1st place, Singlespeed solo, 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo 2011

Just finished 1st place last weekend in the Singlespeed solo category at the Kona 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo.  245 miles, 20,000ft elevation gain, 24 hours strait.  I finished 4th overall out of all the solos including those with gears and was in 3rd most of the race finishing seconds behind the 3rd place geared male at the finish.  There were around 1900 racers there.  The racer who finished behind me is the rider who won in 2010.


Big thanks to Kiviok Hight at Cortez Chiropractic.  He always has the best advise and treatments to prepare and train for my ultra endurance races.  And of course my wife Dani and her team who set me up in the pits.

Stats:
http://64.119.44.58/liveresults/results/Solo%20-%20Single%20Speed%20Male.html
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/69642697?sms_ss=email&at_xt=4d641d3317e3e142%2C0
http://www.epicrides.com/twofour/24.htm

Brutal weather! Windy, up to 50mph gusts then just after sunset a three hour rain dump with the wind and temps in the 30s during the night.  Road then entire time without sitting anything out like some of the competition.  Pays to tough it out.  After having most of my cold weather gear soaked I had no choice but to try and cover up the best I could and deal with the cold.  I road one tooth harder gearing which because of the wind turned out to really tax the muscles.  After crossing the finish line I went straight over to the vendor area and got a steak sandwich and a Latte!

I used a variety of Hammer Nutrition products including HEED, Perpetuem Solids, Gels and bars.  The Schwalbe tires did great and the new Trek Superfly SS was awesome!  No problems the entire 24 hours.  They performed excellent in the saturated sand, mud, and hard pack.

Press:
http://www.crankzone.com/2011-old-pueblo-results/
http://outbiking.com/
http://www.mountainflyermagazine.com/view.php/24-hours-in-the-old-peublo.html
http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/24-hours-of-old-pueblo-ne-1/results
http://www.mtbracenews.com/view_article.jsp?id=246
http://mountainbike.about.com/b/2011/02/21/2011-24-hours-of-old-pueblo-results.htm

Also, unrelated to the race, here is an article that showed up in Mountain Bike Magazine / Bicycling where I got some plugs for building a local trail which is touted as one of the best in the southwest.  http://www.bicycling.com/mountain-biking/crazy-good?page=0,1

Before the race start

The rock drop!

Early Morning, guess I road the trail so many times by then I didn't even have to look where I was going.  Underneath that gear I was still soaked from the storm!

The calm before the storm.  Weather was great the night before the race start.

Nice rear plates provided by Epic Rides.  They didn't last through the storm.  If you saw someone with one after the storm you knew they sat it out.

Coming into the pit

Wife Dani helping me out at the pit, She was racing on a team

Leaving the pit

Myself , Mike to my right (Last years winner) and Jeff Hemperley from Rico to my left who hammered it to get 4th.  Great race!

 

Happy to get this one.  Tough Race!

1st Place Singlespeed open, Hedgehog Husstle

Just finished 1st place in the Hedgehog Hustle SS Open (Pro/Cat1 category). This is the second race in the state points series so I'm still in first overall in AZ.

I was surprised that I was able to win by over 5 minutes and also pass a significant number of CAT 1 geared racers which started 2-6 minutes in front of us.  Geared pros started 10 minutes on front of us this time, I'm not sure if I passed any of them.  The race was at the end of a brutal week of training in preparation for the Kona 24hrs on the old Pueblo which included two 6 hour 4AM start time rides, intervals, a couple 3-4 hour rides, a race effort ride and the race itself.  The trail was very technical and rocky.  The Schwalbe Nobby Nic really performed well again on the front and the new Trek Superfly SS was great.