24 Hours of Moab 2007 (#1)

Another 24 Hours of Moab is completed. We actually got to race for the full 24 hours this year - last year the race was stopped due to a 100 year record rain fall that flooded the course.

This year we raced the "Just for Fun" category as we knew we were in no shape to be competitive this year (with the exception of Erika who is turning pro next year - she kicked all of our asses!!)

The team consisted of only four this year. Me (in the light blue), Keith (my brother on the left), John (in the helmet), and Erika (in front)


The new grocery getter was broken in on this trip as it was able to haul John and I to the middle of the desert with both of our bikes and all of our gear, food, camp, etc.


We set up camp as soon as we got their Friday which was around 2 in the afternoon.

Keith arrived around 3 and we all headed out for a practice loop on the course. As this was only the 3rd time Keith has ridden this course (and the fact that he has only been mountain biking for about a year) I could tell he was pretty hesitant on a lot of the technical aspects of the course. For those of you who do not know - this course is a mixture of rock, sand, roots, cliffs, steep climbs, rocky descents, etc., etc. - it's pretty technical and parts can be pretty scary, especially at night!

We all got to do three laps (each lap is about 15 miles and over 1500 ft of elevation gain) and we were even able to sneak Erika's husband in for one lap. Actually - Keith just didn't want to get out of his sleeping bag at five in the morning as I was just getting done with my 3rd lap, so he begged Dusty to ride it for him and use his name. This makes our results screwy on the official website as it looks like Keith had a really fast 3rd lap, but it is actually Dusty, We made Keith go out after Dusty under John's name, so on the website John's 4th lap is actually Keith's 3rd (confused yet?) We figured it was a "Just for Fun" race - so who cares? Erika was the only one with 4 laps and her 4th would have been really fast if it was not for the flat she got that consumed 15 minutes to get back going. I was really hoping to beat 1:20 on my first lap and actually rode it very well - riding all of the technical sections and only getting off my bike at the big sandy hill and the cliff they call "nose dive" (which is a 10 ft rock wall that you can barely hike) but ended up with a 1:26. My second and third laps were in the dark and my third had a little mechanical as I choked my chain between my rear cassette and wheel spokes. It took forever to get it unlodged and I had a terrible time on that lap - I think my worst in 6 years!

The official times were:
John: 1:40, 1:50, 2:01
Erika: 1:22, 1:35, 1:36, 1:38
Eric: 1:26, 1:39, 1:52
Keith: 1:46, 2:16, 2:07
Dusty: 1:27

This race seems to get bigger and bigger every year. This year there were over 400 teams entered and it is believed that more than 5000 people call this desert field home for the weekend.

The start of the race is a "LeMans Style Start" where they make everyone run out into the desert around a bush and then back to their bikes. This thins out the over 400 cyclists for when they hit the trail with their bikes. John got to do the start this year> I figured I did it for 4 years so I have served my duty.

Lining up at the start:

There's John getting ready to run:

It turns into a dusty mess in the dry desert. It's a challenging run and you breath in a bunch of dust. Your heartrate goes sky high from the adrenaline and run and excitement!



Here is a shot of Keith coming in on his 3rd lap on sunday morning. Although you wouldn't have known it with the way he complained all weekend - he did say he had fun!!

We ended up finishing in 12th place out of 51 in our category. It was a great time and we'll be back next year!!

This is a great shot of John on our way home Sunday afternoon. I think it sums up exactly how one feels after competing in a 24 hour race!