The Coolest24/8 Hour Race this past weekend was FANTASTIC!!!! There were so many things that made it so good…some were personal goals I had, LIKE FINISH… Also since as most of you know I have been riding and racing my single speed since I’ve been out here, doing an 8 hr endurance race first of all is a goal, secondly to actually do it and complete it was a huge goal…plus the 50 milers I did last year were completed in 8 hours so this would be a good barometer to beat those miles in that time frame…yes that is “back east” trails vs. here…I do believe though the total elevation out here in CA turns out to be more and I am on a single speed for this one vs. last year was on my geared bike…anyways I looked down at my odometer at 5 hours 35 minutes into the race and saw I had done 50 miles…with a total of 63+ miles completed...that really put a smile on my face…
This race was to have 100% of the proceeds (and many $1,000’s in donations) go to Cancer Research…what an awesome job they did…hoping to raise at least $55,000 (last year was $44,000)..I truly hope they did it…during the entire event, everytime you would think about this being a “Race”, there would be someone or something to remind you that there is more to it than that…there were and are many lives being touched by “the MONSTER” everyday, and that’s what this is all about…celebrate your lives that we can all be out there racing and celebrate those that are fighting, as well as those that fought harder than any of us did in the race to maintain their lives…Britney you truly are a worthy recipient of this years Cancer Cup…I was so glad I had on my sun glasses, as the tears flowed…What a fighter you are, your dad is blessed to have you…I wish I had the privelge to know you…I was very inspired during the race at all the photos on Memory Mile…I met a young lady along the race just prior to the pictures that told me the story of her father, as I did the same about my sister, we both I’m sure shared a tear or two as each lap passed and we said hi to our loved one along this stretch…it certainly kept me going strong up that hill to the drink station each and every lap…
The course was SOOOO Dry, it was incredible with the mass start the amount of dust that was in the air the first lap…some locations had so much dust I felt like a pilot flying into a cloud…the total unknown of what lay inside waiting…when we were all going across some of the meadows you could see the longest line of riders ever…with a huge bank of dust following…really an amazing site…and geez lets not forget what most all of us were breathing in…yikes…the course had some great spurts of single track blended in with some fun and fast downhill sections…got up to 34 mph on 2 of the sections each lap…”knickerbocker” creek proved well to “rinse” off the bike and quiet down all the grinding and squeeking it was doing from the dust bath…by the last 2 laps it was running smoother again…the hill climbs were more grueling after each lap…except of course the overall and class winner on the single speed a 19 year old young man that literally “BLEW” by me like I was standing still (probably was at the time) on his way UP HILL…and I saw him on his last lap today going almost as fast…amazing…
I met SO many great and wonderful people along the way…I don’t remember eveyones name, but hopefully if any of you are reading this, I’m the SS from back east out here temporarily…each and everyone of you were so encouraging and helpful, thanks…I was very impressed with the strength of so many riders, the hearts so big…what a wonderful sport we’re in…look forward to many more like this…
Seems after talking to the promoter Jim, after the awards ceremony today I might have been the only mess up to the results, but the time keeper, Carlos from Bike Monkey (hope I got his name right or I might not even show on the results next week at Lake Sonoma…Just kidding) wanted me to email him my name, number and class…the results showed me in open solo 8 hours at 24th position 5 laps 7:22…I should be Single Speed…putting me in at 5th out of 10 (unfortunately that messes up everyone elses spots, sorry everybody)..kick my butt next week, should be easy enough since it will be at Lake Sonoma…4 grueling laps there…whew…
Well check out my flickr site for pictures…I was busy racing so there are not a lot of “racers” in action, but enjoy anyways…Thanks.
1 comment:
Right on Ed, Good to meet you!
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