The 24 Hours of Great Glen…boy where do I start with this race? It’s probably one of my favorites just because of how close it is to my house (about a 30 minute drive) and the fact that my lovely fiance is one of the event coordinators for the race…
Leading up to the race, I really wasn’t as concerned about it as I have been in other years. I am certainly not the most seasoned veteran of 24 hour racing, but I have 5 of them under my belt, so I am no rookie either.. Instead of taking all week to get my gear organized, I waited until Thursday night, checked over my check list and got all my gear piled up in the middle of my living room.
Friday morning, got it all loaded up and drove up to the venue to get settled in. I was about 95% set by noon or so, which is the earliest I have ever been. A quick food fun, some lunch and a nice relaxed lap around the course and then the rest of the day to relax and enjoy some peace and quiet.
Once the cannon fired for the start of the race, it was business as usual with the traditional walk around the pond with the TWAF team instead of running the lemans start. With some expert advice from the TWAF guys a few years ago, they found that walking the lap puts you in the same exact situation as running it and then walking the first hill, which we pretty much did anyway.
The first 5 or so laps were pretty uneventful. Some light cramping around lap 2 or 3 from the extreme heat, but that wasn’t too bad. The next 4 laps were pretty status quo with a quick break for dinner. Everything was going according to plan in terms of my nutrition plan and hydration, except for the heat. By lap 9, I had about 15 bottles of liquid in me, roughly one a lap and one between laps, yet it took me more than 18 hours to have to pee. That was a bit of a concern, but there was nothing much I could do about it. I hung around the pits for a little while to celebrate the completion of Robert’s, my pit-mate, first 12 hour race and a sip of champagne.
The problem with having no pit crew, is once the mind breaks down, the body will soon follow ans thats a tough one to over turn. I had made up my mind, I was done for the night, and there was really no one to push me out of the pits to keep riding my night laps. So, I slept….kinda. Unfortunately, the neutral support crew for the race was quite loud and didn’t really follow the “quiet hours” rule, even after been asked to quiet down on more than one occasion, so I just drifted in and out of sleep listening to loud mouths talk and compressors run all night…not a good time. I guess when the boss of the shop is out racing, the shops rats are free to do as they wish and don’t have to follow the rules.
I finally got out of bed around 6, got some breakfast in me, some dry shorts and I was out on the bike again for more laps. After the little rest, I was turning some quicker times on the laps. I got through about 3 and actually felt good. I was riding more overall and walked less than the previous night and made up well over 45 minutes on the person in front of me pulling myself back into 11. Then it happened. I went down….hard. I laid in the woods for about 5 minutes thinking I broke my collarbone..but I could still move it. I figured if I could still move it, then it wasn’t broken. I haven’t broken many bones in my life, but from all I have read and seen, if you break a collarbone, there is no if, ands, or buts about it, you know it happened. No questions asked. So, I got up after a little, dusted myself off, and continued on my way. My thought was if I can make the rest of the lap, I should be ok, at least enough to walk the entire last lap. Surprisingly, I rode the rest, with some pain.
I got back to the pits, waited for about 30 minutes and knew I had to go out again for my last lap and be on course at noon. If not, I knew I would DNF. Carl, from the Red Jersey was coming through for his last lap, so we went out together, both expecting to take it wicked slow. We had 1.5 hours to complete the lap, and we were going to make sure it would take us that 1.5 hours…
By about 11:50, we rolled back to the start line, stood around for the 10 or so minutes until the cannon went off and strolled across the line.
Over all, I did 13 laps in the 24 hours, a bit shy of what I wanted. My original goal was to just ride for the 24 hours hours, not caring on lap total. But, with out a pit crew to just push me out the door, I was weak mentally and slept. Its pretty amazing how once the mind quits, the body quickly follows. Over all, I give my physical prep about a B, B+, as there weren’t any issues there, but mentally, about a C-. It is tough to turn it around mentally once you shift in one direction…Either way, a good showing and time to start thinking about next year.
Some images from the race:
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| Pre Race smiles |
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| Racing Hard |
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| Dropping into the Plunge |
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| Laying the smack down on Sven, racing for the dismount area. Ok, we weren’t really racing, just soft pedaling that section, but I still beat him. |
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| Fueling up between laps |
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| Leaving on the last lap |
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| Finishing up the race with beer in hand |
What’s on tap now?? Just recovering up, especially my shoulder, and then the Bradbury 12 followed up by some cross racing…
**Photos were taken by both Dennis Morgan and The Vines
