Monday, September 21, 2009

24-hours of Pride and Disappointment

The Dino 24-hour race started at noon on Saturday. The venue was fantastic in Versailles State Park . It was a big park with a lake, campgrounds, pool, and showers. Perfect for this event.

Our TA was definitely the best one there. We were pimpin' thanks to the Ghisallo tents, Christmas lights, boat batteries, inverters, tools, bike stands, stoves, and healthy supply of chef-boy-ardee, soup, and cheetos!



Racers had to stage their bikes in front of the pool. To separate the field, racers had to do a Lemans start with either their front wheel or seatpost in their hands. Then re-assembly was required before the riding could begin.

The 13-mile course started with a 7-8 minute steady climb. Not too steep at all, but consistent with short plateaus tricking you to think you were at the top. Once you got to the top, you were treated to some awesome sweetness of single-track that knocks the socks off anything we have around St. Louis ! In fact, the rest of the course was absolutely amazing!

Now for the results…

I can not tell you how proud I am of my woman! Going into the Dino 24-hour race she was hoping for some women to race against as motivation to keep going for 24 hours. Well, she got her wish as there was one other female in the 24-hour solo division. BUT, she was a pro racer and had a 4-person support team, RV, and trailer to help her. With the pro woman putting time into the entire field of racers (men too!) Karen’s race became one of pure persistence and stamina. And if you know Karen, this is her strength! She went on to complete 10 laps over the 24-hour period taking short breaks between most laps to fuel and rest.

She did all 10 laps on her singlespeed and looked strong the whole damn time!
What a great season she’s been having. She’s got the Endurance Womens class in the Midwest Fat Tire Series locked up. She also won the womens class at Rapture and the Berryman Duathlon.


I on the other hand, I had a very disappointing experience. I performed a triple-lundy over the handlebars on a couple strategically placed logs next to the trail on lap 3. I really didn’t feel hurt at all and jumped right back on the bike to keep going. I was averaging about 1:10 on my first 4 laps and doing well to keep my avg heartrate about 142 to make sure I was in it for the long-haul. I kept taking short breaks between laps to change bottles and refill the gel flask. It wasn’t until I hit lap 7 that the pain really set in and I slowed way down. It was pure darkness by now and my neck was really bothering me with the added weight of my light on my helmet. My knees were screaming from hitting them on my bars when I went over and a good headache had set in. Mitch blew by me like I was standing still and so did many other racers. I just wasn’t having fun anymore! I finished lap #7 and sat for awhile talking with Kerry Rascher (he was there kickin’ it on the 12-hour) trying to figure out whether I should try another lap or quit. It was about 9:30pm and I made the decision to quit.

I showered then did my best to support Karen, Mitch, and Greg. But had to duck into the tent to get some sleep about 1am.

The predicted rain finally came about 8am on Sunday. It started very light for the first hour then got a little heavier between 9 – 10 when most racers were finishing their last laps. The crew fought the mud to get their last laps in before time limits made it unnecessary to start another lap.

There were 12 men in the 24-solo category:
Mitch got 2nd
Greg got 4th
I wound up 8th – not sure how that happens?!

Mitch enjoying his post-race OJ. I think he ate the McD's biscuit in one bite!

Kerry took home 4th out of 6 in the 12-hour and was very pleased with his first 12-hour race. Especially, given his 2009 injuries. Well done!

All-in-all, It was a fun weekend with everyone in an awesome atmosphere of mountain bike racing!






Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Here it comes..

Well, a couple races have gone by: Tall Oak 6-hour and the ICCC Castlewood race.

Tall Oak
Karen - 1st place in the solo women w/7 laps. She looked strong the whole race!
Todd - 11th place in the solo men w/9 laps. I lost a lot of time (20 mins) messing with my tube and took kit during two different stops at the tent. I had it in my back pocket but it was causing a rash on my back - just like at rapture. So I was trying to zip tie it to the bike in different places. I really need a saddle bag!!

ICCC Castlewood
Karen raced with Loreen in Expert to try something different on her singlespeed and got 2nd
Todd raced marathon as usual and got 4th behind Dwayne, Jeremy Bock, and Mitch. Eric Schunk was on my tail the whole damn time!!

But the real test is now upon us this weekend - 24 Hours of Dino!!!
Karen and I are doing it solo. We're making the trip with Dwayne, Mitch, and Greg. Dwayne and Mitch are experts at these events. Greg is about to have his cherry popped like us. It'll be first 24-hour race exclusively on the mountain bike race. We have done many 24 and 36 hour adventure races, but that's a whole different ballgame than sitting on a bike for that long!

My rear-end is already dreading the pain train that is about to travel across it!
My stomach is dreading all of the sport drinks I'm about to throw down.
My legs are shaking at the 24-hours of pedaling they're about to do.
My brain is wondering what sick twist of events caused it to think this is a good idea.

But it's going to be awesome!!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Berryman Duathlon

If any of you haven't done the Berryman Duathlon yet, put it on your calendar for 2010. Bonk Hard Racing puts it on and it's a fun race. You won't think it's fun at all while you're doing it, but afterward you'll look back and enjoy it.

I did enjoy it last year, but since I haven't been doing any running in 2009 I chose to sit out and watch Karen go round and round.

The race starts/ends at the Berryman Campground shelter. The typical format is to run the Berryman Trail in one direction from the shelter then come back in on the road, then bike the trail in the other direction and come back on the road. This year they mixed it up and really minimized the amount of time racers spent on the roads giving them more trail time.

The race also allows racers to choose whether they want to run or ride first. Teams are also allowed for those that don't want to do it solo. Karen chose to ride first along with one other guy. Everyone else ran first. She became a human spider web cleaner until the guy decided to take his turn at the front.

Karen was a little worried about her running going into the race since she's been doing so much biking but it didn't show!


Coming off her 1st place finish at Rapture the girl kicked it again and won 1st place in the womens again and also took 4th place overall. Awesome! ...and yes she did it on her single-speed again!


Along with winning some nice swag, she won a very special can of Spam. But I have my eyes (stomach) on that trophy!!

The race was a blast to be at. Team Trail Monster was out in full force in their new Segal kits passing out the PBRs. The race directors, Jason and Laura Elsenraat are always an absolute pleasure to be around. Plus, got to catch up with some old AR friends: The Sonas, Brian Greaser, Buckley, as well as make some new friends.

Don't miss it in 2010!