Salsa 24 Race Report

The Team: "Peace Coffee Racing", 4-Man Open (Alan Eastlund, Joe Kjeer, Bryan Rhody, Chris Van Ert)
The Mission: Survive 24-hours of racing at Afton Alps and finish in top-three.

All four of us race in the Minnesota Mountain Bike Series and are teammates on Peace Coffee Racing. Joe was originally signed up to race solo. Bryan and Alan approached him about doing it as a team if they could find a fourth. That's where I entered the story. Bryan shot me an email asking if I'd consider it. Truth is, I had already been considering either doing the 8-hour solo or finding a team to join. Decided to do a solo 100-mile ride to gauge my fitness and mindset. The ride went well, so I was in.

I arrived at Afton Alps to find a sweet base camp setup: 3 EZ-Up's (one with a full-screen), tables, electric hook up with power strips to charge lights, food & bevy, and all the spare bike parts you could need. And, Joe's legendary MacGuyver shower, which deserves it's own separate write up. All of this was set up under a nice shady tree that was a stone's throw from the chalet and the start/finish/transition area. Perfect.

Alan "volunteered" to ride first and do the LeMans start (a 100-yard run up a hill, around a maintenance building then 100-yards back down to your bike to begin Lap #1). For no particular reason we settled on a rotation of: Alan, Joe, me, then Bryan. We were still undecided about how to handle the night shift, but we had plenty of time to figure it out.

Afton is a pretty brutal course. It is physically, technically, and mentally demanding. You don't get much chance to recover from all of the climbing and you can't afford to let your guard down on the steep, twisting, tree-lined rocky descents. It is either uphill or downhill, with only a couple of very short connecting segments that are "flat". The climbs vary from short and punchy to long and steep. There are three main climbs: Bridge Loop, Shady Lane and Manhandler/Whistler. These three sections are connected by a series of steep switchback climbs and rocky descents. Each 7-mile lap presents a leg-burning 1,150 feet of climbing. Painful to ride, really painful at race-pace. Punishing for 24-hours straight.

We had the racer's meeting and it was time to start. Alan was off for Lap #1 and the rest of us went back to base camp to get ready for our turn on the pain train. Expert racer extraordinaire, Sam Oftedahl, was the first racer through the transition area with a blistering 34-minute lap. Insanity. When Sam's teammate and top Minnesota pro racer, Brendan Moore, rolled across next with another 34-minute lap, the race for second place was officially on. Well, it was a race for second place the minute they registered. This is, afterall, the team (Team TrekVeloLag: Sam Oftedahl, Brendan Moore, Chris Fisher, Ben Moore) that won the 24-Hour National Championship in 2008.

The four of us got those first laps out of the way and we were all in the low to mid 40-minute range, which was great. I wasn't sure what to expect for lap times since the MnMBS race in May was a slightly different course, but I was hoping we could average 45-minute laps for the entire race. So far, so good.

We kept plugging away during the very hot and humid afternoon, trying hard to stay hydrated, get electrolytes in, and keep our fuel tanks topped off. We found ourselves in second place, a few laps down on the All-World team and a couple of laps up on third. The heat and humidity was taking it's toll and we were all looking forward to dark.

I had the first night lap and headed out as the sun was setting. I was only running a helmet light, which I won't do again. It's nice to be able to have the light shine where your eyes are pointing so you can look ahead of the bike. But, not having lights on the bars as well meant no depth-perception, which made it difficult to see little details on the trail like: rocks, roots, washouts, drop-offs. You know, the little things. There were several times where I took a descent way too hot and got bounced by something I couldn't see or where I tried to rail a corner only to discover it was loose, sugary sand. Fortunately, I kept it together and stayed upright. I decided to dial it down a bit, thinking it was better to lose a little bit of time in favor of keeping the rubber-side down. Gotta be in it to win it.

Joe had a minor crash his first time out after dark, but it was his next lap that will become the stuff of legend. Somewhere shortly after the Shady Lane summit he caught a rock on his front sidewall, went over the bars and ripped a hole in his tire (tubeless). He threw in a tube and got back on, only to have the tire blow off the bead a short time later. Joe tossed the tube removed what was left of the tire and proceeded to ride/run about a half-lap on nothing but rim. The large, "socially-lubricated" crowd at the top of Whistler was heckling Joe as they saw him pushing his bike up the hill. "He's walking! Get on and ride!", they yelled. When they got a closer look the heckling changed to, "Holy shit!, he doesn't have a front tire!!", followed by pandemonium. Fellow PCR teammate Clayton McLagan was Johnny-on-the-spot with a replacement wheel, and Joe rolled in to the transition area with a time of 1-hour. If you can have all of that happen to you and still turn in a 60-minute lap (at night, no less) you are a rockstar.

We had opted to continue doing one lap in a row for the entire race. For my previous three 24-hour races we had always done two laps in a row at night. This gives the other guys more time to rest and maybe even catch some sleep. I think one lap at a time was the right call. I didn't sleep at all for the entire 24-hours, but trying to drag your ass out of your sleeping bag after a fitful hour of "sleep" is much worse than not sleeping at all. Don't get me wrong, we were all tired, but once you get on the bike the race switch gets flipped and it's just kind of automatic. You can sleep when it's over.

The crowd on Whistler was great. As previously mentioned, they had been partying up there for some time. Riding through a group of 20 or so screaming lunatics (I mean that as a term of endearment) at the top of a tough climb gave us a taste of what it's like on Alpe d'Huez during the Tour de France. Two guys were out there the entire race, cracking us up as we'd slog up the hill. "This is nothing but a pile of dirt! You are getting your ass kicked by a pile of dirt!", was one of my favorites. They'd always follow up a good-natured jab with a water hand-up. Definitely gave us all a much-needed boost.

I had the last rotation on the night shift, heading out just before sunrise. My legs were pretty heavy at this point and motivation was pretty low. Once I got to about Shady Lane, the sun was out enough to see without lights, and my mood improved. Now that I could see again, I was able to attack the course a bit more. I was able to enjoy the sunrise over the St. Croix valley for a few seconds on the switchbacks out of "The Plunge", then it was time to put my head down and push upward.

One lap to go for all of us, and we were in pretty firm control of second place. All we had to do was finish our laps without incident and we were good to go. I rolled out for my 8th and final lap at 9:00. I was really tired, but gave it full-gas since this was it. I passed quite a few people before Bridge Loop and felt pretty good until halfway up Shady, when I starting getting the telltale twinges of impending cramps in my quads. I ate some gel, forced down some more HEED and switched from power mode to spin mode. I did not want to risk having my legs seize up on me, and just made sure I got through the tough climbs before I opened it up to the finish.

I got to the transition area, tagged Bryan and sent him out for our last team lap. My appetite suddenly made it's first appearance in about 12 hours and I began eating everything in sight: pancakes, tuna pasta salad, Pringles, spaghetti, cookies and who knows what else. After 24 hours of Gu, HEED, and ShotBlocks, real food tasted fantastic. A quick look at the standings showed the one team we were worried about had fallen way back overnight. We were up 4 laps on the closest team behind us in the 4-Man Open and were 2 laps up on the closest team behind us in the Overall. Bryan came through the finish (yes, it was no longer the transition area, it was now the finish line) at about 9:30 and our 2010 Salsa 24 was over. Well, not quite...

We still had a trip to the podium at the awards ceremony. We rode steady, consistent laps, survived a potentially disastrous mechanical/crash, and finished 2nd in the 4-Man Open and 2nd Overall. Definitely felt as good as 1st place, considering the only team we lost to was the former National Champions, who finished 4 laps up on us. Not bad for a bunch of old guys. We would have won the Masters category as well (all racers on team older than 35), but Bryan doesn't turn 35 until November.

After a long, painful and often times demoralizing rookie season racing as a Cat 1/Expert, this race made my entire season. 24-hour mountain bike races are every bit as difficult as you might imagine. Most mtb races are individual efforts, so the team dynamic of a 24 adds a lot of pressure. Especially when you have the expectations of a high-finish. You don't want to let your teammates down. We handled the pressure well, kept things fun and kicked a little ass along the way. I've done a lot of racing in the past 10-15 years, and this one will definitely earn a top-ranking.

Thanks to Alan, Joe and Bryan for asking me to climb aboard the pain train. You guys rocked! Props to all the other PCR crew out there on teams or doing the solo thing. We had 14 guys representing, which was way cool. And props to everyone else who raced or came out to cheer us on. Once I stop feeling like I got hit by a truck, I'll start thinking about the next epic adventure. Switching to CX mode for the next few months, and heading to Austin, TX in October for the LIVESTRONG Challenge 90-mile.

Thanks for reading.
Later


Salsa 24, by the numbers.

Lap Distance: ~7 miles
Lap Elevation: ~1,150 feet
Total Team Laps: 32 (8 laps each)
Total Team Mileage: ~224 (56 miles each)
Total Team Elevation: ~36,800 feet (9,200 feet each)
Average Team Lap Time: 46 minutes
Average Team Day Lap Time: 43:42
Average Team Night Lap Time: 49:25 (including Joe's little "adventure")
Total Time on Course: 24:32:03
Total Team Calories Burned: ~32,000 (8,000 each)
Saturday Hi Temp: 87°, Dew Point 60°, Overnight Temp 66
Sunday Hi Temp: 91°, Dew Point 62°
2nd out of 17 4-Man Open Teams
2nd out of 89 Overall Teams/Solo Racers