Around the Clock 24 Hour Mountain Bike Race

5 person co-ed Podium. (Left to Right) Teams "Friendly, but not Nice" - 2nd (I'm in the back with the black visor, Dan's in the orange hat), "Mountain Monkeys"-1st, "Team Chopper" - 3rd.


Riverside State Park, Spokane, WA





noon 5/24 to noon 5/25.





Team "Friendly, but not Nice." 24 hours of good times.





We learned our lesson about braving holiday weekend traffic - don't do it. What is normally a 4.5 - 5 hr drive was a blissful 8.5 hours, 3 of which were basically sitting on Snoqualmie pass. At least we got to memorize the latest 3 CDs of the audio book we're listening too.





The course was dry and very sandy this year. I also made the mistake of not pre-riding (something that I had planned to do the night before had we not been stuck in traffic) so I felt like the Tazmanian devil on a bike the first lap as I overcooked every corner and took myself out on a flat gravel corner. (A reason why I'm still expert and not pro...) Amazingly, that turned out to be my fastest lap of the race - 58:10 (58 minutes and 10 seconds).





After my amazing first lap (ha!) my mountain bike brain kicked in and I felt smoother and more fluid each lap. And was only 5 minutes slower on my night lap (at midnight - we learned last year that Kari's are not meant to bike during REM sleep hours). So in my 5 laps, I only varied 7 minutes total and met my goal of 65 minute or less lap time throughout.





The competition for the co-ed 5 person division was hot. It was the biggest feild in the race - 15 co-ed out of 104 teams total for all feilds. We were again evenly matched against Team Chopper (the team that beat us last year) and it was going to be a test of whether the strategy of fast and faster (Team Chopper) or team consistent (us) would take 2nd place. First was pretty much sealed by a team that consisted of 3 pro level riders. This year consistency paid off as our whole team posted lap times that were within 8 minutes of each other (58 to 66 minutes) for the entire race - 23 fifteen mile laps. Pretty impressive considering it this was the first 24hr race experience for two of our team members.





I think this continues to be one of my favorite races and I can't wait for next year!

Fontana National - Kenda Cup West #2

My first national mountain bike race debut! After a month (or winter!) of endless Seattle rain and blah, regardless of how the race went, being able to ride in the sunshine (without knee or arm warmers) was already worth the trip. My biggest goal for this race was to be able to ride the whole course - aka not have to walk/run my bike.

Looking for a break as well, my mom joined me in the first part of my California racing adventure. As it took 2 hours to get from LAX to Fontana - thanks to LA traffic - we got a late start in checking out the race venue. So as she took a walk in the sunset, I tried to find what I could of the cross country race course.

Running out of daylight, I found some arrow signs and followed them. Somehow they all kept leading up this insane hill...rockface is probably a more accurate description. I had been warned that the course included a pretty challenging hill, but this was too steep to even qualify! Hoping I had accidently rode the downhill course backwards (wouldn't be my first time), I enjoyed the last of a gorgeous sunset over the hills of LA.

The next day I found out that I had unfortunately ridden the correct course... in the correct direction! So much for my goal of riding everything! After a couple laps on the 5 mile course, I found I liked everything but "the wall." Somehow all the guys riding by me were able to do it. My biggest problem was "the wall" was going to be in the first 5 minutes of the race and a decisive point if I hoped to be in the top 5. I spent the rest of the day and evening agonizing about "the wall" and felt a little comfort in learning that even some of the pro women weren't able to ride it and that anything goes in mountain bike racing ettiquette (I was worried about slowing others up when I got stuck 10 feet into the rock face).

I literally felt like a fish out of water. The terrain was dust, loose sand and rock. Back home it was mud, mud with standing water, and roots (buried in mud/water). At the start line, a couple of the racers recognized me from 'cross and made me feel welcome. There were 7 in my class (cat 1, 19-29 years old) and about 15 total in the Cat 1 feild. It was a start like I've never experienced, each category lined up separated by a volunteer with a sign. Our start was slower than I'm used to (anything's slow compared to a 'cross start), but I just worked my way to second in time for the dreaded "wall." Fortunatly, I am a 'cross racer and a decent runner (compared to cyclists), so once I unable to climb further, I took off running and was able to run as fast as the girl in first was riding! So that was my new strategy for "the wall."

The rest of the race was spent outclimbing the Junior (<18 year old) leader only to be out down-hilled by her on the descents. I felt really good, even when running and I was still loving the sunshine!

As I crossed the finish line, I was announced as "an up-and-coming rider" and managed to win my class and take 3rd overall out of all the Category 1 women. Pretty cool for not even being able to ride the whole course...