovery mode getting ready for the last 2 miles of climbing when a rider on a unicycle passes me. What's up with that? Where did this guy come from? Either way, I cannot let him get up the hill faster than me so I draft him for a while. This does not work because he's too damn high up. So I hammer down and pass him. I never see him again.
The finish:
I am the last rider on the course for our team. My legs are sore and I'm in need of sleep. I finish at about 12:15 on Sunday. When I cross the line, they are getting ready to put a ribbon up. Is that for me or for Tinker Juarez? It was great sharing the course with the pro riders. I have a renewed respect for these guys. They all were friendly and we tried to give these guys plenty of room to pass.
When the race is over, we complete 21 laps though we might have been able to get another lap in if we had changed our nighttime strategy. We're not even close to a podium finish, but we all still had a great time.
The sponsors:
The Clif Bar guys were awesome. They kept us fed during the race and had great schwag. While we didn't need them this race, the Mavic guys were also really nice and always had time to discuss bike setup and tubeless technology with you. The wine and cheese party at 10 PM was a real classy touch, Mavic. Maybe next time I will take the Ellsworth guys up on their offer and borrow a Truth though I'm afraid it will make me faster and then I'll have to buy one. The Cycle Ops trainer tent also helped us warm up before each lap. And the Tri-Life crew did a great job as always. I really hope sucking up to you guys will help my chances of winning. I wish I had time to visit all of the sponsors' tents, but after a lap on the course, all I could think about was getting some food and preparing for my next time up.
The volunteers:
My girl friend Anel and Greg's fiancé Jeanny volunteered for our team. They were on checkpoint #1 Saturday afternoon cheering every one on and handing up water and gel. Thanks to all of the volunteers that helped out, but if you are on a checkpoint, I want to make one suggestion: you need to have Clif Shots and Gatorade ready to hand up when riders pass. There was a team at checkpoint #2 at night that told riders that the Clif Shots were in a box on the table and to help themselves. Minor issue and I appreciate them being there, but it really helps riders if they do not have to stop.
Thanks to Randy (my dad), Greg, Dan, and Steph, for being great teammates and making this another race to remember. Also thanks to Mary Ann (my mom), and Jill for taking care of us back at camp. Anel and Jeanny also were there for us and for about 1,100 racers as well when they were working the checkpoint.
I think I should start training for Idyllwild right now and maybe they won't call me FKIT (Fat Kid in Training) any more. |
| FKIT pics... | DougP
May 24, 2003 7:52 PM | | Can't do a race report without pics! |
| Team Black and Blue | DougP
May 24, 2003 7:56 PM | | Greg, Steph, me, Dad and Dan. |
| Going for the finish line... | DougP
May 24, 2003 7:59 PM | | Last lap, Sunday at noon... |
| re: 24 Hours at laguna Seca: A family thing... | DougP
May 24, 2003 8:03 PM | | Finish line, Sunday... |
| Clif Shot girls Anel and Jeanny on top of Hurl Hill | DougP
May 27, 2003 8:57 PM | | Thanks to elsaltamontes. Great photo report and fantastic pic of my girlfriend and G-man's fiance!
Doug |
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