24 Overload

Coming in 5th at last yr World 24 hr Solo's I had been waiting patiently to get back to cause some suffering this yr but things unfolded quickly and I was the one suffering like a pot of overcooked soggy pasta starting to fry along the edges. Coming into the event pretty exausted from the previous two weeks of racing in Colorado and bike touring on the island I knew things were on the edge of a wholesale explosion but being hopeful I figured things would work out. Arriving in Canmore on friday the system overload signs were popping up as I tried pre-riding the course but had ot cut it short as WW3 was occuring in my stomach along with a system overheat due to the heat and some internal combustion. No pre-race meal and a sleepless, feverish night later I got out of bed at 8 am on saturday, ate some seeds, napped for an hour and at 10 got up and made the way to the start line. Being on sight boosted the system into adrenaline mode and at 11:45 we were off with the Kiwi's and Aussies setting the early tone. Things rolled along all right for a couple laps before I peeled over on the side of the course and tride giving birth to whatever was hurling javelin poles into the side of my guts. After a couple dry heeves and a few self inflicted punches to the stomach I made it around the lap and back into the pit area and figured the day was done after just 4 hrs. A little rest and a zantac pill later things were going again and all of a sudden I felt like a bike racer and raced around for 8 hrs getting up to 6th spot before everything went into the blender of distruction and after a lap of being bent over the bike I crawled back into the pit area and slept off the rest of the race.
Not quite the 24 hrs I was hoping for but gongshows happen. What was cool on the night was 2 Canadians made the top 5 this yr. Leighton Poidevin from Canmore had a wicked race, finishing 4th overall and Dallas Morris came in a solid 5th proving he is probablly the steadiest biker out there and pretty much unfaisable.

Huge thanks to everyone who came out and supported me in the event:
-Freewheel Cycle and all the boys and girls cheering out there.
- Dave Mcdowell and his pit crew who came by and made sure things were online
-Doug Eastcott, for his support in the pit
and Mom and Dad for everything you did to help in what is in no way a Solo race as I believe the Solo's is more of a team effort than the team event itself due to the fact that after 10 hrs of racing us solo bikers begin functioning like overgrown 3yr olds on adrenaline rushes.

After a week of rest and some time out at my buddies cabin 60 km in the middle of the woods the body's system failure lights have switched off and the Road bike is getting dusted off for the Tour of Bowness in Calgary this weekend. Not really a road racer or a sprinter I'm not sure how a 4 minute hill climb or a 50 minute criterium are going to go after the last race lasted 15hr but theres only one way to figure that out.

24

Summer of 2009 has been a wild one and this weekend its gonna get a little wilder down in Canmore. Having done a 24 hr solo event last yr I am pretty stoked to get back there for a epic ride in the mtns with a bunch of crazy guys from around the world.

Thanks Summer for the last minute training and the great week of riding around Vancouver Island!

Congrats Jana and Kent on your wedding!



The 24 hr race can be followed live starting saturday at noon on:

http://24wsc.com/

and

http://twitter.com/WSC24

Crazy Days

Racing in Colorado has been quite the journey with results going from 9th, 40th, 4th, 24th and then 4th again. Like many of the racers down here we are at the mercy of our bodies as we can;t seem to figure out what makes them tick up here in the altitude. Apart from the racing we have been chasing down our tents as they've blown all over the baseball field, putting rocks on the sprinkler heads to prevent the confusion of how our tents keep getting drenched on sunny days and fixing flat tires as the rocks down here are hungry. Having various results has been pretty cool as you get a chance to ride with different people everyday. I must admit though when a single speed dude caught me on day 2 I was getting ready to take up a new sport but then riding behing Bishop and Brown the next day lifted my spirits. After tommorows final stage it will be time for some smooth riding as this event has tossed us all on quite the roller coaster ride.

Colorado

The voyage down to Kananaskis and back was pretty wicked. The icefields parkway is great for riding as there are slow moving motorhomes all over the place to draft behind and pretty wicked mtns all along the way not to mention the 5 hostals which allows a biker to travel pretty light. The race in k- country went alright but 170 lbs is too much for a mtn biker to climb up hills with when there's flying dutchmen (Tim Heemskerk) on the start line.

In another effort to jump start the season I hopped a plane to Colorado to take on the 6 day Breck Epic SR (http://www.breckepic.com/). Stage 1 was a 5 mile prologue which blew my lungs apart. Stage 2 was a smooth 40 mile loop up to 12 00o ft. Going out hard with the 6 leaders up the first 7 km climb I soon blew up like the fireworks down here on the 4th of july and began pedaling backwards. 20 minutes later I started pedaling forwards again but then my wheels started mimicking the 4th of july and 3 blown flats later I slowly crawled across the finish line in a millionth place. Riding down here is not easy as the whole course is above 9 800 ft and when there's aclimatized racers like Jeremiah Bishop and Travis Brown leading the way the pace is not slow. My lungs are blown, the legs are still warped from planting and the pain threshold is growing through each pedal stroke. I have never raced before in the USA but I must say some of the singletrack is alright although the green money is lame and being forced to carry a rain jacket in a race is a good sign your not up in Canada with the lumberjacks.

Throughout the Breckepic I will be doing reports for sleepmonsters at www.sleepmonsters.com.