Just some thoughts and experiences from a mountain bike endurance racer who likes to ride and race his single speed mountain bike a long long way on remote single track in the mountains and desert.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

1st Place Singlespeed solo, 24 Hours in the Sage

Just finished 1st in the “24 Hours in the Sage” solo single speed class, and 2nd out of all solo categories including gears.  Total time = 23:30:56 and never rested, Distance = 229.64 miles, Elevation Gain = 24,723 ft.  This is the second year in a row I won this race.  My support/wife was unable to go so I didn’t have any support again this year but I have my pit pretty dialed in so I never get off my bike and everything is easily accessible.  The one challenge is always hot food at night so I bought a crockpot and filled it with McDonalds cheeseburgers before the race started which worked out pretty good.  Last year I prepayed to have a Pizza delivered and left in my pit. 

I started out in 2nd behind a Jeff Hemplerly from the Big Wheel race team.  We had a good lead on 3rd so I just kept him in my sights for the first 10 hours.  The race promoter was announcing I was “stalking him”.  I took over first sometime after dark with a comfortable lead.  In the morning I found out that the Trek team rider in 2nd was up to 20 minutes behind me so I spun out some pretty fast laps and ended up beating 2nd and 3rd by a lap.  The tires really performed great and I had no issues.  I actually used the same tires I have had on for the last two months worth of races.  The course is technical with a lot of potential for pinch flats.  This is a great race, really tough competition at all levels!  Dave Wiens was riding the course the last lap handing out burgers to riders (I had enough burgers by then).   Here is a link to my stats http://connect.garmin.com/activity/46121840 and to the race website http://www.24hoursinthesage.com 










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