The other crazy thing about this event is that it is a Le Mans start. For those of you that aren’t car racing fans, a Le Mans start is where all the riders line up at the start line, all the categories mixed together, and when the gun goes off it is a running race to get to the bikes. The run is about 1⁄4 of a mile long. The hundreds of bikes are hanging on racks and when the runners/riders come flying into the transition area there is the chaos of trying to find the right bike. And then everyone grabs their bike and starts off on the first lap of the event.

Katerina casually mentioned that she had been doing some running and “volunteered” to be the first rider off. Sandwiched in amongst men that were on average a foot taller than her, she elbowed her way through the chaos and came into the transition area in 24 th place. At the top of the first hill she had moved into 18 th. The race had begun and our team was off to a solid start.

Our strategy was the following; each rider would do one lap for the first two rotations. Then we would start skipping riders through the night hoping to get more sleep. Katerina was first, then Shonny, myself and then Marla. At night the first rider skipped was Katerina so she sat out a rotation and got a much needed break. Each one of us got to skip a rotation. The downside was that for the three riders still racing the rest time was only 1 1/2hrs. With all the hype and adrenalin at the beginning of the race, all of us rode fast lap times. The rotations went quickly and things were good.

The event for the first six hours was a lot of fun. Kids running around, music playing, food cooking on the grill, warm sunshine, and everyone still had a lot of energy. After each lap, we spent most of our down time in the motor home trying to eat and drink and stay off the feet. One of the biggest challenges in 24hr racing is eating. Because the downtime was so short you really had to eat immediately after finishing your lap to give your stomach enough time to digest whatever food you put in it. The hard part, however, was that you’re never hungry after a hard effort. Trying to eat solid food when your stomach is bloated from all the energy and recovery drinks and you’re fatigued and exhausted from lack of sleep is a monumental task. Marla threw-up six times on her night laps because she wasn’t able to eat early enough in between laps to digest.

Once the sun set and we started skipping riders, things became more challenging. Now with only three of us racing at a time, the down time was only 1 1/2hrs. That’s not much time. I would finish my lap, grab a recovery drink and go over to the grass where I spent the next ten minutes washing the oil from any poison oak I may have encountered during the lap.

As if things weren’t already difficult enough, the course here at Sea Otter is full of poison oak. It’s hard to avoid when you’re racing around tight corners and windy single track. The oil from the plant gets on your skin and within 30 minutes can be absorbed into your blood stream. There is no cure for poison oak, only temporary relief from the rash it creates all over your body. A liquid called Tecnu has been a lifesaver for us. You rub it all over your skin, wait a few minutes, and then rinse it off with cold water. Tecnu dissolves the oil from the poison oak. Soap and water won’t help. And you have to use cold water to keep your pores from opening up and absorbing the oil. Now remember that we had to do this after every lap.

After my poison oak bath, I went inside the motor home and put on dry clothes. The night was warm and humid so everything we raced in was soaked. The best way to do these events is to have eight pairs of shorts, jerseys, jog bras, gloves, socks etc. You don’t want to have to put on damp riding clothes in the middle of the night for your next lap. After changing I would try and eat some solid food. Janet, our volunteer chef, did an amazing job preparing us food to eat. We had sandwiches, pesto pasta, fruit salad, green salad, almond butter banana sandwiches, hot soup, nuts, candy, and even hot milk with honey and cinnamon. After eating whatever I could force down, I crawled into bed, put my feet up, and listened to my Ipod for about twenty minutes. Then it was literally time to start getting ready for my next lap.

For the night laps each rider was required to have a lighting system on the bike. We each had a light on the handle bar as well as one on the helmet. Each light comes with a battery. For the handlebar light the battery is strapped to the seat post. For the headlamp the battery sits in your jersey pocket. All of this added quite a bit of weight to the bike. But it made riding at night much easier. The brighter your light, the faster you can ride at night. So once I got to the truck I spent a few minutes getting my light situated on my helmet. We were sponsored by Light in Motion and they had their charging station set up in our truck. Lucky for us! After every night lap I handed my batteries to the light guy and he made sure they were charged and ready to go for the next rider.

Another challenge of 24hr racing is knowing when the current rider is approaching the exchange area. Each team has a wooden baton that the riders carry with them while racing. After each lap the rider finishing goes into the exchange tent, checks in with the scorekeepers, and then hands the baton off to the next rider. Any team that loses their baton gets charged a one lap penalty. The support staff is critical for these exchanges. Waldek would keep track of our lap times, estimate our finish, and then with about five minutes to go would walk over to an area of the course about half a mile from the exchange area. When the rider went by, Waldek radioed in to the truck to Chris, our mechanic, “Shonny is on the bridge, Shonny is on the bridge”. That was the signal for the next rider to go over to the exchange tent, sign in, and be ready to go. From the time Shonny came over the bridge to when she rode into the exchange tent was only about three minutes. And once the exchange was made, the new rider took off on the next lap. It was exciting and got the adrenalin flowing because you didn’t want to miss your exchange.

So once I got all my lights situated and the bike was ready I sat down in one of our way too comfortable chairs; helmet and glasses on, and just waited. Too tired for a warm-up. The only lap I did any kind of warm up for was the first one. And that was because I didn’t know any better. Haha! To be on the safe side I was usually was ready to go with about ten minutes to spare. And that was how it went for 24hrs.

My turn to get skipped came after my 9:30pm lap. I rested from 10:30pm to about 2:50am. Then Waldek woke me up. He didn’t really wake me up because I never fell asleep. It’s an interesting thing, trying to sleep at night when you are super exhausted. I had a kind of anxiety the entire time I was lying in bed, not knowing when I had to get up, wondering if every time the door of the motor home opened was it Waldek coming to wake me up. Your body is craving sleep, yet you can’t sleep.

After my break I did a lap at 3:54am. Riding at night is very surreal. You’re never really alone because there are always hundreds of other riders on the course at the same time. It is really an amazing sight to look up a long climb and see dozens of small little white lights bobbing back and forth. Every once in awhile you are completely alone for a few minutes. All of the noises around you are heightened. And sometimes as you look off into the dark unknown, a pair of eyes reflects in your light. I heard more than one rider comment that they saw a bobcat on the course. Only thing I saw was one squished mouse on the trail and a redtail hawk that flew overhead. All of my night laps were uneventful.

The hardest lap of the entire race was my sixth lap starting at 6:20am. By this point I was starting to feel the effects of no sleep and I could tell my reaction times were slow and dull. Even though it was light out and I didn’t need my lights, the fog was so thick that it was actually harder to see than it was at night.

My glasses were covered with moisture and became useless. Riding without glasses is also difficult because on the high speed descents your eyes tear up so bad you can hardly see. I was all over the trail and had a couple of close calls. Very thankful when that lap was over. I came back to the motor home to a yummy breakfast of scrambled eggs and potatoes. The fog burned off, the music started blaring again, the kids were once again running around; everyone was coming back to life

My final lap of the day came at 9:45am. It was warm and sunny and I somehow found my last reserves of energy to race hard one last time. I think it was the excitement and relief of knowing that this was it. Marla and Shonny each did one more lap after me to finish out the day. Our team did an amazing 29 laps in 24hrs. We ended up second among 29 men’s teams. Not bad for a bunch of girls. Haha! We were so exhausted that our celebration was fairly subdued. We cleaned up and waited for the podium. I fell asleep in a most comfortable chair.

After getting our medals we packed up all our stuff and cleaned out the motor home. We drove back to the hotel, checked into our rooms, took a how shower, and climbed into bed. I fell asleep at 4pm and didn’t wake up until 8am the next morning. It was the most wonderful sleep I’ve had in a long time!

It’s been two days since the event and I’m still in a fog. I’ve been tired all day, kind of like jet lag in Europe. Hopefully my body will come around tomorrow. It was a great event and we all had a lot of fun. But I don’t see myself doing another one any time soon. Sleep is a wonderful thing and racing your bike without it isn’t for me. I’ll stick to the two hour suffer fests at the Norba Nationals. Until the next one in June....

Cheers!
Alison