National 24 Hour Challenge - 2014

Here is the Strava link:  http://www.strava.com/activities/154068065

This was my third crack at the 24 hour challenge held each year in Middleville, MI on Father's Day weekend.  My last 2 attempts were in 2008 and 2009 where I finished with 375 and 427 miles respectively.  Based on how I felt after the conclusion of the 2009 ride, I rationalized that I would likely not be able to improve my overall game and sort of said to myself that would be it.

This event is extremely well organized and regularly draws 300 riders per year from all over the country and a few from other countries to add an international element.  The format is pretty simple, see how many miles you can ride in 24 hours.  The course is made up of 3 loops.  The first, a 124 mile day loop which you must complete only once to move on to a shorter 24 mile intermediate loop which you can ride as many times as you can before 7:15 pm or thereabouts.  After completing at least one intermediate loop, you are routed onto a 7.6 mile night loop which you ride as many times as you can before the event ends at 8:00 am the following morning. 


Drafting is allowed at this event, primarily because it is billed as a personal best ride, rather than a race.  While that is how the ride is promoted, the reality is that most treat this as a race, and it shows in how competitive many get with it.

At any rate, I finally decided to return to the 24 after 5 years off for a couple of reasons.  First, I did not have any other big rides or events planned for 2014 so this would give me some reason to get up early to train (and get in shape!).  Second, I rode a 24 hour mountain bike race last year and tried a liquid diet which worked very well for me.  I thought this would apply well to the road format of a 24 hour race so I wanted to try it.  Lastly, I began riding with some new guys earlier this year and 4 of them (Tom, Jeff, Mark and Michael a/k/a Rusty Chain) are regulars at this event, so why not give it another go!  I am used to coming to this event solo, so having some company would be a great change of pace.

The ride begins at 8:00 am on Saturday morning at the Kellogg Thornapple Middle School.  Grounds to the event open for racers at noon on Friday.  I left early to get there right at noon so we could set up a pit/crew area right on the course.  I arrived a few minutes after noon and was able to grab the last available spot on the circle drive where we would be turning laps during the next day.  I laid out tents and tarps for my fellow riders who would be along in a couple of hours.  Unfortunately, it was quite windy, so I wasn't able to set up most of the tents on my own.  While I had a tent, I was only using it for changing and gear, not for sleep as I did not plan on any during the ride.  This time I reserved a hotel room for Friday night in nearby Hastings with the hope that I could get better rest than in year's past.  Last time severe storms came through and soaked my tent and its contents, leaving me to "sleep" in a classroom doorway in the middle school. I would have none of that on this go around.



The Rusty Chain boys arrived at about 4:00 in Tom's huge cargo van, and camp setup began in earnest.  As we finished moving most of the gear into the camp, Michael presented the whole group with specially embroidered Rusty Chain / National 24 Hour Challenge wicking tees that his wife Sheri made.  How incredibly cool!  Very honored to be an honorary Chainer!  As early evening approached, we all suited up for a casual recon ride of the 7.6 mile night loop just to get the legs moving and to see the course in the daylight as most of it will be ridden the next night.

As early evening approached, I retreated to the hotel to get organized for the next day and to try to get to bed early.  I rarely sleep well before big rides and this day was no exception.  I was as relaxed as I could get, but I did not sleep at all.  Great, now by the time the event is over, I will have been without sleep for at least 50 hours.  Not good.

I got out of bed at 5:00 to get some breakfast and make my way back to the middle school.  It was a chilly 39 degrees with a light fog but was supposed to warm to 50 by the start of the ride.  By 7:00 the sun was shining and the bagpipe band was making its way around the grounds, making sure that no one would oversleep.  Mark's boys Evan and Alex were collecting nutrition and hydration needs for the five of us and were geared to head to the first checkpoint to meet us.  I was fortunate once again to have my friend Larry, who's wife Alison and their family regularly ride this event, available to support me at the first two check points on the 124 mile loop.  I would need help from Evan and Alex for check pint 3 - thanks guys!

Loop 1 - Morning Loop

The race kicked off promptly at 8:00 with bagpipes blaring and the sound of 300 riders clicking in and taking off.  Music to my ears.  I didn't get a shot of Tom at the start line as he may have been a bit further back in the line up.  So it was myself, Michael, Mark and Jeff rolling out together in the first 30-40 riders just hanging in to tick off the first several miles.  We ran the 7.6 mile night loop to spread the field out and then turned east toward downtown Middleville to exit town.  The pace was quick at 24-26 mph.  Hopefully this would settle down a bit.  There were 4 checkpoints on this loop at 34, 72, 96 and 124 miles (back at the middle school).  Below is a picture of my bib, which shows various mileages and points at which they punched your bib to receive credit for each leg (no timing chips).

The early miles were fast and the four of us hung in pretty close proximity to one another.  There were a number of surges in the first 20 miles which broke groups apart into smaller packs.  Somewhere on the way to checkpoint 1, I noticed Michel must have stayed back in a different group.  As the first checkpoint approached, at another school, pit crews were all ready lined up in position to receive their riders.  It was like Indy pit row, only no tire changes.  I quickly spotted Larry, took on one bottle, and two Ensures for the back pockets and I was off again before I even stopped.  Thanks Larry!  I looked back to spot other Rusty Chain riders, saw Jeff and already we were sprinting to catch back on to the lead group.  It took several minutes of work by many to reintegrate the pack and get things to settle in again.  I believe we lost contact with Mark at this point, so it was just Jeff and I at this point in the lead group. 

Before the ride, I set my phone to give me an hourly alarm ( I picked one of the loudest, most obnoxious ones to ensue that I heard it) which would be my dinner bell.  Because the first 124 miles would take 5.5 to 6 hours, and there were only 3 pits, you needed to take calories in on the bike at regular intervals.  I was a bit clumsy in handling the Ensure at speed.  Note to self; don't rest the bottle on the bars while rolling on rough road, the thing kind of sprays all over you!  Got a nice chocolate coating early on in the day.  In any event, the alarms ensured that I got a regular infusion of 300 calories per hour which should hopefully keep me rolling without trouble.

The roll to checkpoint 2 continued at about a 23-24 mph pace and was relatively uneventful.  As we rolled into the church check point, Larry was right there once again to hand up bottles.  He would wait there to continue to support the rest of his riders and I wouldn't see him again until we were all back at the middle school. Thanks again! 

There were some pretty rough roads between checkpoints 2 and 3 and on one of them, I started hearing a clinking sound coming from my rear wheel.  I thought I may have jarred a spoke or something loose, because when I went hard, it became more pronounced.  Later Jeff would point out to me that my rear tail light was knocked loose and was sort of dangling and periodically hitting the side of the wheel.  Great!  That's just what I needed, this thing to get lodged into my wheel and really cause some damage.  I rode nervously and conservatively for the remaining 10 miles to checkpoint 3 at the Delton Library where I could pull off and attend to it.  Alex and Evan were in exactly the right place and we made a seamless transition in and out of the control. 

By this time, I was getting fairly cooked and had some minor stomach issues which I needed to ride through.  I was pretty intent to just drop off at this point and ride my own ride.  There were a number of riders straggling a bit, however there seemed to be some effort to keep things together which provided me enough of a break to allow me to work through my sour stomach and stay with the bunch.  The elite 4-5 riders had already dispatched us shortly after leaving checkpoint 2.  No matter, we weren't providing any help for them anyway.  On this final leg back to the middle school, there was a bit more cooperation within the group as we tried some echeloning and rotating of pace setting at the front.  The tail end of Loop 1 is the second half of Loop 2, so we were all ready back into familiar territory and within a half an hour we would be back at the middle school ready to begin Loop 2.  We finished the first 124 miles in 5 hours and 36 minutes at a nice average pace of 22.1 mph.  I learned from the Twitter posts that our group had whittled down to 16 by the time we completed Loop 1.  Now it's time to settle down a bit, recover and set a maintainable tempo for the remaining 17+ hours of the ride!

Loop 2 - Afternoon Loop

Loop 2 is my favorite as it passes through the Yankee Springs State Recreation Area, which has some great lake views and forested areas.  Weather was perfect with a high of only 79 and light winds.  On hotter days, this loop provides some shade relief from the heat which would not be needed today.  After stripping off early morning base layers, lubing the junk and downing an Ensure, Jeff and I were off on our first lap on Loop 2.  My goal this year was to complete 5 Loop 2's, the same as I did in 2009.  

Shortly into this loop, I started feeling the effects of the morning's efforts and needed to slack it back a bit.  Jeff and I ran into two guys we rode with on the morning loop Chad (MI) and Martin (WI).  We all were keeping pretty much the same pace, but I dropped back to deal with some of my demons.  As I watched the 3 disappear ahead of me, I kept looking down to check speed.  I didn't know why I bothered, because I knew it was SLOW.  16 mph, 15.2 mph.  My legs had left me.  This was the same problem I encountered in 2009 when I was feeling really low, couldn't get the legs to respond.  I had to keep telling myself to ride through it.  At the end of the first Loop 2, I was at least consoled a bit that Jeff, Chad and Martin, were just finishing up their pit and heading back out again, hoping I hadn't lost that much time.  I rode out for my second lap with them but quickly dropped off again and lost contact.  I really struggled mentally (and physically) through this second lap, now even beginning to conjure up thoughts of abandoning the rest of the ride.  Shut up, keep riding!

By the time I finished the second lap and began the third, Tom had rolled up and joined me for a bit. Toward the last third of the third lap, I finally started to regain some strength and began to move again.  I really enjoy this 2 mile section of Patterson Road which is smooth and has a wide shoulder This spot helped me get out of my funk and start riding again with some sense of purpose.
 

Laps 4 and 5 were much more comfortable for me and I reintegrated the Jeff, Chad and Martin group for some pulls here and there.  I continued to feel like I was getting stronger which boost my confidence going into the evening.  I believe I finished lap 4 at about 7:00 leaving ample time to go for a lap 5 before checkpoint 5 closed at 8:00.  Well before this time, Michael's wife Sheri and one of his daughters and one of her friends made the trek out from Wheaton to join the support crew for the afternoon and night.  We took an extended pit before leaving, perhaps 10 minutes, and the whole RC gang was together again pace lining to checkpoint 5 where we made it with 20 minutes to spare.  As I look back on the lap times for each of the 5 Loop 2 runs, I am surprised that they are all not that terribly different.  Factoring in the time of pit stops, they all pretty much ranged in the 1:20 to 1:27 range, leading to believe my earlier melt down was likely more psychological rather than physical. 

Loop 3 - Night Loop

I had completed 233 miles by the 8:00 pm mid-point of the race, which came sometime on the back half of Loop 2, just about the same as 2009.  I knew I would need to ride stronger through the night if I was going to break my 2009 personal best.  My predetermined goal was to reach 300 miles by midnight,  If I could keep the speed up from that point, I had a chance.   I took off on the first or second night loop at a pretty decent pace, enough so that I would be riding solo for the rest of the night.  I got into a decent rythym and the goal was to knock off 3 loops at a time before making a pit break.  That would mean just about an hour and 15 minutes between refueling stops.  As the sun finally began to disappear by 9:00 or so, the perfect daytime temperatures began to drop fairly quickly.  By the time I was finished with the first set of 3 night loops I was already in the tent changing into my winter base layer and arm warmers.  Three laps after that and I was looking for my leg warmers.  Crap, I left those in the car.  So I wasted more time in the pit area looking for stuff I should have had already laid out and ready to go. 

After the initial quick surge of night loops, I scaled it back a touch to something I felt I could maintain.  By 11:00 pm, there was an awesome full moon coming up on the eastern horizon.  It was also coming up on about 15 hours into the race, which also signaled time to charge up my Garmin.  I brought a portable charger and plugged it into the Garmin and stowed it in my back pocket.  After about an hour I found that the Garmin had turned itself off and I lost about an hour's worth of data.  With my judgment cloudy and my eyesight straining to read the display, I had surmised that I was just shy of my 300 mile goal by midnight, I had about 295 in the bank. 

I continued to plug away, 3 laps at a time into the wee hours of the morning.  At one of the pit breaks, I stopped yet again to put a wind vest on to keep my chest warm.  The forecast low was only supposed to be 55, but it felt much colder than that to me.  On the fourth corner of the night loop, there is a fast downhill followed by a short climb.  The temps at the bottom of this hill were probably 5 degrees colder than anywhere else on the course.  Good thing it is followed by a climb so one can warm up on the way out!

At each pit, I was grabbing one bottle of Pedialyte for the bike, chugging one Ensure at the cooler and taking in a mini-Monster to keep some caffeine flowing to keep alert.  There was only one time where I felt like I was falling asleep on the bike, which came at around 3:00 am.  There was about one-half of a loop where I was snapping my head from fatigue and also feeling like I was losing control a bit, naturally on the descent.  Wasn't sure what this was all about as I had only been awake for about 45 hours at this point.  It was a bit unnerving.  I downed another mini-Monster after that lap and started to snap out of it.  Whew!

By 4:00 am, my knees were starting to hurt and I was wanting this ride to be over already.  Four more hours was seeming like an eternity at this point.  I tried to break the remaining hours down into more manageable pieces.  Within the next hour, I could look forward to the first signs of daybreak.  Within the next, it would be fully light again.  and within the next I would be counting down my last trio of laps for the event. 

By 6:30 I was still not sure what my total mileage was, but I could only guess I was still at about the same pace as 2009.  It might have been more motivating to see the actual miles on the Garmin to give me something to shoot for.  Whatever!  At this point, it was  reasonably certain that there were no more than 3 laps possible before time ran out at 8:00.  I think I was putting in lap times between 25 and 28 minutes, so if I wanted 3 more, I would have to keep it moving!

On the second to the last lap, after about 10 hours of solo night riding, I finally decided to latch onto a wheel, and caught up with a pair in front of me going at a pretty nice clip.  After about  mile, the woman in front of me pulled off and I realized the guy up front was Tom.  I told Tom, I was on for a shameless free ride cause I wanted to save whatever I had left for a last lap.  Tom of course was happy to oblige!  I don't know if Tom had decided whether he was in for one more or not.  As we got back to the checkpoint, race time was at 7:25 which left enough time for one more.  In each of the other two times I had done this event, I pretty much bailed at this point of the race, having about a half hour left on the clock.  I was not going to do that again so as soon as I got my bib punched, I sprinted around the circle and back out onto the course for one more.  (Sorry Tom, I didn't realize you were coming out again too or I'd have not pulled out so fast) 

Half way through the final lap I catch up to this guy who had been riding this disc wheel all day and was off the front like a rocket the whole event.  So I pull up along side and we kind of realize there is no more need to go hard, we had about 20 minutes to make the last 3 miles.  He asked me how my day was going and I said about what I expected.  I asked him what he had put in and he replies four eighty something.  Holy crap!  He introduces himself as Damon.  While I congratulated him on his great effort, he mused that it was only good enough for third place.  WOW!  I had no indication of how the other stud riders were doing but it looked like we may have some new records after today.  We both rolled in with about 8 minutes left on the clock.

Final Results

As we added up our bib cards at the tents, I pretty much ended up with the same mileage as I did in 2009, 426.3 miles.  This wound up being enough to take first place in my age group (45-49) which had 27 riders and 6th place overall behind some amazing performances.  While my unspoken goal for this year was 450 miles, I am still delighted with this result (at least I didn't get slower after 5 years which is reward enough!).  As I look back, I could have easily done at least 1, maybe 2 more laps if I cut the amount of pit time down.  My total rolling time was 22 hours, 35 minutes, with 8 minutes left on the clock at the finish, this leaves about 1 hour 15 minutes in total stop time in the pits.  Total on-road average speed was 19 mph, total average speed with stops was 17.8 mph.  Shoulda coulda woulda.  No matter, not going to dwell on it.  I suppose I could always learn how to ride faster too!

The rest of the Rusty Chain riders also put in some great performances.  Jeff met his personal goal and broke the 400 mile barrier at 403.5 and improved on his personal best by more than 50 miles! He also won his age group (40-44).  Michael posted a new personal best at 326.3 miles.  Mark put up 265.5 miles at this, his 14 year at the N24HC!  And Tom posted 287.1, also a personal best.

Can't say enough about all of the support I received this year and for the RC boys and their families taking me in for this event.  Thanks all!  I had a blast!  Now time for some much deserved rest.