Epic Racing around the World

24 Stunden Rennen haben mich immer schon fasziniert. Letztes Wochenende hatte ich dann endlich die Chance, mit dem Team Mona-Vie/Cannondale mein erstes 24 Stunden Rennen zu bestreiten. Es verlief alles grossartig, wir hatten keine Materialprobleme und haben 20 Runden absolviert und somit gewonnen. Wir sind das Rennen mit 4 Personen gefahren. Somit hat man ungefaehr 3 1/2 Stunden zum Erholen nach jeder Runde, viel Schlaf kriegt man aber auch nicht. Aber man ist so konzentriert, muede wird man kaum. Am Sonntag Nachmittag, nach dem Rennen, hab ich dann die Muedigkeit zu spueren bekommen.

Die Nachtrunden haben mir urspruenglich ein bisschen Sorgen gemacht. Ich bin nur einmal zuvor in der Nacht am Mountainbike unterwegs gewesen, aber im Rennen war das kein Problem. Es ist sehr still, das einzige, dass man hoert, ist die eigene Atmung. Es sind auch hunderte andere Rennlaeufer auf der Strecke, also so richtig allein ist man nicht. Das einzig aergerliche war, als mir mitten in der Nacht ein Jeep untergekommen ist. Der hat die Strecke blockiert, und die Auspuffgase waren auch nicht so angenehm. Das Jeep Fahren ist halt sehr populaer in Moab. Es war wunderschoen, den Sonnenaufgang am Bike zu erleben. Das gibt dann noch etwas extra Motivation, um schnell zu fahren. Es war wunderschoen, Mountain Biken als Teamsportart zu erleben. Normalerweise ist man ganz auf sich alleine angewiesen, aber als 4 Mann Team ist das anders. Da muss man sich auf die Partner verlassen koennen, aber man gibt dann auch alles fuer die Kollegen. Ich freue mich schon auf naechstes Jahr!

I’ve always been fascinated with 24 hour races. Finally, last weekend, I had the chance to do the 24 hours of Moab on the Mona-Vie/Cannondale team. Everything went great, we had no mechanicals and were able to do 20 laps to finish first in our category and overall. We entered the race as 4 person Coed Pro/Am team. That way, we has about 3 1/2 hours to relax after each lap raced. That doesn’t mean that you get any sleep, though. Genereally, you are so focused and motivated that you really don’t get tired. Sunday afternoon, after the race, I started feeling the fatigue.

I was worried a little bit about the night laps, but it turned out to be no problem during the race. I’ve only ridden a mountain bike at night once before. It’s very peaceful and quiet, the only thing you can hear is your own breathing. There’s also hundreds of other racers on the course at any given time, that way you don’t get the feeling that you are out there all by yourself. I did encounter a Jeep in the middle of the night, it was kind of blocking a line on an uphill. It certainly didn’t feel good to inhale the vehicle’s exhaust fumes, either. I guess off-roading is very popular in Moab. It was really amazing to be on the bike during sunrise. It felt great and gave me extra motivation to go hard. The other great thing was to race your mountain bike as a team. Usually you’re out there by yourself, but it’s different if you’re part of a team. You have to rely on your partners, but you also push even more, so you don’t let your buddies down. I’m already looking forward to next year!

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Brown and Green. Mud and Grass. This weekend’s Double ‘Cross of action saw a little of both…more mud than grass on Saturday, and on Sunday…it was the opposite.

A healthy mix, if you ask me.

Mitchell Peterson…he’s a little out of focus, some would say fuzzy. Kids these days….

Matt Ohran’s new diet has brought several changes…mostly he’s faster and skinnier now than he used to be…but dieting brings with it new problems, like always being hungry.

“Chicken!”

I don’t think anything sums up Utah Cyclocross like Bart shouldering his bike. In a long sleeve skinsuit, no less.

Art sneaking in the kids race…that’s just not fair.

Bart and Ohran doing that “team thing”

Matt’s famous 3 Pack barrier set. We’ve all become friends with them…no matter where you’re racing in Utah, or what year it is, there are those same barriers. Every race. Every park. Every year.

Thanks to Forrest, the super boarder/throw back blogger, for supplying photo updates, and nice ones at that.

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Where do you start when a team has its best weekend yet - winning the overall, the Co-ed/Pro category, as well as taking 3rd overall and winning Men’s Veteran’s category? Did I mention our Just for Fun Team ranked right up there among the teams that had the most fun….ever?

With 3 teams mixing it up among the 400 other teams…we didn’t know what to expect. Bart, Roger, and Isaac lead out the LeMan’s start, a huge and chaotic run.

Like a well oiled machine, the group performed flawlessly, and all of our bases were covered. The MonaVie/Cannondale base camp, established by settlers in mid-October, 2007, was stocked and ready to fuel bodies and maintain bikes regardless of what the course and mother nature threw at us.

As Bart returned from winning the first lap of the race….(and the first of 20 laps the Pro team would do)

I warmed up meticulously, knowing that not only is the 24 Hours of Moab a team effort, its also a total body experience.

Lap after lap, riders returned from the wilds of the desert, scanned their real time scoring card, passed the baton…and off the next teammate went. Sometimes into the wind, sometimes into the dark…

It was after a rider’s lap that the real work began…for the rest of the MonaVie/Cannondale team, that is. “Behind every fast lap at the 24 Hours of Moab is a village“, or something like that the saying goes.

It went something like this after a rider returned from the course:

Enter the scoring tent from the course, scan your card and hand off the baton as a support member gives the finishing rider warm and dry clothing. Your new ‘08 Scalpel is taken by Head Cannondale mechanic Troy Laffey for a wash, tune, and lube. It should be noted that we experienced zero mechanicals during the 782 miles the team raced over the weekend…Formula One pits would have been impressed.

While the bikes were receiving their TLC, bodies were next…fresh clothing, hot food, and a even though some of the riders rode like machines…

We all know that even machines need service, too.

A rider is on the course and another down is on the ground resting…while the rest of the crew is working away…preparing, maintaining, supporting, and gearing up for the next lap. Lights, fueling, resting, servicing…a lap is ridden by only one rider at a time, but it takes an entire crew to pull it off.

Even preparing for a ride isn’t done alone. I personally found this aspect of the team race to be the most impressive, inspiring, and most appealing element of the sport. How can I not go out there and turn the best lap possible when I know all the work the team put into my getting out there on the course in the first place?

Honestly, when the riders were being riders, they had the easiest job of all…because when you saw this:

You knew your job of being a rider was done….and the real fun was soon to begin. Thanks to everyone at MonaVie, Cannondale, Reynolds, Light and Motion, Crank Brothers, all of the staff, the riders, teammates, family members, friends, and supporters that were up all day and all night, in the dust, in the smoke, in the wind, the cold, then heat, and everything in between that helped create this experience.

I can’t wait until next time.

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by Bart Gilliespie
Heber, Utah played host the 2nd stop of the utah cyclcrosss series and demonstrated their warm hospitality by setting up the snow makers and muddin up their entire rodeo grounds (nothing like an early season snow storm!) They also went above and beyond by firing up an industrial strength air conditioner and drop the normal balmy Utah October temps.

The mud was fun but the cold kind of got to me, with the snow and wind I was not able to get warm during the race and felt like the blood in my legs was freezing and causing my skin to crack. I was not very focused and backed off an early move and raced around the loop with “socks Goulet” who seemed to be getting the majority of the crowd support, it must have be the socks. In the end I was able to pull away but Ali was the more aggressive rider and was really ripping some of the muddier sections.

I am bummed to be missing next weeks race at the RMR as the off camber side hill is one of my favorite sections, but duty calls and Team MonaVie/Cannondale needs me at the 24hours of Moab.

Even Art came out to play.

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I’m not sure which to consider myself….ripped off, or fortunate.Saturday, the day before the race, was one of those classic days for cyclocross racing - high 30’s, windy, and a solid Fall storm dumping snow down to the 4000′ level. Some of it was sticking, some turning to a damp mush on the ground….Sunday, race day, was a blue bird sky day, temps in the mid-60’s by high noon, and the ground a tacky Velcro where you could do no wrong in the turns…

By mid November, I’m sure I’ll appreciate those sunny and warm days a bit more than I do now.

Knowing that Bart has been on-fire the past few CX events and putting an easy 60 seconds on me within the first half-hour, I tried (knowingly in vain) to convince Bart to use team tactics (ie:wait for me)…but that didn’t work. Chasing him with the goal of catching up is a lost cause, so….onward we go. Training goals are good to have.

Roger Gilliespie. Winning his category.

Like father, like son. Bart winning his class.

Sager, looking like he feels, fuzzy, and bunny hopping into 2nd.

Matt Ohran, riding “sweep”.

These photos are totally pirated and subsequently of poor quality…but I hope the grins on our (bart and I) faces conveys the front row seating we had on Ali’s bunny hop yard sale.

“hey Bart, check that out over there…”

“yeah, don’t trip over the barrier, or the body”

The Utah boys are racing this weekend in Heber City…its supposed to snow and I imagine, be quite muddy. Here in Colorado, we’re supposed to race in Frisco (Breckenridge)…and they’re saying snowy…and as per usual up there, the air will be thin. We’ll see if want to go anywhere near that with a 10-foot pole.

The following weekend its the 24hrs of Moab - MonaVie/Cannondale will have 3 teams there - pro co-ed, master, and the For Fun category.

I once heard there’s no room for fun in mountain bike racing. They must not have been talking about 24hr racing.

See you there.

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