24 Hours of Big Bear: Post to Win NiteRider Lights!

Thanks to Laird, his staff, and all the volunteers for yet another great race. This was year #2 at Big Bear for another variation of the More Cowbell team. We had a better time than last year for sure. Even though there were fewer teams this year, it almost seems there were more people camping which made for a fantastic atmosphere.

As for the stories... I have a few...

1.) My favorite personal moment. After getting a flat on the first lap and getting a little frustrated personally, I decided to go out for a nice rec. ride for my night lap. Not try to kill myself, but not go at a snail's pace. During this night lap, I ran in a guy who was walking (like me) who claimed that "This is kicking my 55 year old butt!" (I hope I got the age right). I told him "If it makes you feel any better, I'm only 35 and you're kicking my butt!" We walk a bit for a while and I found out that he was racing in the Grand Master Class; this was his first 24 hour race; and that this was his second lap just I was. We finally got to a point where we could pedal for a bit, but at some point, I had to pull over to stretch my back (gave me issues all race, but that's a story for another time when someone might care). When I pulled over, "Grand Master Flash", as I called him, continued on his lap. Then we get to the BIG HILL at mile 11. At this point I had already been walking through the rock garden and had picked up a couple of other walkers too. There were three of us in a row walking up that DAMN hill. In the middle of the hill stood Grand Master Flash stopped trying to catch his breath. I called out to him, "hey, is that Grand Master Flash?" He confirmed that is was. The guy in front of me told him, "Don't stop buddy. Keep on walking." I got up next to him and cheered him on. "Come on now, almost there man! You can do this. Keep on walking." He continued the walk falling in behind me. At this point, I started to chat it up with him to help keep his mind (and mine for that matter) off of that climb. I found out that his name was Bill and his team is from all over. Baltimore, Pennsylvania, and Ohio and that he was the one from Pennsylvania. We got to the top of that hill and hopped back onto our bikes and pedal some more. I talked him through the sections, again for both of our sakes, to help us mentally through the last couple of miles. I felt it was good karma to lead him through the rest of that course whether he needed it or not. It was a good ride and good company.

2.) The race for pride and 9th place. I helped organize two teams to head up to Big Bear this year. We tried like hell for three teams but that didn't really work out. Any the who, we had put together a pretty strong team and a team that was really out to have a lot of fun and not get caught up in "the race". We had only one goal, not to come in dead last. The stronger team I knew could finish top 10. I had that mental goal for them and cheered them on. After the first two laps, they were in 5th place. WOW! Could they place top 5? After 4 laps, the settled nicely into 8th place which still put them in the top 10. Throughout the race, they were bouncing between 9th and 10th place. We never really paid too much attention to who they were battling with; we just knew that they would still finish top ten. Sunday morning at 11:30 AM, we were waiting for our fifth rider to come in to complete lap 15 and to send our top rider for lap 16. Our last rider was really just going to go out and have an enjoyable ride and not be concerned with too much. While we are waiting, we here the announcer call over the loud speaker of a team that has just come in and they are sending out their last rider for their 16th lap. This team was also racing in the same category as our team. At first, we all looked at each other as if, well, they just took 9th place until... Our fifth rider comes out of the woods as they were making their transition. As their rider gets on his bike, our rider is on the bridge. THE RACE IS ON! Our top rider was hitting the course on his fourth lap, but he was young and ready to give it his all. Our rider hit the course about a minute behind their rider. A couple of us race down to the end of the camping area to catch him at mile 3. As I was standing their, the other team had made their way down to cheer on their rider. We chatted a bit and both realized what was happening. We had a good laugh and told our riders what was at stake; PRIDE! They told me they had their top rider out there, but we had our top rider out there too. Their captain said "This beats any first, second, or third place. This is what makes racing worth while."
Not only was the race on, but so was the wait. In the meantime, our "Not coming in last place" team had a rider out way ahead of them so we had the opportunity to cheer on two of our folks into the finish. The time came to hang out at the tent. We had everyone from both teams hanging out waiting our slower team to come in first, and then be able to watch the exciting finish for 9th place. The other team’s racers were great sports and ribbed us a little, talking smack, and having some fun. Then, out of the woods pops our first rider... but wait! It's not our slower rider; it's the top rider racing for 9th place! Unbelievable! He had done it! He caught their rider and was coming in to win the bragging rights. He beat their rider by 46 seconds to win the race within the race. As for our other rider... eh, who cares! Just kidding, he finished with a big smile on his face and we all were proud of both of our teams!

3) The broken bike. One of our teammates had been having some issues with his bike he was going to race with. He had a small crack in the suspension arm of his bike and had some concerns. He went out on a preride Friday afternoon and found that the crack was getting bigger. He was not going to take his chances. He asked some locals for the closes bike shop, called them up to see if they had any frames in his size, and made plans. He got up Saturday morning, drove to Morgantown to get to the shop at 10 AM when they opened; test rode some bikes, and picked out his new race rig. He was back to Big Bear in time to see the start and raced on his new GF 29er.

Just got back from 24hrs of Big Bear!!! Wow, what a weekend!!! Perfect weather, making for perfect track conditions!! This was truely the best W Virginia could offer.