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24 Hour Champion Challenge |
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Team Bikeman -
Race Reports
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Written by Jason Mahokey
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Monday, 04 September 2006 |
2006 24 Hour Champion Challenge
Seven Springs Ski Resort, Champion, PA
September 2nd & 3rd, 2006
 | | 1st lap on the Dos Niner. Photo by: Mountain Memories of Seven Springs |
This is my favorite race of the year. It's local, it's on trails I love and I've been somewhat competitive the past two years. I was looking forward to this year's race and had a blast pre riding the course the past few weeks. When I heard the news that Tropical Storm Ernesto was heading right for PA on race day I had a bad, bad feeling.
I'm gonna cut right to the chase here: This weekend's 24 Hour Champion Challenge solo attempt could be summed up in one word: An-Utter-Dissapointment-And-Failure-To-Compete.
The conditions were some of the worst I've EVER raced in. A steady rain fell from Tropical Storm Ernesto from about 3 p.m. Friday to about 2 p.m. Saturday, with some high, cold winds thrown in. My favorite race course was a slippery, swamp of mud, rock and water.
I thought I could make the best of it. First lap was a good one with a nice steady pace. I was pleasantly surprised. On lap 2 I double flatted and had to nurse an under aired tire back to the pit. I lost HUGE chunks of time from the muddy tire changes and my shifting was gone due to the fact that there was SO much mud on my gloves/grip shifts they would not twist. I started calling them Gripless Shifts.
 | | 3rd lap in the mud on El Santo. Photo by: John Blaszczak |
On Lap 3 I was I switched gloves and bikes opting to take my El Santo so I could used trigger shifters and some properly inflated tires. El Santo did great, but I will say I was so much more comfy blasting through the rock gardens on the Dos Niner. The big wheels just roll right over the rocks.
Lap 4 I got my light on and was hoping for the best with darkness about to fall, but in the back of my mind I was expecting the worst. As it was I had an absolute breakdown mentally. Not the embarrassing swear and yell kind of break down, that's not my style, but and absolute void of desire to compete. I was freezing cold, wet, I'd been passed by all my competition, I was having NO fun riding since I wasn't doing that much riding, I had not one ounce of desire to be on the race course and I was only on my FOURTH LAP!! I was extremely disappointed in myself.
As I neared the 6th mile of the 12 mile course, darkness was setting in the woods. Turning on my HID helmet light was little use since with all the fog the light just made a sea of white in front of me. I had to ride staring directly at the ground.
I was forced to walk up the last big climb since I couldn't see anything at all. I had NO idea how far I had gone, there was NO way to tell. Finally I saw light inside my pit pop up and knew I was almost there.
When I walked in the pit, my buddy Tom had the Dos Niner good to go, lights mounted on the bar to improve vision in the fog, and JoErin was set with bottles. I simply told them thank you, but that's it.
Not sure what was up. I just had NO will to race, NO motivation and NO desire. I can't race for 24 hours without those things.
I instructed Tom to not waste time with my bikes, that he should go help another friend of his who was leading the women's solo race, she would need his help more than me, and instructed my wife JoErin to get a good nights rest with Brennan back at my Dad's.
So I spent a few hours in front of the heater that Tom brought, talking bikes and eating some pizza my buddy J.B. brought up from down in Somerset, and sipping a beer.
Many other racers must have packed in for the night, because other than those who were in heated races there were very little racers out on course.
Huge congrats to the folks who did have it in them this weekend including winner- Tinker Juarez.
It was cool to meet a legend like Tinker and his Mom, Rose. My buddy J.B. and I talked to Rose for a good hour or more while Tinker was pre riding the course on Friday. She sat in our pop up telling us some great stories from Tinker's efforts in the Race Across America this year. Tinker and his Mom are both class acts. Great to meet them both.
Sometime you kick ass racing and sometimes you let racing kick your shivering cold, wet chapped ass.
I crossed the finish at 12:00:10 and finished my 16 hour 4th lap and avoiding a DNF but most likely earning a last place if I'm lucky. Really didn't feel like sticking around to see the final results.
24 hour racing has not been kind to me this year, but hey it's all a learning experience.
Not sure what the rest of the season holds for me. There's a 12 hour race down in West Virginia at the end of the month, or I might hit up some low key XC racing at the local Month of Mud Series, possibly Iron Cross in October, or maybe, just maybe just ride my bike for the fun of it.
Thanks for reading.
Later.
Jason Mahokey
Excerpts from "The Soiled Chamois"
The Complete "The Soiled Chamois"
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; "1st lap on the Dos Niner. Photo by: Mountain Memories of Seven Springs")
; "3rd lap in the mud on El Santo. Photo by: John Blaszczak")
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