My first 24 hour race was a dud. I was excited to do two or three night laps in my Halloween costume but Mother Nature had something else in store for us. It rained so hard the course was closed for 13 hours. You can read about that here and here.
So the race wasn't what I expected it to be, but I still had fun. My first 15-mile lap time, which was also my first view of the course, was 1:12:14. It was raining and crowded, and my glasses would fog up when I slowed down on the climbs. So I had to dodge slower riders that I couldn't see very well on the descents.
On my second lap I was prepared for everything but what I got--sunshine. The conditions were excellent and I had different glasses that I hoped wouldn't fog up. I told one of my teammates that I was going to beat my previous time.
I was overdressed and my legs didn't feel like they were ready to work. In the fourth mile I reached down for my water bottle only to discover that it had fallen out somewhere along the way. I worried that I would sweat too much and be dehydrated. My stomach started to rumble a bit from the greasy scones I had eaten for breakfast [Thanks Sharee, for being a great support crew, but next time don't let me eat two deep-fried scones right before I ride.]
Somehow, in spite of all of that, my legs felt great in the second half of the lap. I felt confident on the descents and the sand in my drive train didn't foul my climbing. I had a bit of a reality check when I passed a rider who had crashed. There were two other riders with him when I stopped and offered to help. They told me to continue on and find a court marshal or a medic, which I did at the water station at mile eleven. I chugged two glasses of water there and listened to it slosh around in my stomach on the final climb. I finished the lap in 1:11:22, almost a minute faster than my first lap.
Next year I'm going to do a lap under 1:10:00.
i want to see your halloween costume.
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