24 Hours of Hardcore

This morning, I feel like I got hit by a Mack truck. No, I didn't encounter a truck while out riding this weekend, but rather, I did a 24 hour mountain bike relay race over the weekend on a 5 person co-ed team. For those of you not familiar with the format, most races of these types start at 12 noon on Saturday and wrap up at 12 noon on Sunday. Most of the time, riders are fortunate enough to catch a few zzzz's between laps (unless you do it solo), but for this decaf drinking gal who was drinking high-test to stay sharp, I hardly slept. But, let's start out with the good news -- our team won the 5-person co-ed category (gotta give big kudos to my husband, Jeff, who took one of my night laps because I SUCK at riding at night), so the lack of sleep was worth it. There were no flats, no mechanicals, and everyone's light systems worked. Now, to the not so good news -- it rained for the first six hours which made the course extremely slick and let's add that there was 100% humidity after that. It wasn't until about 7 a.m. the next morning, when things starting drying out and there was over 1000 feet of climbing per lap. Whew!

We all rode 4 laps of a 9 mile course with the exception of myself who did 5 laps because of the rotation. I finished my last lap at 11:30 a.m. and because we had such a lead on the next team, I stopped and had a beer and waited for the clock to toll noon. I crossed the line at 12:01 with a beer in hand. Pretty cool.

This was a great, quality event and I would suggest this race to anyone who is interested in trying out 24 hour mountain bike racing. The accommodations were suitable, vendors were hospitable, and the people were more than personable, even at 4 a.m. when all you could hear is the sound of bull frogs.....something that's almost surreal.

Next weekend, Jeff and I are teaming up again for a 12 hour event. Let's all hope for better weather.

Bella's Clean up at Watkins Glen Duathlon

Two of our own bella's faired well in the downpour at the Watkins
Glen race track "Fly by Night dual at the Glen". Sue Atwood quietly snuk out of her house without Dave, or any other Bellas even noticing and entered this crazy run, ride, run, ride, run race. Little did she know, Kira and I went there to cheer and spotted her immediately and became her loudest fans out there. She just kept shaking her head everytime she went by but she did us proud. Even steven with the truck drivin' attitude. Watch out cause i'll plow you down if you get in my way. She brought home a trophy and check out the photo - she looks strong! I'm just so proud.


Then there was Melissa, our new Bella this year who is on her third race of her first season. She and her runner Delaney were the top womens relay team and they smoked the course. I loaned my TT helmet to Melissa and she looked like a screaming silver bullet out there on the race track. Her TT's are starting to pay off! Brought a tear to my eye to see our bella's lookin' so good out there on a real race track.


Wish you all could have seen them. I guess the first bike portion was rather nerve racking with the wet track. The race course is quite turny and hilly and was really challenging for 3 laps. The sun did try to come out and did dry up the track a bit so the riders seemed to be having a much better time the second leg. Well done bella's.