Rolling in the Dirt: Golden 24

The first 24 hour race of the season and second race, Salty Dog 6 hour was the first. I was excited to get things rolling and catch up with some good friends and fellow racers.

I headed out to Golden a few days early to get some more time in on the course and hang out at our awesome cabin at Cedar House Chalets. It was a no joke course with some technical terrain and descent vert gain, approx. 1500 ft in 14.5 km. The rest of the crew showed up a few days later. We grabbed our pits, got pre race lap in and shared some laughs before things got crazy. Steve, Andrew & I were racing Solo. Our pit crew would be busy!

View from chalet. Hot tub came in handy!

Race morning was clear but the forecast did not look promising with a lot of rain predicated. The good news was support crew was top notch with Coach Shaun and Ryan, Worlds 24 Hour age cat champ and girlfriend Madison. There would be no nonsense with this team ;-). Now I just had to race for 24 hours.

Coach & Ryan

It was time to get to the start line for the dreaded Le Mans run. It was a long one, followed by a lap around the run course on bike before hitting the actual course. I got into a fairly good position after the run and had a smooth first lap. The next few were nice and consistent, starting to settle into the course.

I could tell the weather was starting to turn and the pit crew said I had to grab some kind of layer before heading out on the next lap. Good thing as the sky opened up and I was pretty much soaked after that one. From here on it pretty much continued to rain and I even saw some snow on the back end of the course!

Back at the pit to grab another bottle of Infinit and some more layers, was told to ride smart and was doing well in comparison to the other solo women. But the carnage was starting to happen with crashes and literally sliding down True Value/3k. It was getting so greasy! I told the crew felt like had no brakes. The response "you probably don't but you are not alone". Translation.... grab a bottle and get back on your bike ;-).

It was time to mount lights and switch out some more layers. I will call this my "dark" lap. Felt like it took 30 minutes to get my layers on and get sorted out. The crew pretty much just starred at me for awhile as I fumbled around trying to get shoe covers on, pants over shoes, etc. I was getting cranky so don't think they really knew what to do with me ;-). I started to come around a bit and we worked together to get sorted with clothes & lights. All the while the photographer was shooting away and random people were coming by asking if I was going out again.

This is when things started to get interesting on the course. Darkness, pouring rain and fatigue settling in. I decided to walk some of the more technical sections as a mode of survival. Walking down a section of Trial & Error there was a "spotter" at the bottom. He said "good call the last 4 out of 5 riders have crashed". LOL!

It was basically the same theme throughout the night just trying to stay up right and grab whatever layers I could. I really had no idea what time it was or how long it was taking me to get around the course once my Garmin died. The crew said had a good lead on the women's field and could stop for a break on the next lap if needed. I felt a little rejuvenated with that news. The sun started to come up towards the end of the lap, which always feels good.

Coming into the transition tent glanced at the clock and saw there was approximately four hours left of racing. The time I got lights off and layers sorted figured would only have time for one more lap. Ryan didn't think it was needed to secure my position but you never know so I was going back out. The rain had finally stopped so that was a bonus.

Felt pretty good at the beginning of lap but that shortly dissipated making my way through the greasy course. I was sure happy to be back at the final climb and finish things off. Big hugs and high fives from the pit crew. Then I sat down and tried to wrap my head around what just happened. It was one of the toughest courses I have seen for a 24 hour solo. Then you throw in the conditions, which made for a long and tough race both mentally and physically. I was a little crazy at this point sporting my shower cap, which probably could have been useful to wear while actually racing ;-).

The rest of the crew began to trickle in with Steve taking the win for Solo 40+ and Andrew Open Men. It was a podium sweep for the Forward Momentum crew! Sarah also had a great race taking 3rd for Solo Women. You don't get these kind of results without a world class coach and kick ass pit crew! Thanks Shaun, Ryan & Madison. Also a big thanks to Specialized Canada, Infinit Nutrition Canada and Exposure Lights USA for your continued support. Finally thanks to all the volunteers and Trans Rockies for putting on a great event. It was great to see so many familiar faces on the course and around the transition tent. It is all the little things that add up to make the experience a memorable one.

These photos pretty much tell the rest of the story: