This weekend was the Payson Stampede 24 hour race. We put together a 4 man team (Dan K., Dan V., Rober and myself) called Masters of Adrenalin. The team Adrenalin had another 4 man team in the Open Division, but since all 4 of us are over 40, we opted to race with in the old man category.
The course was different than when I did it 2 years ago as a solo rider in the 12 hour race. The course starts with some jeep road, then head down the a nasty "singletrack" section which is really rocky and a great place to "eat it". The hard part of the course other than the rocky downhill is the climb. A nasty climb with some sections as steep as 20%. The climb took about 12-15 minutes, then a rolling section, then downhill/flat for the last 3 miles of a 9 mile loop.
The start is Le Mans style, in other words, you have to run for a 1/4 mile to your bike, then head onto the course. Since nobody on the team wanted to run, I "volunteered" (meaning: what choice did I have) to run and do the first lap. The run took me about 2 minutes and I was somewhere in the top 20-30 riders. Once on the course, I passed quite a few riders throughout the first 5 miles. As I hit the final 3 flat miles somebody on the side of the road told me as was the 6th rider through (I thought I was 10-15th) so I was rather pleased. My first lap was just about 45 1/2 minutes plus my run time.
Dan K. was the second rider, Dan V. the third and Robert closed the rotation, then I start over. Dan K., Dan V. and myself were pretty consistent during the day running about 45 minute laps. Robert has some stomach issues and was about 5 minute slower. Once the night came, our laps slowed down a bit, but only by 3-5 minutes.
Results were slow in coming, so we never really knew how were doing for long periods of time. By 10 PM, we were 4th overall in the 4 man category and 1st in our age group by 2 laps. By 4 AM, we were 3rd overall and now up by 2.5 laps in our age category.
At 8 AM, results were posted again and were solid in 3rd place overall, but it meant that we had to keep riding - we were all pretty tired in the morning since nobody got any sleep other than 10-15 minutes. My last lap started around 8:30 AM, and I decided to take it easy - I told Dan K. to expect me in an hour - but once on the trail I just kept a steady tempo, and granny gear on the climbs. This lap was my slowest, but I still managed to finish the lap in a respectable 51 minutes.
The other Adrenalin team was battling for the win and headed into the next to last lap, they had a 9 minute advantage. No news yet on whether they were able to stay in front or not - they were down to 2 riders for the last 4 hours vs. 4 riders on the team that was chasing them.
Overall I rode for 5.5 hours in the two days, but pretty much an all out efforts for the majority of the time. Climbed over 9,000 ft. and averaged 11.5 mph while racing. Not bad considering the course and the long climb.
This is a fun race, but hard. Next year it'll be the National Championship for 24 hour racing, so hopefully all mtn bikers will come out and support the event.
Wendy was my support person and she did a great job, always feeding me and making most of my drinks, except while she slept from 10 to 6 :-) Must be nice!! Max and Flor, our two dogs made the trip with us. They were pretty tired from the "run" on Friday and remained under the shade the entire time, they were great. Never bothered anyone, always by the campground. Even stayed there while we were in the big team RV.
That's it for now. I slept most of the way home, napped when I got home, and now I'm ready to go to bed and it's not even 8 PM.
Saludos a todos, talk to you soon. Next event will be Chupacbras 100 KM race in Ciudad Juarez on October 11th.
