[woodsguy]

Hello Monkies,

My weekend plans for that week fell through so now I'm thinking I wouldn't mind giving this 24 hour thing a go. Thing is I'm not really keen on the idea of doing it by myself (especially the first time). Anyone out there in Monkeyland looking for another team member? I consider myself a pretty fast rider although I've only ever raced once and that was back in '91. This year my fitness level seems to be better than it has in a while. I'm thinking I could do 6-8 laps but again I don't know since I've never done anything like this before. Maybe someone that has ridden with me and has 24 hour experience can chime in on what they think I could do. I have all the necessary gear (just got a Danolite - awesome!) and I consider myslef pretty easy to get along with.

Kevin

 

[MtnBikerChk]

Hello Monkies,

I have all the necessary gear (just got a Danolite - awesome!) and I consider myslef pretty easy to get along with.

Kevin

I totally agree with this statement

We'd love to do this race with you WG but it would be weekend #3 in a row away from home and I just can't board the dog again - not to mention the time off from work yadda yadda.

Good luck - I hope you find a team or teammate they are a lot of fun!

 

[woodsguy]

The 24 Hours of Great Glen was an awesome race! The 8 mile course was a swamp but still fun. Total climbing for the loop was about 1200’. About 60% of the course was fire roads, 20% singletrack, and 20% double track. The roads were in great shape as was most of the single track but the double track was a mud pit. Luckily the rain held out the entire race. As for the race itself, the setting was beautiful, it was really well run, everyone was friendly, and the vibe was really cool.

I hooked up with team “Soul Riders” because one of their member’s wife had her baby early so he couldn’t make it. I ended up camping with team Bow Chicka Wow Wow which was a 4 person beginner women’s team and consisted of a couple of monkies. Badcrumble, Irishblue, and a couple non-monkies Kerry and Heidi. Kerry’s husband Matt came along for support. When we pulled in it was raining so we had to set up camp in the rain. Not fun at all. After we were all set up we went out to dinner. It rained a bit more through the night but nothing too heavy. The next morning it was beautiful. In fact we would have great weather the entire race! I was scheduled to race second so I joined the rest of Team BCWW to watch the Le Mans style start. When my turn came up I felt strong and managed a 53 min lap (it would have been closer to 50 if I hadn’t stopped to call and make sure the next guy was waiting at the finish) and 57 min on my second (even though it felt much slower). In the middle of my second lap my calf cramped up. Then on my third lap (12:20am) both quads were cramping badly. After crossing the finish arch we had to walk about 50 yards to the timing pad. When I dismounted my bike both quads locked up. I couldn't even stand up and had to squat there for about a minute or so. Then I tried to take a few steps and had to rest again. I crawled across the timing pad to stop my time at around 1:08. Then I rested at the timing table for about 5 minutes. One of the timers asked if I was going again and I said "that's the plan". Yup, I was going for a double. After downing a few gels and a whole bunch of water I was on my way. My legs cramped a few times on the lap and I would have to stop and rest. About half way through and on one of the steep fire road climbs my hamstrings decided to join in the fun. But when they cramped up and I straightened my leg to relive it my quads would cramp. I had to take about a 10 minute (very painful) break for them to loosen up. I finished the lap and stopped the clock at 1:24 (3am). Ugh. This was really frustrating because I felt strong, I wasn't tired or winded, and I felt like I could do a few more laps but my legs just kept cramping up. I then tried to get some sleep but I was wide awake. I managed to half sleep in 20 minute intervals between pee breaks (I chugged a liter of Powerade, a half liter of Endurox, and about a liter of water). I woke up on Sunday really tired. The plan was to do another double to finish the race. So I had a nice long break until 10am. My teammate had some mechanicals (broken chain and der hanger) so he didn't get in until 10:30. I knew it wasn't likely that I could get in two laps so I brought my camera to take pics of the insanely muddy course. My legs felt great and I finished in 1:05 even though I got a bunch of pics and even walked back for a few. I had a nice over the bars and roll down "The Plunge". I didn't get hurt so I got back on and rode the rest of the way down. (The Plunge was a very steep and extremely muddy decent very near the end. You could see it from most campsites and people would gather to watch riders try and get down. I made it clean on my first lap but on the others I walked.) I could have taken a second lap but I kinda just wanted to go and I didn't want to risk a mechanical and DQ the team. I had to wait until noon to cross the finish (or I would have to do another lap) so my "official" time was like 1:35.

This being my first 24 hour race I learned that I didn't eat enough gels or drink enough water (I didn't eat anything on my first two laps and barely drank any water) or use my rest breaks wisely. Like I said I felt strong so I should do better in my next race provided I can keep the cramps away.

Team BCWW on the other hand did great! Heidi led the way with 5 laps but Badcrumble ripped off a 65 minute lap! She finished with 4. Kerry did 4 and Irishblue (who did great even though she admits to hating to climb) did 2. Everyone had a great attitude the whole time and we all had a blast. I can’t wait until next year!

Here are the results and here are the split times. My bib # was 157 and Team BCWW was 171.

Here is my gps info.

Here are all my pics. Below is a sampling.

 

[MtnBikerChk]

OMG that mud looks awful! My drive train is crying for you.

But I'm glad you had fun

 

[TreeSaw]

OMG that mud looks awful! My drive train is crying for you.

But I'm glad you had fun

Congratulations! I wanted to do this race, but it was just too many weekends in a row and my drivetrain needed way too much love after Kingdom to really do justice.

 

[River19]

Kevin...it was great to see you at the race.

Nancy and I had a blast as a 2 person Co-ed and didn't finish last !!!!! We scratched and clawed out way to 5 laps each in that crap. I will post a larger write up later. Damn it was fun though, a very well run event.

Steve

 

[woodsguy]

Hey Steve!

Yes, it was great seeing you at the race too. In fact, I thought it a bit odd that I saw you two so much. It seemed like every lap I would see one of you. And even just walking around you guys always seemed to be there. Were you stalking me?

Anyway, great job team "4 Wheels No Brains" (bib #118). 10 laps in that slop is alot!

Kevin

 

[J-Dubs]

Nice work.
Sorry to hear about the cramping, but it sounds like you'll be in great shape for next year.
I didn't race this year, but instead was recuited to be the mechanic for Team The Flashing Femmes(and couple other teams and two soloists). You probably noticed them, and a few of them knew Heidi or Kerry(can't remember) from BCWW.

Anyhow The Femmes ended up coming in 3rd for the Cruiser Class and we were all happy to cheer for both the Femmes and BCWW at the awards downpour.

Like you said, the weather was beautiful and the trails were a mess. I ended up winning the tire-change contest right after my friend won the wheelie contest. We all had a great time despite all the drivetrain cleaning.

Looking forward to next year.

 

[River19]

Alright, where to start on this one…………24 Hours of Great Glenn, for those of you familiar with NH, the event was held at the base of the Mt. Washington Auto Road on the Great Glenn trail system. 427 riders on 147 teams. Nancy and I were one of 9 teams in the 2 person Co-Ed class, which we learned in all reality is a class that people move up to from 4 and 5 person Sport and Expert races as the lower the number riders the less recovery time in between laps, so basically we know we are racing over our heads from a class/competition perspective, but you might as well start somewhere.

The vibe was awesome at the race, the campground/field was packed with good people, made some great friends around us and everyone shares supplies and support, it really is something to experience.

The Course: Well since the story here was the 3 weeks of torrential rains the area got, the weekend can be summed up in one word “mud”. Not the backyard variety of mud either, I’m talking 12” plus deep, I can’t get my foot out without losing my shoe kind of mud. Of the 8.25 miles per lap, about 2-2.5 miles was pure mud, which made for a challenge to say the least. The course starts off on the MT. Washington side of Rt 16 on some dirt fire roads, then heads through a tunnel under Rt.16 and up some switchbacks as you climb about 150-200 vertical feet to a cottage behind the lodge and then you bomb back down the hill through some twisty single track, back through the tunnel and onto a mixture of fire road and skinny rocky, rooty single track through the woods. There is a fire road climb of about 0.50-0.75 of a mile that was pure mud, which meant pushing your bike up the hill, picture walking through ankle to knee deep mud while pushing your 26lb bike that is now 35lbs due to all the mud on it.

You get to the top then you pray you can make it down the hills without being ripped off your bike due to mud puddles……….”objects in motion tend to stay in motion”…..paying attention in Physics class would save you in this section. More small fire road climbs and decents come after that……you needed to maximize the downhills to make it up the climbs otherwise you kill your legs…..on most downhills I saw 20-25+mph which was sketchy due to my brakes fading from mud and gunk. One final hike-a-bike rooty climb to the top of the final decent…..which has 3 options for going down, each one lines with spectators waiting for spectacular crashes, of which there were many……amazingly Nancy and I were not among the casualties. There is nothing like watching someone go down right before you head down the “chute” and hearing the crowd chanting your number and then clearing the section to applause.........not sure how I did it each lap, but I did. After some final winding single track through the woods you pop back out to some carriage roads and loop around a pond back to the timing tent to complete your lap. 8.25miles in about 1 hour to 1:15.

The start, the first lap all riders start off their bikes, run a lap around the pond and then jump on the bike and go…..this spreads people out and allows the fast folks (ie. The pro teams and experts) to jump out early. Nancy is a trooper and did the run and first lap (I pull the anchor and do the final lap before noon the next day).

What does it take to ride in a 24 Hour bike race……a lot of stuff………

The Team Joyce Camp……

Here is the campground about ½ full on Friday:

First nice day all week, Saturday morning, the morning of the race.

Nancy getting ready to head down to the starting tent…..

Nancy ready to run the first lap at about 11:50am Sat……full of nerves……

The Starting line before the cannon fires at noon on Saturday for the run………

The atmosphere was festive and some people are just plain funny to be around…

The run around the pond………

Nancy hopping on her bike…..notice our friends Mike and Josh in the background (green shirt), they won the 4 person Sport class banging out 29 laps….which is unbelievable in these conditions…..29 laps in 24 hours = sub 1 hour laps ALL NIGHT LONG!!!! Oh and the other guy with the fake Mohawk was on a team named “MR T’s Riders” or something like that………

The switchbacks on the other side of Rt 16 on the first lap…..pretty cool to see all the riders strung out like that…..

Zoomed in….

There were professional photographers covering the event and they have some great pics of us riding in the mud, the chute etc. and I need to purchase them to post them, which I will once they are done loading them. They took close to 10,000 shots of the event.

How did we do? Well as I said, the conditions were nasty so the lap counts for most teams were down, we didn’t end up in the EMT tent or hospital as one of our friends did (she broke a rib crashing on the chute), another friend bruised a rib etc. so that was good. We were racing against experts in a very hard class so we were prepared for last place, which is fine. But, Nancy banged out 4 laps before dark, I had 3 down after severely cramping on my 2nd to the point where I had to stop and squat on the side of the trail for 3-5 minutes 3 times on that lap. I came back in and pounded electrolytes like it was my job and recovered for lap 3. We ate some food to recharge and I took the first night lap at 8pm, even with awesome lights we had a hard time reading the mud at night. Nancy took the second at 10pm and then went to bed as she was totally spent. I went back out at 1am and was prepared to do a double lap. On the first set of switchbacks (above) I was bonking hard and was wobbly……I rode off the side of a small bridge……no big deal, a little bruised, got up and continued, got to the top of Blueberry Hill (above, it is covered in berries) and hit a mud puddle I didn’t see and crashed into a pine tree………..so I took stock, nothing broken on bike or man and I was laying in a pine tree still clipped into my bike with my lights shining up the tree laughing my ass off. Got up and continued. 100 feet later, I fell off another bridge, I was sensing a trend. I gathered myself and completed my lap without any other incident….at this point about 2-2.5 miles of the course was a hike-a-bike from the mud. I came back in at 2:30am and it was about 38 degrees, I was wet, tired and cold. I did not do another night lap…..I went to bed.

Up at 6am, Nancy hit the trail for our 9th lap at 9 am and completed like a champ. I went out for our final lap at 10:45ish and was determined to hang out with everyone else and finish after the noon cannon fired…….if you come in before, you have to go out for another lap……there was no freakin way I had another lap in me. On one of the last sections I came out of the woods and there was a solo rider doubled over his bike. I stopped and asked if he was alright and he just mumbled “I’m completely spent, totally shattered”. I told him I was in no rush and I’ll hang with him until he recovers. I offered him some food etc. and he told me his stomach was totally knotted. His name was Bill and he is 39 years old, racing his first ever race and entered the 19-39 solo class (again he was 39, so he was the oldest in the class). I asked him what lap he was on……”my 11th lap, is that good?”. Good? 11 laps? Solo? For a first race I would say that is awesome. I walked with him pushing our bikes the final climb and then left him at the bottom of the decent to cruise in as a champ for finishing. I saw him at the finish line and he and his wife thanked me for being his “wingman” as he was about to pass out and give up. That was cool…………pretty much sums up the feel of this race and this type of event.

Nancy and I did not finish last in our class, we came in 7th of 9 with one team DNF’d and had to drop out. We completed 10 laps in this crap, 82.5 miles, 12,000 vertical feet of climbing. Nancy and I both could have pushed harder for 1 more lap each but mentally the thought of slogging through the mud again was enough to call in the kicking team and punt instead. Our goal is to do some doubles next race to allow the other to fully recover. Our laps times appear slower than they were as we usually chatted about things in between. I was running about 1:05-1:10 with the hike a bikes and Nancy wasn’t all that far behind at all. My hats off to the pro team and anyone averaging more than a lap an hour as that was quite a feat in those conditions.

Me after my last lap……….one of our new friends handed me a cold PBR at the line and it was the best tasting beer I have ever had.

To put the mud in perspective…………I was riding through a puddle and hit a rock, came to a stop and sat there clipped into my pedals, holding onto my grips and not moving……I could have stayed there as long as I wanted, the mud held me upright. This was my bike after going through 4 hours of down pours on the top of the car on the way home………..it wasn’t enough to even start cleaning my bike off.

Can’t wait for next year.

Nancy was just awesome………..5 laps, 1 night lap and she wanted to do more when all was said and done. I know we will do even better next time. I think we can both say we are sore, very sore. Both my ankles are mildly sprained from slipping on mud and rocks while hiking in bike shoes. But the hurt feels good…….which I think confirms we have been bitten by the bug.

Steve

 

[douglas]

hey woodsguy, from my experience (and research) more water next year might put you right back to dealing with a lot cramping. The basic theory is you are sweating out your electolytes then you drink a lot of water which thins out what little is left and you end up cramping and/or dehydrated. I have asked may people after they raced (and cramped) what they were drinking, and practically everytime their answer was water or gatorade or both.

I use hammer stuff (heed, perpetuem and endurolyte pills) and it has made a huge difference with cramping and dehydration isssues I have had in the past.

 

[River19]

I used Heed and Endurolytes. I cramped hard on Lap 2, which was strange but recovered by taking 3 Endurolytes and 2 Sportlegs per hour from then on out whether I was riding or not and I always drink Nuun on the bike. I had a bottle of Heed when I would come in, along with a mini V8 and some real food. Worked pretty well, much better than what I did at Pat’s.

Douglas, I was thinking of trying Perpetuem, do you use it in between laps, on bike etc.?

Kevin, I’m not sure how your body reacts to multiple gels, all I know is I used 7 gels in the first 4 laps of Pats and let’s just say I now know what “Gu in, Gu out” means. I can’t pull that off, I needed some real food.

Steve

 

[splat]

Good Job Guys , Steve excellent recap !

 

[woodsguy]

Yea, I ment to bring a bottle of gatorade with me on the laps but never did. After lap 2 and 4 I chugged a liter of Powerade.

 

[douglas]

Douglas, I was thinking of trying Perpetuem, do you use it in between laps, on bike etc.?



Steve

not for a 24 but I have used perpetuem on the bike for endurance rides, the VT50, darkhorse40, road centuries, etc. - great way to get calories in.