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24 Hour Champion Challenge |
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Written by Jason Mahokey
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Thursday, 04 September 2008 |
2008 24 Hour Champion Challenge
August 30 & 31st, 2008
Seven Springs Ski Resort, PA
 I was looking forward to this race for a long time. I hadn't raced since my physical meltdowns at Big Bear and Cranky Monkey back in June, so I was more than a tad geeked to be racing at all, let alone racing on my favorite trails in the area. I needed to ditch the bad race mojo I carried through most of my season and go out feeling good. Not necessarily with a good placing, but just feeling good about racing my bike.?There was going to be a ton of friends, local teams and familiar faces at the 0824HrCC this year. It made the event seem like a HUGE ass group ride rather than a race. So the atmosphere was awesome! Seriously, you could not ask for a better race environment.
With in minutes of my arrival at the venue on Saturday a.m. I ran into several friends.?Talking to all of them was a great way to calm the pre race nerves and kill some time before the start. I think the most fun was seeing my friend Don with with his brand new '08 Mamasita direct from Bikeman.com. Dude was HHHHHappy with the bike. So much that he chose to race it even though he had only had the finished build for a few days. I also had a chance to hang with Bikeman.com teammate Brad Schmalzer too.
Soon it was time for the race meeting. All I can say is that the race meeting was a race meeting. Do this, don't do this, please do this, and do it like this. Then if was off to pick up my wrist band, and put the Dos Niner in the racks before I slipped into something little less comfortable- Like a lubed up nut hugging chamois that would encase my ass for the next 24 hours.
So now I'm lubed up, chamoised up, and have nothing to do but get my bottles set and to start dreading the cursed run. Every year I say "I need to start jogging to make these runs easier" and every year I choose not to. I tend to fall back on my age old excuse. "I'll only run if being chased". I guess what I need is for a band of street toughs to chase behind me during the start run. Then MAYBE I could avoid being DFL. Really who the f*ck cares where you come in during the run when you're doing a Solo? You have 24 hours to race and you're worried about getting behind someone who is not as fast as you on lap ONE? Give me a break. Then again I'm a mid pack at best racer, so take what I say with a few grains of salt and a 12 pack to kill the pain of realizing you just listened to what I said.
 At the start line I chatted with Speedgoat Bill exchanged good lucks with Brandon D. (the eventual winner with 16 laps I believe) Then the start gun, holler, whistle, yell whatever the hell it was went off and a huge mass of spandex clad bike geeks (and a few shy folks wearing baggies) took off for the bikes about 10 miles away. OK, OK, it was like ..5 miles away, but it mind as well have been 10 miles!?I lumbered to my bike, got on and pedaled the first mile getting my breathing under control and my mind mentally set to try to ride for 24 hours. The first and second lap went by uneventful and without any real issues. Lap 3 would prove to be a bitch though.
Lap 3- The Demon Lap: I have NO idea why lap 3 sucked for me. I had done a few 3 lap pre-rides of the course over the last couple months with ease, yet I found myself with a sore back and thinking "Lap 3?? Get the ##$k out of here!! I'm toast!" I also found myself thinking of hundreds of other things I would have rather have been doing. Lucky for me they make this thing call Advil and this other thing called a chair. I took advantage of both of those things, got my mind back in the race and went off.
I was sort of hating the climb up the slopes, but it wasn't too bad. I just granny geared it up and knew when I saw Dirt Rag Karl it was nearly over. Karl was the man. He always had some words of encouragement for me and later when the sun came out and made the climb a hot ass bitch, he was ready with a water mister. Thanks Karl, it all meant a lot to me.
By lap 4 things were back under control. I was feeling good on the bike, the back pain went away and I had some nice success through the Spring's infamous Rock Garden. It's funny to me that no matter HOW much you pre-ride a course, when race day comes and there are other racers and spectators around the lines blur or become non existent! I screwed up a few times during the race, but over the race a nice visible line became apparent and it actually got easier.
It wasn't long before I found myself in the pit ready to get a light on. It was only about 5:35, but I knew the last third of the course would take me 25 to 35 minutes, thus bringing me to the check in at 6 p.m. or after, and in need of a light to enter the course. So Wifey mounted up my Princeton Tec modified Apex to my helmet and I was off. I would have no need for a light for some time but I was glad to not have to check out just to get a light on.?For this race I decided to go with the Apex on my helmet and the Switchback 3 on my bars. Ooops! Truth be told I did NO pre riding with this set up, other than some spins around the block. Having said that I should have listened to my friends that told me of their bar mount woes. Did I listen? HELL no!! Did I regret it? HELL yeah!!
When it was just about dark and I THINK it was during my 5th lap I got the Switchback 3 mounted up. As soon as I turned it on in the single track I knew I was screwed!! The light was bright from both lights, but the Apex was not bright enough to see around the corners and the SB3's beam was not WIDE enough. I found myself thinking "this sucks I can't see!! I know these lights are brighter than this!!" I knew what had to be done. I knew I would have to clock out at the end of the lap to swap the SB3 to the helmet. Frig!
So I clocked out and shot down to the pit. Wifey and I swapped the lights. There was much mental cursing the P-Tec helmet mount. I love my lights but the SB3 velcro helmet mount needs some work. Especially for helmets with all the fancy ass molding. I could not get it set firm enough to handle the rough single track. So I cut to the chase and zip tied it. THAT is the ticket. Take my advice USE zip ties. Sooo much more reliable than the standard helmet mount.?I clocked back in and was back on the trail. NOW things were the way they were supposed to be. The light set up now rocked! I mean I never had to think about anything. The Apex lit the trail in front of my tire and the SB3 was throwing some sweet LED lumens further down the trail. The weight was minimal to non existent on my head and all I really had to do was deal with the battery on my back. I seriously have never been more comfortable with a light set up than I was at this race. The earlier issues where my own fault, because I am (as you all know) an idiot!! (By the way, the Apex is a head lamp often used for hiking and camping. The good folks did me up a modified version for cycling that runs on 8 AA batteries and can pretty much throw about 80 lumens of light all night and mounts to my bars or helmet. It makes a kick ass secondary light and I have to thank Justin and PT for hooking me up with it.)
OK, OK, the lights were now under control and I was feeling confident. My legs were OK, but I could feel the lust for rest overtaking me. Then at about mile 3 or 4 of lap 6 I saw a rider off to the side of the trail. I recognize the black and orange Speedgoat colors and yelled out to see if it was Speedgoat Bill. He said "yes". I ask if he's OK, hit a rock flip off my bike and my right ass cheek lands on rock. Now I'm tired, hurtin' AND embarrassed! HA! Bill was just taking a breather and would later pass me on the lap. That's the last time I ask if a rider is OK (actually that's not true).?During this lap I could NOT find a good temperature zone. One minute I was too cold, the next too hot. Usually too hot. I was soaked with sweat by the time I hit the climb to the pits. I knew when I got to the top I needed 1 to 300 minutes to rest my eyes.
When I got to the pit, Wifey was tucked in her sleeping bag on the ground, but she popped up as soon as she heard me. I asked her to take my wrist band to the check in and tell them I'm pitted at mile 8 and will be back when my prolonged rest is over. Wifey offered me a sleeping bag, I for SOME reason said no. That I would sleep in the back of the Soob. She basiclly said that is was a dumb idea for me to squeeze my 6'1" body into a Soob Impreza hatch. I poo-pooed her and proceeded to make my body do some serious yoga ass stuff to fit in the hatch. I then slept for 4+ hours in various positions with various levels of pain.
Wifey woke me up at 4:00 a.m. I basically told her to piss off (thank God she's of the forgiving nature). She then again woke me up a 4:30. THIS time she meant business! (thank God she took that extra semester at B*tch School). This time I got up. Drank some water, ate a Snickers and headed out to finish lap 6 and keep it going. I have to add that over the 18 or so hours that I was actually awake the only solid foods I ate were Snickers Charged bars, "fun sized" Milkyways, a Rice Krispy Treat and a few Pringles. So much for fancy/shmancy foods huh? Whatever works for your belly I guess. Of course I also sucked down 12 gels, gatorade, Heed, Endurlytes and Carbo Pro for electrolytes and complex carbs.
Taking the rest was both a dumb AND a brilliant idea! Dumb because I SHOULD have been riding. Brilliant because when I woke up I felt reborn. I've tried the sleep deprivation thing. Yeah, I was racing for a full 24 hours, but my body and mind was SHOT! This way I enjoyed more of the race and felt well enough to keep going right up until Noon Sunday.?The best thing about a Solo is that you get the sunset AND the sunrise laps. The two MOST coveted laps in 24 Hour Racing. If you can't get all tingly in the nether regions seeing the sun rise or set in the mountains, you need to see a therapist STAT! I enjoyed both of them and even took a moment to stop and let my mind felatiate the view. Well worth it.
When the sun was fully up I got a kick ass second wind. Yeah, I had to walk some hills and got passed by my share of Clydesdales and novices, but my ATTITUDE was in check. I was enjoying the sites, sounds, pain of the race. Sure I was tired of tasting the snot and sweat combination running into my mouth and I was MORE than tired of the pain my ass was in, but it just felt good.?My goal for the race was 12 laps. After a 4+ hour nap that of course went out the window. Next goal was 10 laps. So when I came in the pit during lap 8 I told Wifey to have and extra bottle/gel ready for me during lap 9 so I did not need to stop and would have time to get out for 10.
During lap 9 at about the mile 1 marker I saw a dude off the trail in the weeds in a panic. He was fixing a chain, dropped his tool and lost it in the weeds. I didn't have one with me, but offered to help him find his. After few minutes and many F-bombs dropped from the dude we found it. I was on my way. Later the dude passed me. I asked him if it was all good. There was no reply and no thanks. Nice.
I made it up to my pit about 11:15/11:20. I needed to get the last 1/3 of the course done by noon to make it out for lap 10. I would do it! I pulled into the check in a 11:50. There was time! BUT I was shot. My ass felt like 50 pounds of half burnt, half under cooked bloody ground beef despite using enough lube to keep an all night orgy runny smooth.
Wifey met me at the check in tent. I sat down with a slew of other folks and waited 10 minute to finish. I was stoked that I had time for 10 laps, but my ass thought better of it. Truthfully I did some time math. I may not have finished lap 10 until about 1:30 or 1:45. Factor in drive time, packing, etc., I just didn't think that it was worth the pain just to finish mid pack somewhere. I know this isn't really what a sponsor would want to hear, but I can not imagine that after the stank season I've had that I'll have too many folks knocking at my door.
The race was a great time. I suffered, my ass hurts, my whole body hurts really, but in a GOOD way. There was NO VOMIT! and I had my race nutrition and hydration dialed in. I got in a hair over 100 miles during the race and got to hang with a LOT of great folks.?At Noon I clocked in and the race was over. 9 laps, a hair over 100 miles of dirt an some good times in the mountains with a ton of good folks. Big thanks to Davis, Alan and all the peeps at Bikeman.com as well as all of our team sponsors. Extra special personal thanks to Salsa Cycles, Princeton Tec, Ergon, Twin-Six.com, Deuter hydration packs, my friend and wrench Tom and of course my wife JoErin. They all played a part in me riding this one out.?The 24 Hour Champion Challenge is such a great race. It's my favorite race by far and we won't know for a while if it will be back in 2009. It seems that Condozilla? is craving more land for WPA's rich and famous. The race may have to go away so she can satiate her desire for mountain real estate. I hope not, but I'm not too confident.
I hope this isn't the last race report for the year, but it might be. It all depends on my recovery (both mentally and physically). Thanks for reading. I can't wait until my chap ass is gone and I'm back on the bike. Time to soak in the tub and wait for my kankles to form.
Later.
Jason Mahokey
Excerpts from "The Soiled Chamois"
The Complete "The Soiled Chamois"
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