Off to the 24 Hours of Moab

We're off first thing tomorrow (today, it's 2:00 am) to the 24 Hours of Moab race. I hope we don't run out of gas.

Okay, we're not driving the fun car to Moab. When I took this pic after riding Kenosha Pass I did almost run out of gas. It was a great photo spot, but unfortunately the sign was all that was left of the gas station. Gas mileage in the M Coupe varies greatly with how it is driven. I was having a little too much fun on the mountain roads up to the pass and looked down to see the empty light was on. Luckily, I was near the top of th pass and coasted to the next town large enough to have a gas station. I had about .3 gal left.


This will be my 3rd 24 Hours of Moab race. My first was in 2005 (pre-knee injury) with my rockstar teammate Brandon. We got 4th place in the Duo Pro class, one of my best finishes. It was one of only a few times, I've done well racing against Pros. Brandon was faster, but I ended up riding a few more laps (9 to his 7).





Last year Jo and I did it on a 5 person coed team. My knee was in bad shape, but it was one of the funnest races I've done. 1oo year rains which turned into 100 year floods just happened to descend upon the race as the sun was setting. As the sky's opened up and pandemonium broke out I just happened to be in the massage tent. As I lay there, warm and dry, sipping tea I couldn't help wonder how Jo was fairing in the dark, cold and rain. Turns out she was literally trying to stay alive in mud and flash floods, with a broken chain and no light. When she ran in from her lap of hell, I decided it might be best to hold off telling her how great my massage was!! Shorty after that they closed the race course because emergency medical personnel was overwhelmed by injured racers.





The view from the massage tent.





This year, after slowly increasing my strength and fitness, I feel pretty strong. My knee is holding up so far. I'm on another 5 person coed team. It's not a super competitive class and I have no idea how our team will do. My only goal for the race (besides having fun - the most important) is to have a sub 1:20 lap. That might be too lofty, though, right now I feel more in the 1:25 range.