24 hrs of Nine Mile is in the books

My first 24hr solo race is done and I did so much better than I thought I would. 5th place out of 40 racers is way out of my range or I thought it was. A couple of good things going my way and bad things going to my competitors way helped me almost get to the podium.

The weekend started out by getting up to Wausua at around noon Friday and setting up a pit area so our president Midds and my wife Cindy could have a support area right next to the course, which is a premium spot. One of the first persons I saw was Jeff Kerkove, the stud of 24 hour racing. If any of you have ever heard me talk about endurance racing, I read Jeff's blog everyday to see how he is training and to learn whatever I can from him. He is a great guy and it was really cool having my pit close to his and next to Paddy H. and Russell from Cananda.

I did a pre-ride with Midds, Staub and the Pamba team to check out the course, and there was way too much open road for my style of riding. The singletrack was fun, the rock gardens were rough but not enough of it. (There were enough rock gardens). After going into town with the Pamba team and having a big Mexican dinner, Cindy and Amy and the kids settled in the hotel, and the guys went bakc to camp and sat around the fire and told stories.

Saturday morning I started the day out with 600 calories of oatmeal and 3 cups of mud, then I started drinking water with elite. The race began with a lemans style start which was a quarter mile run. I ran behind Tony who was starting off for the Pamba team. I got to the starting gates right behind Jeff Kerkove, found my bike, and headed into to the trails with the first 40 riders.

Lap 1 was just like a regular xc race, fast and everyone trying to get to the singletrack first. My lap time was around 1 hour and 7 min. That was my fastest lap of the race.

Lap 2 I tried to keep my pace up and finished it in about 1 hour 11 min with no problems and the singletrack still clogging up a little bit with riders.

Lap 3 was time to shut it down and get into my pace. My legs were feeling thick and heavy and I needed to slow down my heart rate. Midds and Cindy were right there at my pit ready to give me more hammer products and send me on my way. Midds was so excited everytime I came in he was ready to throw me my fuel and send me on my way,he was great.

Lap 4 I was doing ok still taking some Perpetrium and gel but not taking enough water with me so I was stoping on the course 1/2 way around and getting some more water at a pit stop they had set up. I just got in some rock garden and there was a back up when some guy hit my back wheel. I didn't think much about it because we had to walk out of it but when I got back on my bike he had hit my rear derailure and bent the hanger. SHIT ! I was pissed ! I couldn't get in the gears I wanted, I needed to get back and switch out bikes.Midds was great and switched my plate number and seat bag and I was back on the Razorback ,It felt good and rolled better then the new NRS but was beating the hell out of me .
Midds took the NRS to Sram to see if they could do anything, they dailed it in the best they could but with a bent hanger it would have to do.



Lap 5 I was feeling alright, then Betsy S came around me and I rode and talked with her for awhile and she was really pushing for a podium spot. When we got done with the singletrack and started for some hills, I told her I had to shut it down and get back into my pace and wished her luck, within seconds, she was gone.

Lap 6 took 1hr 36min. I don't know why It seems I would have a good lap then a bad lap, Midds said he was about to jump my ass and keep my head in the race.

Lap 7 started out at around 6pm and ended up taking me 1 hour and 36 min to do. Mentally I was struggling thinking that there was no way that I could do this. I ran into a couple 12 hour racers and talked to them, and they told me to not think about the race, or how I was hurting but to think about something else. I tried to think of working on the house or some music that I like ,Velvet Revolver stuck for a while.
Lap 8 started out at 7:30 with a full set of lights and I knew that hings would slow down and I started to feel better.

Lap 9, 10 and 11 seemed like I was focused on the trail better and I was in a groove. The laps weren't fast but I felt good. The laps were still taking over 1hr 30 min to do. I ate good during these laps, a turkey sandwich, chunky apple sauce which really hit the spot and some red bull that I drank in the pit area at every night lap.


Lap 12 took me the longest of the night starting out at 2:05 am and I think this is where I had my seat bag fall off and I had to stop and retrieve everything. When I came in I had some fruit cocktail and another red bull.

Lap 13 I knew would be my last full night ride and it felt good knowing that the sun was about to come up.

Lap 14 started out at about 5:10 am and it was just getting light, I had half of a pb&j sandwich and another red bull, and flew around the course with my best lap since 4:30 saturday afternoon.

Lap 15 When I came in Midds was telling me that I was in the top 7 and could be looking at a podium or at least an invite to the Worlds Championship in Canada. At the time I was wanting to take it easy and finish out the race, but now I needed to some how crank it up a notch.

Lap 16 I went out at 8:10 hoping that this would be my last lap and I could relax and get the hell off this bike. When I came in at 9:30 doing about an hour and 26 min lap, Midds and Cindy said that I should do 1 more just to make sure knowing that I would beat up myself if stopping at 16 would hurt me in the standings. So I sat in a chair, ate a banana drank a red bull had MIdds help me out of the chair and went off to do 1 last lap.

Lap 17 the course was bare with everyone packing it up and team riders flying by trying to get in that last lap. When I came around tha last corner of singletrack to the last stretch to the finish line, Cindy and Midds and the Pamba team were waiting and cheering me on as I finished my first solo 24 hour race witch turned to a 25 hr race, That was a good feeling.

How do I thank Cindy and Midds for helping me get through this race ? I can't thank them enough !! Mike Staub helped through the night with the Jet Lights. The PAMBA team and club with all the support , I missed a few trail work days because I needed to train. Buchwhakers and Bob Wo with the help thanks guys !!

I know this may be corney or get over it guy ,people do this all the time, but this is something I wanted to do since last year when I did the race with the PAMBA team. I have eat and trained for this all year , did two 6hr races , one 12hr race this year to see if I can do this. This was proving to myself at 44 I can push harder than I ever have,suffered more than I ever have, and finished knowing Ya I could have done one more lap !!

If you want to know Yes I'm hurting , all over and bad !! My legs are swollen , my right shoulder won't stop hurting, and my hands are still numb. I'll recover but it will be slow !!!