24 Hours in the Old Pueblo.

By far, this was the coolest 24 hour event I've been to. 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo is the largest 24 hour race in the country, if not world. With 3,000 racers and 5,000 people crammed in the Arizona desert, it's a guaranteed good time. For good reason, they call the Ranch we all set up at camp, 24 hour town.

This pic was taken on a preride night lap just at dusk, over looking 24 hour town.

I have only raced 24 hour races solo. Curt Wilhelm(MTBcoach.com) asked me a while back if I would race Duo with him, as if he had to ask...

I was more nervous about being on a team than I would ever be racing solo. It's one thing to only rely on yourself but to uphold your strength, speed and lap times for another teammate is alot of pressure! We were racing to win. I was stoked to escape the harsh Colorado winter at 9250' and ride in the desert! I am on a new Felt Nine HT mtb and this was my first time to ride it off road.

My new Felt next to some infamous Cholla Cacti. It hurts like hell.

On the 15 hour drive to Tucson, Curt and I had a lot of time to discuss strategy and race tactics. The race starts with a Le Mans run to your bike, it was about 1/2 run. We decided I would do the first lap of the race since I have a running background. We would then alternate every other lap for the duration of 24 hours. This way, we could do "hot laps" with all out efforts and minimize our tiredness with short breaks in the evening and night laps. Getting too comfy is nto what you want in the wee hours of the morning when the race really counts, 18 hours in.

I would also like to mention, the 92Fifty' gang is freakin' rad. I had so much fun and can't say enough about how awesome everyone is/was. We had an amazing camp with 2 sprinter vans plus Jon's Transit. Power stations, tons of food, shade, help from Eric's wife Jen and friend Ben. I am beyond stoked to have such great friends. 92Fifty' had 3 solo racers, 3 guys racing Duo and 4 in co-ed Duo. Jon raced with his 14 year old son, Tanner. And Brian Sells raced with his 12 year old daughter, Bailey.

Pre-race chillin' @92Fifty' camp.

The first lap of the race was nuts. I mis-judged where I thought Curt would be to hand off my bike to me. The run to the bike is insane, thousands of people, bikes everywhere, nuts. A small group of guys were already in a train when I jumped on my bike. I punched it and chased after them. I was redlined to catch the lead group. I kept telling myself over and over, "Yo dude, this is lap one, you're prob going to do 11!" I eased off the gas and kept things comfortably hard for the remainder of the lap. By far, lap 1 was the fastest of the race for me in 56 mins. (16 miles). Flying in the desert!

I used my time in between this lap while Curt was out doing his thing to ordain how I would get in the groove and systematically prepare for my next laps. Charging batteries for night laps, food prep, etc...

Before I knew it, Curt was almost done and I was in the exchange tent to go out on lap 3 for our team, lap 2 for me. Curt had a very impressive and fast lap time. Things were solid. My second and third laps were the most frustrating of the race. With literally over a thousand people on course, passing was insane. Cactus is everywhere and passing is somewhat limited in areas. I was full of adrenaline and burning matches accelerating like mad everytime I passed someone to make up time for having to slow down so much. I quickly learned I just had to dial it back and keep things steady, they are there to race too. I did count or try to however, one lap I passed over 200 people in a single lap. NUTS!

A few pics of the race thanks to Eric and Jen Lord.

One of the fondest memories I have of the race, was on my first night lap. I was passing someone on singletrack and got a huge Cholla ball stuck in my leg at mile 1 of the lap. That baby was STUCK in my leg and wasnt coming out! You cant use your hands to remove them for obvious reasons, so I left it in there for the next hour as I raced. Literally at the finish the ball separated from the spikes, leaving the spikes in my leg. I guess an hour of riding makes enough movement it could separate. That was just a little painful, It took me over 15 mins to remove all the spikes. 

A few days after the race, starting to heal.

The race was a blast, trading blows with Curt hour after hour. We held on to finish 2nd. We got beat by Aaron Gulley and Cary Smith, those guys were flying and simply just had more consistent times than us. 

Duo's are difficult because of the time you are off your bike. The durations you are racing are extremely hard. I literally rode every lap as fast as I could. I would do one again, it just may take more convincing! Solo's are alot of fun too! 

Huge thanks to everyone that helped us out, supported us, cheered for us etc. What an unbelievable treat it was to get away for a break in the desert for some all day bike racing. Just a glimpse of the 2014 race season to come! 

On the podium with Curt. Thanks for your hard work buddy!

Next race for me is True Grit, March 15th in St George Utah!

Thanks for reading.

-KT