25 Hours and 19 Mintues of Moab

24 Hours of Moab 2007 was a blast!

Jo and I were on different teams so we had the opportunity to race at the same time (a first) and enjoy our down time together. My team (Doug D., Pablo, Doug W., Angela) were mostly airline people and Jo's team (Lisa, Mike, Brion, Tony) were all Emergency Medical people.

My Team

Jo's Team

They were all great people and hanging out was just as much fun as being out on the race course. This year there wasn't tons of pressure and suffering like in 2005, nor 100 year floods and mud as in 2006. Our 5 person coed team didn't win, but we did well for our circumstances and most important we had fun which was my number 1 goal. My other goal was to ride the 15 mile course with 1360 feet of climbing in under 1:20, actually I was shooting for 1:15. In 2005 my first (and best) lap was 1:15:32, followed by 1:17:45, and 1:17:55 respectively, the 9 laps I rode in the race averaged out to 1:31 a lap. In both races I also did the start lap (featuring a running start), the most night laps, and the finish lap. What more could you ask for in a 24 hour race!

Sunset against the La Sals

Jo and Angela

I fell short of my sub 1:20 goal, although, Doug did beat it with a 1:19:58. Well done Doug!! My first lap was 1:34:41, but it was plagued with a mechanical drama that sapped about 20 min off my time. Without the drama, I feel pretty confident that I would have crossed the line at 1:15 +/- a minute or two. I used my experience from the 2005 start lap to develop a good strategy this year. Moab has a dusty 200 yard Le Mans (running start) before you get on the bike followed by about 1 mile of wide dirt road leading into the first technical climb. Most people go "all out" on the run and then "blow up" (that's ride slow for you non-cyclists) by the dirt road or first climb. My strategy was to take my time on the run and then ride at maximum effort to work my way to the front on the dirt road. Jo did her team's first lap too, so we opted to take our time and enjoy the run together.

Warming Up the Legs

Jo Smiling in the Dust

Dust at the Back of the Pack

(I'm #172, that's Jo to my right)

Once I got on my bike, I put the hammer down. I'm a better sprinter than a climber so I tried to get as far ahead as possible while still on the flat dirt road. I was passing people faster than ever before, aggressively yet courteous. I felt like a such rock start blazing by everyone that I worried my head would get too big to squeeze through the gaps! As the peleton spread out I got in a rhythm and would just hang to the sides or work an gap in the center if I needed to. By the start of the climb I was chomping at the back of the lead pack.

Once in the climb I was warmed up and it was time to shift strategies. When I started riding this spring my healing knee slowed me down on the climbs. To adapt, I was forced to work on tech skills and balance to clear (ride) the technical sections of trail. I called it "ultra slow climb mode". It would frustrate the hell out of people I rode with because I would go up the technical stuff so slow that they would have to get off and walk if they didn't get in front of me.

In the weeks before the race I gained had some climbing speed back, but still used my honed tech skills to climb the hardest lines. The first half of the race course in Moab is a technical climb followed by some technical rolling sections. You can climb the whole course in the middle ring yet the trail is filled with typical Moab slickrock steps and ledges with the easiest lines on the outsides of the trail. During the start lap when everybody is grouped together these lines are packed tire to tire and it can be impossible to pass. My strategy was to ride straight up the middle, picking the hardest lines and passing all the people stuck in traffic jams on both sides. It worked great because my body was used to the power output required for the technical riding so I didn't blow up. It was almost easier to ride the technical sections at my own pace rather than have deal with other people's pace on the easy lines.

Top of the Climb

Jo Passing #38 so Fast he Almost Crashed!

At the top of the first descent I could see the race leaders rocketing up the next climb across the small canyon. They were fast!! I was also catching people who were at or above my skill and fitness level and having to work harder and harder to pass and not be passed. It was good fun and with the worst of the climb over I was settling into my groove. Passing slower people is fun, but it's more fun to race someone evenly matched.

Sandy Descent

The backside of the course is made up of long, fast straight sections with small technical bumps and gulley's. The only way I was going to hang with the people I had worked my way up to would be to get in the big ring and stay in some one's draft. I was in a pace line with about 6 other riders by the first straight. It lead into a hard left turn so I positioned myself to the inside for the pass. As I entered the turn I leaned the bike way down low and sling shot up past the guy in front of me I felt a horrible feeling through the bike. It is a feeling I have known many times before. My stomach turned sour. I mentally weaved a nest of denial to crawl into. I finished the pass and stuck on the wheel of the next guy in the pace line, but it I knew it was all in vain now. My comfortable nest of denial started to fade away just like the air slowly hissing out of my rear tire. With each pedal stroke I felt more mush and less speed as the tire went flat.

Some of my blog regulars might remember a certain (just scrool down) where I burned a bike pump and swore off flat tires for ever with the installation of new tubeless tires. As I drifted to a stop I couldn't face the reality that my rear tire had gone flat. I had set up my tubeless tires with tons of Stans sealant so that even if the tire was punctured it would self-seal. I got off the bike and could see huge drips of sealant and sand oozing out of a 1/4" slash in the center of the tire. I topped off the air pressure and spent 5 minutes rocking the tire back and forth to get more sealant into the slash. It seemed to work at first and I clipped back in trying to ignore all the people that blew me while I was stopped. My rhythm was broken, but at least I was back in the game and could start working my way back up to the front right! Wrong!! After about a mile the tire was limp again, it just wouldn't seal. It was time to make a decision - do I spent the rest of the lap periodically stopping to top off my tire pressure and risking a failure or do I take a long stop now to put a tube in it. Continuing was a gamble, so after some thought I chose the latter.

Doug

Pablo

Angela

My long stop took about 15 minutes which is an eternity during a race. I had to unseat the tire bead, which exploded with Stans sealant all over me when it came off. Stans is like a combination of whole milk and Elmer's glue. It changes viscosity quickly as air pressure changes. Once the bead was off I had to put in a tube, re-seat the tire bead, and pump it up. It was probably the worst time and place in all 24 hours of the race to get a flat. It was comical how many people passed me. For the rest of the race people were coming up to me saying "Hey, your that guy that passed me and then got a flat on the first lap, right?" On the rest of the lap I tried to stay focused and get a good time, but my moral was broken. Had I been racing more this year I might have used the incident as a motivator to dig deeper, but I just couldn't turn it around.

Hanging at the Campsite

Gearing up for the First Night Lap

Molly Getting Settled for the Night

Back in the tent city I chilled out and enjoyed hanging with Jo and our teammates. Both night laps were solid times and the fastest on my team, 1:27:45 and 1:31:50 respectively. As I rolled into the gate off the last one first light was dancing off the peaks of the La Sals in the eastern sky. I decided to bring in the dawn with a 10 minute nap and a shower. Then somehow I got in my mind that my race was over and I wouldn't have to do anymore laps. When Doug came in off his lap we did a little math which showed otherwise. I spent the next 2 hours like a little kid that didn't want to go to school in the morning. I was tired, warm, and clean. My knee hurt, but not as much as my ass! The last thing I wanted to do was get back on my bike. Pablo, our team captain, caught wind that I was done and came over to give me some encouragement, but I wouldn't have it. When he got there I was sitting in a camp chair with my head down eating a chocolate doughnut. I told him he could say what he wanted about me but I was DONE! He walked away and I finished my doughnut. I was disgusted with myself. Where was the person who suffered through all those solo 24 hour races and 30 hour adventure races. When did I turn into a sniveling little girl! Someone call the Wambulance - MAN DOWN!!

Warm Blanket - Don't want to Ride Anymore

I knew deep down I wasn't done. Maybe my misery tolerance isn't what it used to be, but I couldn't face letting down myself and my team. In the end I made the right decision and suited up for one more lap. Jo grabbed the camera and Doug readied my bike. Our other rider named Doug came in at 11:53 am, 7 minutes before the race ended. My last lap was mixture of pain and pleasure. The race ends at noon, but if you can get a rider out before noon the lap still counts. It was a ghost town out on the course and I tried to combat my pain by setting short goals and positive thoughts. Once I got going I felt strong, but my knee hurt. The sharp pains ran through my nerves like little missiles into my brain. I could have gone harder, but didn't want to be out rehabbing all winter (been there, done that, no fun). I finished with a respectable 1:25:58, total race time 25:18:58.

Jo Finishing her Last Lap

Finishing the Last Lap

Our team got 19th out of 35. Both Jo's and my team were made up of great people. We topped off the weekend with a chaotic delirious drive home through rain, snow, and fog.

Snow and Fog

More pictures can be seen here.

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.

Running, flying, and Molly Dog

Here's a story James wrote correlating running and flying. He just ran the Chicago Marathon and finished with just over half of the other original registrants that made it to the finish line. He tells a great story about running a Marathon while mentally reminiscing about flying gliders with his dad. Through out the journey he draws many parallels between feet and flight, pain and altitude gain, and hitting the wall and recovering from a stall. Check it out Here.

On the topic of stories, running and flying, here's a picture of Molly Dog taking flight. It's not photoshopped at all other than slight levels and saturation adjustments. The shutter speed was slightly too long for the flash, 1/60 at F5.6, but I needed that to catch the sunset.





Her first jump was when she was about 10 months old, we were on a road trip through Northern Idaho and Montana. I decided it was time for her to learn to jump off a dock. After some scouting I found a good one on the crystal clear, frigid waters of Lake Coeur D' Alene. If there is water, Molly has to be in it and being with me in the water is even better. Teaching by example, I ran out the end of the dock and jumped in. My body locked up in shock from the cold, a feeling I sadistically enjoy. It's like the ultimate refreshment. Molly followed me to the edge, but was too scared to jump. She barked, cried, and whimpered, but wouldn't jump. I swam closer to the dock and started calling her name excitedly. She was a ball of rising energy that kept building with each call (think puppy on Red Bull), but she couldn't get past the fear. She would run full speed and chicken out at the last minute, skidding clumsily to a stop at the dock's edge. Finally, she was overcome by an explosion of puppy super power and did it! It wasn't a half ass lob either, it was a 150% effort. She was like a dog missile launching into the air! She soared over me in slow motion, tail spinning like a helicopter and disappeared into an eruption of white spray. My vision was blurred by the splash in my eyes, but when I shook the water out I couldn't see here anywhere. Then, when she finally popped up I thought she might never do it again because it was so violent and she was under water for a while. She did do it again and still does at every opportunity. It's the only way she can beat Nana's powerful swimming to the stick.





In Boulder all the docks have rails (stupid safety), but Molly isn't phased. She just squeezes under them. Although, she can't get good height or the distance, she makes it work even in the dark.

"HELP!!!!!"

Jo and I went for a late afternoon ride (in snow flurries) today up Chimney Gulch and down Enchanted Forest and Apex in Golden, CO. About half way up Chimney Gulch there is a pull off on Lookout Mountain Road where lots of tourists congregate and walk 100 yards up the trail to be in "nature". I stopped at the pull off to put on my arm warmers as the snow was getting a little cold against bare skin, meanwhile Jo kept going. Just up the trail from the pull off I encountered a pack of over-weight, mid-westerners. Where they were standing the trail washed out into a steeply angled, off camber rock garden split up into different lines by trees. I normally don't clear this section and started to get off my bike to give way to the hikers, but as I did that the crowd came alive with cheers of encouragement. "You can do it", "Go, go, go" they chanted at. (Now I felt bad for thinking they were over-weight)

Not wanting to deprive them of a show and possible carnage I accepted the challenge. The problem was that an already hard section of trail was made almost impossible by my portly new friends standing in all of the good lines. I picked a lower line first and then had to bunny hop up to a higher line to avoid one. Somehow it worked out, but then my rear tire stalled on a root. For a split second I thought I might tumble off the edge into the abyss, but I managed to power out of it and rode off. I waived a victory salute as my audience cheered and tried to catch Jo.

She had a good lead on me, but I caught her near the top of the climb. She let me go ahead as the trail descended over a boulder and climb a short section to the top. I was just settling back into climbing mode when I heard the unmistakable sound of rubber and metal sliding on rock followed by "Help, Help!!" I could see through the trees that Jo had took a spill on the boulder, but couldn't make out any detail. I got off my bike and spent a few seconds moving it off the trail as her screams got more deliberate. Forget the bike I thought and started running towards her. As I did the tree branches gave way to the gravity of the situation.

Jo was dangling off the top of a 15 foot rock wall clinging with both hands to some loose roots on top. Even worse, her bike was dangling below her the saddle hooked miraculously on her foot. My adrenaline kicked in and I ran full speed thinking I have to grab her hands before she falls. As dove to grab her hands she screamed for me to grab her bike. What?! "Get the bike! I'm fine, GET THE BIKE!!" she yelled. How she managed to catch her saddle with her foot and tediously balance the bike on it as she went over the edge, I don't know. It looked like something out of an action movie or a cartoon. I tried not to laugh as I struggled down the rock wall to grab the bike. I got it and hoisted it up to the trail and then pulled her up. Then we both collapsed in laughter.

She's got a true mountain biker's attitude - Forget about me, hows the bike??

Kenosha Part II (Pics)

Kenosha was so awesome we decided to do it again. Jo rocked it on her single speed which was an amazing feat. Here are pics from 2 trips, 5 days apart. I used most of my good trail pics below in the previous post. The thought that this trail might be closed next year makes me sick to my stomach.

Bikes Loaded Up

Ready to Ride

Top of the 1st Descent

Ramine Killing it

Jo and I Enjoying the View

Trip 2 Crew

Jo in the Trees

1st Bridge

No Problem

Tire Tracks in Fresh Snow

Doug up Top

Angela up Top

Last Climb back to the Car

Driving Home - just as Fun as the Ride!!

Colorado Trail - Keep is Open to Bikes

Last Thursday Ramine and I rode Kenosha Pass on the Colorado Trail - all pictures in this post are of the Colorado Trail from our ride. Look for another post soon with more pics (it was awesome), but this is important! The US Forest Service is considering closing some of the best mountain biking in Colorado on sections of the Colorado Trail including Kenosha Pass and the Monarch Crest. Here's an article from July 27 in The Rocky Mountain News:

Parts of Continental Divide Trail may be banned to bikers
By Brian Metzler, Special to the RockyJuly 27, 2007

Several popular mountain bike routes in Colorado and other Western states could become off- limits under a new management initiative for the Continental Divide Trail.Under a proposed directive, the U.S. Forest Service could ban bikes on sections of the trail in non wilderness areas where they currently are allowed. The Forest Service, which announced the potential changes June 12, extended the deadline Thursday for public input until Oct. 12.

The proposal could affect some of the most popular mountain biking routes on the Continental Divide Trail in Colorado, including sections of Monarch Crest Trail from Monarch Pass to Marshall Pass, Peaks Trail and Georgia Pass in Summit County and many portions of the Colorado Trail between Copper Mountain and Twin Lakes.

"Closing it to bikes could affect us economically," said Heide Andersen, open space and trails planner for Breckenridge. "People come there to ride those destination trails."

Congress commissioned the route as a National Scenic Trail in 1978, providing a 50-mile

corridor on either side of the Continental Divide to locate the path. About 70 percent of the 3,100-mile trail has been completed through Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico, but a lack of funding has limited the development of new portions and maintenance of existing sections.

"This is a really big deal," said Drew Vankat, policy analyst for the Boulder-based International Mountain Bicycling Association. "We're talking about some trails that offer some pretty unique opportunities for backcountry mountain biking that you're not going to get in other areas." The aim of the proposed directive is to clarify the nature and purposes of the trail and align it with Forest Service land-management planning processes, said Greg Warren, Continental Divide Trail administrator for the U.S. Forest Service.

The trail was established to provide scenic and non motorized recreational experiences while conserving natural, historic and cultural resources along the Continental Divide. Warren said he biked part of the trail near Monarch Pass last weekend and encountered 90 mountain bikers, about 10 motorcyclists and four hikers in a three-hour period.

"That's why we need to wrestle with this," he said. "It was an epic ride and it was fun, but there's no way you'd want to have a pack string up there because of the intense mountain biking use. That wouldn't be safe. So we're trying to figure out how to set guidance for local management decisions to deal with those issues."

No changes are expected to be made until at least Jan. 1.

"We're not necessarily promoting mountain biking on the CDT, but we're not opposed to it, either," said Paula Ward, co-executive director of the Continental Divide Trail Alliance. "There is a lot of debate between wanting mountain biking and not wanting it. But we still need to meet with a lot of these groups to see what their concerns are."

Public input can be mailed to CDNST, P.O. Box 25127, Lakewood, CO 80225-0127 or e-mailed to mailto:cdnst@fs.fed.us.us.

Copyright 2007, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.

As the article states above, mountain bikers are by far the most prolific users of the Colorado Trail. Mountain bikers have a tremendous responsibility to be good stewards of our sport to maintain our fragile relationship with other users of the trails. Courtesy and commons sense must prevail if we are to succeed. This time of year I would never consider riding Kenosha Pass or Monarch Crest on a weekend due to the high volume of hikers, but people do.

On a summer weekend in 2005 I witnessed a mountain biker / hiker collision near the Kenosha Pass trail head, where the highest volume of hikers are. It was a group of mid-20's aged weekend warriors from Denver. I worked my way through their group on the last climb back to the trail head and it reeked of ego. Each time I passed a guy he would try to attack me, then blow up and fall off my wheel after a few minutes. I stopped at the top to wait for my friend and they caught up. I was mildly annoyed by the toxic vibe of the group, but their ego was somewhat muted by respect for me out climbing them. My friend caught up I warned everyone that we should chill on the rest of the ride because of the hikers. They took off first while we enjoyed a GU. The pic below the climb mentioned above.

About half way down to the trailhead we came upon the group standing around a bruised hiker. One of the weekend warriors was just going too fast and couldn't stop before he hit the hiker. They were all just standing around like the idiots they were! After patching up the hiker with my first aid kit, I let the group have it. I made the guy who hit him offer his information to pay any medical bills and then I went on a tirade about how irresponsible they were to go fast near the trail head. And about how the biker should have sacrificed himself by going off the trail into the trees to avoid the hiker if he couldn't stop. There is a time and a place for speed and a mile from a crowded trail head is not it! Demeaned and embarrassed the group slipped off down the trail as I screamed "It's people like you who are going to get this trail closed!"

At the time I didn't realize the prophetic nature of my words. Objectively speaking, my story illustrates why the trails should be closed to bikers, but as the majority of trail users that is not a democratic solution. I would propose some type of compromise that would grant limited mountain biking access. This has succeeded in the past, some of the best trails in Utah are only open on even days and Betasso, the closest trail to Boulder is closed to bikes Wed and Sat. Or to alleviate congestion like that mentioned in the article (90 mountain bikers in 3 hours) a permit system similar to those issued to rafters on the Grand Canyon. Money from the permits could be used for trail maintenance. Solutions like these would keep traffic volume down on heavy use days and allow equestrians and hikers a reprieve from constantly watching for fast moving bikers around each corner.

If you want to get involved you can do so by emailing the US Forest Service in Lakewood, CO at cdnst@fs.fed.us

Or through the Colorado Divide Trail Alliance Here, click the Send Comments link in the middle of the page.

Or through IMBA's online formal comment form Here.