Finished 3rd in the Singlespeed solo category at the 2012,
24 Hours in the Old Pueblo. It took almost exactly 25 hours without
resting to get 280 miles (17 laps) and around 20,000 feet of elevation
gain. Ouch! I was hoping to repeat my win from 2011 but
the competition tough this year! At one
point in the morning 1st place through 5th place appeared
to be within a lap of each other. The
weather was relatively nice compared to last year which led to some record
breaking efforts. This is a great event held
just outside Tucson Arizona by Oracle. Around
3,500 participants this year in a variety of different categories.
http://www.epicrides.com
Race results
http://www.epicrides.com
Race results
I ran 32x19 gearing which was the same as the last two years. For this course I chose to run Schwalbe
Racing Ralph tires (snakeskin version) on the front and rear with the “new and
improved” tread pattern. They stuck to
the trail like glue and performed flawlessly.
What I really noticed after the race was how well they wore during the
race compared to the previous version.
They have lots of miles left in them!
The race started out with the usual carnage that comes with
stuffing 700+ racers onto a small rough trail.
There was a multi bike pile up that I somehow avoided on the first
decent. Just a short distance after that
the two riders next to me had a collision, ran into my leg, and they both
crashed while somehow I stayed upright.
During the first few laps the top solo singlespeed riders
were all frequently within sight of each other.
I went back and forth with Mike Melley (Eventual race winner) several
times over the first couple laps and we discussed the possibility that we all may
be going to hard initially for a 24 hour effort and if that was a good idea. Obviously Mike thought it was because he suddenly
put down the hammer and in a few minutes I couldn’t even see him anymore. (A tactic??? LOL) There were two other guys who seemed to be
working together drafting off each other every time I saw them. Not sure how they ended up placing. I also went back and forth with Neil Becwar
(Eventual 2nd place finisher) throughout the night. After the race he admitted followed me a good
portion of a lap talking to me and sizing me up then snuck by when I pitted. I remembered it but must have never turned
around to see who was behind me.
In the middle of the night I had a Bobcat run directly in
front of me and stop up on some rocks on my right to check me out. Very cool!!!!
During the night I also had a guy taco his rim on a rock right in front
of me (He was okay). It sounded like a
gunshot! Also, somewhere out on the
trail someone shot off fireworks right over my head. That woke me up!
Sometime during the night a “Red Solo Cup” appeared on the
trail and was there until the end of the race.
For the rest of the race I couldn’t get that song by Toby Keith out of
my head and I really don’t like it. Just
an additional level of torture during the race!!
I slowed during the early morning laps but when the sun came
out I consistently kept improving my lap times until I had a 1:18 time on the
last lap. The wind definitely kicked up
during the morning which kept it cool and required more effort.
It was great to have friends on the course giving me encouragement
throughout the race! I was very happy to
be done when I crossed the finish line at 1:00!!!!
Thanks to my wonderful wife and Daughter (who was
my biggest fan, super cool!!) for help during the race and teammate Tr Larson for
staying up all night helping in the pit!
Mike Melley really crushed it and ended up with a record
setting 18 laps (He also set the last record at 17 laps), Neil Becwar ended up 2nd with 17
laps, I ended up 3rd with 17 laps, Eddie Urcadez finished 4th
with 16 laps and Simon Zmyslinski ended up on the podium with 16 laps. 16 laps would have won in some previous
years. Great job everyone!!!
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| The podium |
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| The pre-race setup, Jeff Hemperley's pit is to the right |
