24hr Burn Mtb Race
I know. WTH! Or you nuts again. Everytime I set off for one of my adventures I call my mom and tell her. She always responds, "You're doing what?!" followed by a big sigh. Sorry mom for all those years I have taken off your life:)
Ok, here's the deal. I find out some of the RCO guys/gals are doing this 24hr mtb race in Wilkesboro, NC. I couldn't resist. I called a few guys to get a team but was willing to try it solo if necessary. See, I enjoy these long distance suffer fests. They help validate the idea that I have what it takes. Maybe it's ego, maybe not. Maybe I feel I have something to prove. Maybe I simply enjoy it. Whatever the case, many well qualified people have made attempts at analyzing this narcissistic behavior. My longest event has been an offroad ironman. It took me about 20 hrs. Well thank goodness I had a couple of teammates to help out with this one!
As with all of my events. Main Goal is to HAVE FUN! The race is basically do as many 7.5 mile laps as possible in a 24hr time frame. If you have teammates, then you can alternate laps and get some rest in between. There were some solo nuts out there and they did about 30 something laps. That's over 200 miles on the mountain bike. WOW.
I pick my #1 teammate up from school. He has just turned 7. That's my boy Seth! I told him we were going to do a 24 hr race, get to camp and eat campfire meals. He loves those army MRE meals! His reaction was priceless. "Daddy, do you mean I get to stay up all night?" I responded, "Yep, it sure does." Seth raises his arms high and shouts, "Yesssssss! Up all night and nobody telling what to do!" WHAT? Where did the "nobody telling me what to do" come in? He's only 7. Oh well, I knew he wouldn't make it past 10pm.
He found some friends and this trike bike. Boy did they have fun riding those things. When darkness fell, he stayed close by the campsite, cheering on the riders and helping us with the water bottles and food. About 10pm he said, "Daddy, I think I'll get in the tent for a little while." He crawls in his sleeping bag still cheering riders as they pass by. A few minutes passed and I heard no sound. He was out till sunrise. Lesson learned. Give kids some freedom to do things. Instead of saying "NO" you can't stay up all night, say "YES." He managed to get to bed on his own at a reasonable hour. Saying "YES" often takes away the desire where as a "NO" increases the hunger to do whatever it is.
So the race starts. I took the first lap and you would have thought it was a 1-2 hr race. People were going nuts. I'm like, come on guys, we are going to be out here all night. Sprinting up this first hill isn't going to win it for you. We started out taking one lap at a time which takes about 45 minutes. That leaves a little more than an hr for rest between rides. Ride a lap, come in, eat, rest, head out for another lap. During the night I doubled up some laps because of the kids needing their beauty sleep:) These trails rocked. Below is Greg getting some air!
Things going well near sunset. Feeling strong but hungry
Ah nothing better than hot food to get you through the night. Lets see. I had Mountain House Beef stew, Chili Mac, Lasagna, 4 Latte's, 3 Burns, 1 bottle of hammer gel, too many Enduralite caps and anti fatigue caps to count. Countless bottles of heed. 4 peanut butter sandwiches, bag of chips, 4 cliff bars, and other food that I can't remember. And I still lost 5 lbs. Go figure? Thx to the rescue squad next to us that had a fire going. I got cold and wet. Fire and food are the number one thing for survival in the wild:)
Randall road great! His father said he was a trooper and that he was. He rode strong and with determination. He flatted twice on his first lap which took him about 1.5 hrs. I saw him coming out of the woods carrying his bike for another 1/2 mile to the transition. Way to go Randall!
Ok, below is our camp. Look closer. Do you see that huge 75ft RV! Seth and I arrived at the site and saw it with our RCO sign. He said, "daddy, is that ours? That's my team!" Our yeah, the team was pimped out in this RV. Check out Warren's (the other warren) blog for full report.
Remember? The race is about having fun and we did. I'm chilln before the next lap.
D-Team might have had the RV. But we had the toys. Remote control trucks, Put-put course, trikes, golf clubs, etc.
Well Seth and I signing off. Until then remember to:
Ok, here's the deal. I find out some of the RCO guys/gals are doing this 24hr mtb race in Wilkesboro, NC. I couldn't resist. I called a few guys to get a team but was willing to try it solo if necessary. See, I enjoy these long distance suffer fests. They help validate the idea that I have what it takes. Maybe it's ego, maybe not. Maybe I feel I have something to prove. Maybe I simply enjoy it. Whatever the case, many well qualified people have made attempts at analyzing this narcissistic behavior. My longest event has been an offroad ironman. It took me about 20 hrs. Well thank goodness I had a couple of teammates to help out with this one!
As with all of my events. Main Goal is to HAVE FUN! The race is basically do as many 7.5 mile laps as possible in a 24hr time frame. If you have teammates, then you can alternate laps and get some rest in between. There were some solo nuts out there and they did about 30 something laps. That's over 200 miles on the mountain bike. WOW.
I pick my #1 teammate up from school. He has just turned 7. That's my boy Seth! I told him we were going to do a 24 hr race, get to camp and eat campfire meals. He loves those army MRE meals! His reaction was priceless. "Daddy, do you mean I get to stay up all night?" I responded, "Yep, it sure does." Seth raises his arms high and shouts, "Yesssssss! Up all night and nobody telling what to do!" WHAT? Where did the "nobody telling me what to do" come in? He's only 7. Oh well, I knew he wouldn't make it past 10pm.
He found some friends and this trike bike. Boy did they have fun riding those things. When darkness fell, he stayed close by the campsite, cheering on the riders and helping us with the water bottles and food. About 10pm he said, "Daddy, I think I'll get in the tent for a little while." He crawls in his sleeping bag still cheering riders as they pass by. A few minutes passed and I heard no sound. He was out till sunrise. Lesson learned. Give kids some freedom to do things. Instead of saying "NO" you can't stay up all night, say "YES." He managed to get to bed on his own at a reasonable hour. Saying "YES" often takes away the desire where as a "NO" increases the hunger to do whatever it is.
Greg Bartocci and myself make up the team. But wait, we found another kid at the race that was looking for a team. 15 yr old Randall Charwood from eastern VA. He and his family were there with 2 other teams. His dad was looking for a cool team for him to join. What cooler team that 1 Preacher 3 Sinners team. Yeah, that's our name. I knew it would raise questions and it did from the moment we registered. Ok, let's do the math. 1 Preacher 3 Sinners = 4 right? They kept wanting that 4th teammate to add. Ah I question, is a preacher above sin? It took a few minutes but they got it. Do you?
So the race starts. I took the first lap and you would have thought it was a 1-2 hr race. People were going nuts. I'm like, come on guys, we are going to be out here all night. Sprinting up this first hill isn't going to win it for you. We started out taking one lap at a time which takes about 45 minutes. That leaves a little more than an hr for rest between rides. Ride a lap, come in, eat, rest, head out for another lap. During the night I doubled up some laps because of the kids needing their beauty sleep:) These trails rocked. Below is Greg getting some air!
Things going well near sunset. Feeling strong but hungry
Ah nothing better than hot food to get you through the night. Lets see. I had Mountain House Beef stew, Chili Mac, Lasagna, 4 Latte's, 3 Burns, 1 bottle of hammer gel, too many Enduralite caps and anti fatigue caps to count. Countless bottles of heed. 4 peanut butter sandwiches, bag of chips, 4 cliff bars, and other food that I can't remember. And I still lost 5 lbs. Go figure? Thx to the rescue squad next to us that had a fire going. I got cold and wet. Fire and food are the number one thing for survival in the wild:)Randall road great! His father said he was a trooper and that he was. He rode strong and with determination. He flatted twice on his first lap which took him about 1.5 hrs. I saw him coming out of the woods carrying his bike for another 1/2 mile to the transition. Way to go Randall!
Ok, below is our camp. Look closer. Do you see that huge 75ft RV! Seth and I arrived at the site and saw it with our RCO sign. He said, "daddy, is that ours? That's my team!" Our yeah, the team was pimped out in this RV. Check out Warren's (the other warren) blog for full report.
Check out this sign. We were so styln at this race! If you don't get the D-listed Race Team name check out Warren's blog for an explanation! Great name guys and Paula.
Oh yeah, speaking of Paula. Things get a little crazy in the night. People see things like aliens and wear strange clothing.
Remember? The race is about having fun and we did. I'm chilln before the next lap.D-Team might have had the RV. But we had the toys. Remote control trucks, Put-put course, trikes, golf clubs, etc.Well Seth and I signing off. Until then remember to:Ride hard for the end is near!
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