endurance

So it's the night before the big race. I would say I've been waiting for this for a while, but it's really only been a week or so. I just wanted to thank my friends and parents for making it down to Charlotte for the event. With a 4:45 alarm set for tomorrow, I don't know if I'll be in a particularly gushy mood in the morning. Especially considering that that rude awakening will be followed by a two hour drive, two hours of registration/hydration/urination madness, and then 6 hours of racing. Yeah, I should bust out the thank you's now, I'm getting groggy just thinking about tomorrow.

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Cowbell Challenge – Wow, those two words bring back some memories! It was at the 2003 Cowbell where I had what I consider my first “real” win at an endurance mountain bike race, taking the Solo Women 12-Hour Division by mere minutes. That race helped teach me how to dig down deep and find the inner strength and determination to achieve my goal, and luckily the race finished at a point when I had managed to gain a few minutes over second place!

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So my history with the Cowbell Challenge is unfortunately quite short. I’ve been looking at getting into various kinds of endurance racing for the past two years or so, but the “if I only had time”s have gotten the best of me. My girlfriend as I finally signed on for a sprint adventure race in Macon, GA called the GEICO Ocmulgee Adventure Race (GOAR). We registered early and have been training four to five times a week trail running, biking, and a little paddling as well. But the race isn’t until July and I was itching to compete. So I scoured the internet looking for a race that fit in the one or two weekends I was free and found Cowbell about a week and a half ago.

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Ever login to your www.usacycling.com account? If you did and checked into the marathon racing calendar, guess what you would find? Nothing!

This year, according to my best research, there are no "marathon" races (50+ miles and not "timed" or lap races). Instead, you'll find ULTRA ENDURANCE races: here. So what does this mean? well, it means A LOT more racing. Instead of a set amount of miles, racers will have to contend with 12-hour to 24-hour events. Some have argued that this type of racing is way more "in" than just the "50-mile" ride, but others like the set course.

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Can you ride your bike really fast for 24 hours? Over the weekend Chris Eatough (Subaru-Gary Fisher) punished a large field of riders by riding more laps than anyone else during the 24-hour NORBA national championships in Wisconsin. He took the field by completing one extra lap in a severe thunderstorm. Overall, Eatough finished with 17 laps under his wheels. His performance earned him the top podium spot in a new NORBA race series.

24-hour racing is quickly becoming one of the hottest events. I ran a poll earlier on YourMTB.com to see if our readers had much interest. The responses weren't that positive. In other words, there still aren't a lot of 24-hour racers out there. I can attest to being one of those racers.

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If you haven't read about the Traditional Solo winner of the Ride Across America race (RAAM), then you are missing out on the best in race commentary that I've ever experienced. This article has references to states. In other words, traditional race commentary might go something like this:

"Oh, the racers are now heading into climbing section of this 110 km race. The L'Alpe d'Huez is one of hardest climbs on the tour."

However, the article states it very differently. It goes something like this:

"In Utah, the race leader suffered from some bleeding saddle sores and had to drop out. In second place was so and so and he attacked from Colorado to Kansas."

I have to say that I'm very impressed.