|   The Biggest Race in North America | Steve #3
Aug 29, 2003 5:16 PM | | The largest 24 Hour race in North America, and possibly the world. 10,000 people cheering for you to do you best. That is what I experienced at the 24 Hours of Adrenalin at Hardwood Hills riding as a solo rider. It was awesome.
Hardwood Hills is a great venue to stage a 24 hour race. Lots of varying terrain, good camping, great facilities. The course was about 22 km and was taking the fastest riders about 60 mins to complete and some of the slower riders about 2 hrs to finish. There was nothing too technical about the course but it was deceivingly challenging, primarily due to its length. Just what is needed to make things interesting!
The weekend started out Saturday morning with me waking up to a flat front tire on my bike. Usually this is nothing to worry about but since it was my 3rd in one week (after not having any for 2 years) I was a little worried. I hoped the saying "things come in 3s" was true and that was it for flat tires. Later that morning a huge thunderstorm which completely drenched the course. Fortunately the course it quite sandy and the rain ended up making the course very fast, yet not muddy. At Noon the race began with the traditional Le Mans start which I found to be very difficult being over 1 km in length and half of it uphill. I got through that okay and hopped on my bike for the first lap. That lap was fairly uneventful and my trusty Santa Cruz Superlight was working well. I finished my first few laps without any difficulty, doing them in about 1:45 and taking a 15 min break each lap to refuel with donuts, hammer gels, and fruit. I know, you may think that doesn't sound like the most healthy diet, but hey, you have to do what works. Other foods I consumed were Chunky Chicken Soup, Alpha Getti, Canteloupe, Ham etc. One thing I have learned is the body can only process about 300 cals per hour so anything more consumed just goes to waste. Hence why you always hear more smaller meals throughout the day are better than 3 bigs ones. Especially at these types of events. As the evening arrived I was beginning to feel a bit deflated and tired, realizing that not enough training was starting to catch up to me. I went out on my first night lap which proved to be a disaster for me. As I pulled to the side to let a faster rider go past I slammed into a tree stump and went over the bars. My body banged up and confidence shaken I pulled into my pit took a long break which pretty much turned into the entire night. Once the morning arrived I was feeling refreshed and ended up riding the last 6 hours of race.
This was my first time riding solo at Hardwood Hills and it was an experience to say the least. I can't tell you what it meant to have people cheering me along as I went by....it was a big motivator. One of the things that impressed me most about this event was the number of female riders participating. I think it is great seeing more and more women starting to mountain bike and showing up to have fun at these types of events. As far as I am concerned "mountain bike chicks" (as us guys like to call them) are the coolest, no matter how fast or slow they are, but just because they are out riding. I hope this becomes a growing trend.
Trilife put on a well organized event as always. They even had the solo riders piloting a new electronic timing system.....so just think, the end of the baton is near!! I know everyone will be happy about that. Many thanks goes out the Cyclepath Oakville for helping me do these races, plus the sponsors of these races such as Mavic for the neutral tech support, Sisu for feeding our thirst, Kenda for tires, Nightpro for the lights, MSR for the comfy therma-rest, Platypus for the hydration pack etc.... All of these people helped make my experience at the 24 Hours of Adrenalin at Hardwood Hills an amazing experience. Now I just have to go lose 20 pounds and train as hard as I can and better results will come next year. I am going to seek revenge on Hardwood!
Ride safe and responsibly!
Steve #3 |
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