24 Hours of Adrenaline

The Trailstars composed of myself and 4 other wonderful women set off to race the 5 person - female category at the 2010 24 Hours of Adrenaline in Canmore this weekend.

Lap 1 (12pm Saturday) - The race starts at 12pm on Saturday and it is the first lap of the day. It starts with a Lemans start the consists of running almost a kilometer in your bike gear (shoes and helmet included!) and then back to your bike to head out on your lap. The run was OK. I felt slow but knew I would get people on the bike. The first lap I pushed hard but there was a lot of congestion on the course so there was alot of waiting on hills and my heart rate dropping to recovery before the "log jam" as they call it moved on. This is the advantage of being a good starting in mountain biking - you avoid the log jams! I am far better at technical down than climbing which also tripped me up on the first lap as I could not go as fast I would have liked on the downs. In any event, with 5km to go we finally got spaced out and I rode near one of Jeff's friend's, JF and we had a blast pushing each other to the finish. Lap 1 = 1:20

Between laps I socialized, wandered around and helped Jan (Luke's mom) do feeds for Luke.

Lap 2 (7:30 pm Saturday) - Lap 2 I headed out feeling strong again. Bear had been reported on the course so I was a bit nervous as I thought they would not be around with so many people out there. Fairly clear trails so I pushed hard on the ups, rocked the downs and got a great compliment from a strong rider as he passed me going into the biathlon stadium after a technical down. He said "Girl, you got mad skills". It made my day! Lap 2 - 1:10

After lap 2 I ate some lasagna someone brought by, got all my bike lights on for my night ride and laid out my gear/clothing for my next lap. And then, crawled into my sleeping bag.

Lap 3 (2:55am Sunday) - after dozing in and out of consciousness and constantly hearing the calls in for bear sightings (we were camped beside a checkpoint/water station and I could hear the radio - and bikes buzzing by; and "water? Gu?" being yelled) I decided to get up and get ready for my lap. I suddenly realized I didn't have much time. I quickly got changed and headed up to check in for my lap. I was tagged off and away I went with my Seca 900 Lumen light and headed out on course. I had to stop about 3 km in and tighten my light system as it wanted to wander and not point on the trail. I then headed off again. I then started to feel hungry. When did I eat last? Crap! I grabbed the 1 gel I had with me and ate it. I had to stop to do this as it was so dark I couldn't ride and eat in the night light - even with my kick ass light as at night your balance is not as good as it is in the day. I was riding slow and I was hungry, I felt it. I hoped the gel would kick in soon. Luke rode by me and was sightly incoherent but managed to give some advice on adjusting my pro pedal. I wasn't sure if he was "all there" as some of his words were slurred (yours would be too after 15 hours of riding) but, advice coming from Luke is always good. I pushed on but my stomach continued to growl. Why didn't I bring more food!? I did not feel strong and rode with a much lower heart rate and made some silly technical errors. I also had to laugh at myself as I was nervous at some points because of the bear and found mysef riding alone and sang loudly "Hey bear! Go away! You don't want to eat me today!" At one technical spot I ran into a guy without a light so I rode behind him so he could see with my light. He was grateful. I was happy I was riding near someone else. I felt demolished last 3 km which was all uphill and I was just so hungry. Stupid mistake of not bringing enough food with me! Lap 3 = 1:25

Immediately after finishing my 3rd lap, I walked to Luke's tent/camp and begged for food from his mom. Scarfed down some food and headed straight to bed. However, heard radio going all night of all mechanical problems riders were having and kept waking up to text the next rider up to make sure they would be there on time. Felt like longer but after just 3 hours of "sleep" I got up and headed to see how Luke was doing. He was in 4th when I went to bed but had ridden into 2nd place! I then got coffee and food into me and got ready for my and the team's final lap.

Lap 4 (11am Sunday) - we had all ridden 3 laps and we had time for 1 more and I really wanted to go out there and giver'. I was tired and not feeling great but, funny thing is whenever I have felt this way this season I have a great race. I headed out after the first hill I really was feeling great! I was really just dying to go throw 1 more lap on my bike! OK time to push. My legs felt a bit heavy for sure but, I gave it all I had and sucked it up! Lap 4 = 1:15

It was a great weekend in the sun! Our team got 6th in our category and had a blast doing it! TriWay coach Luke Way took home 2nd place in solo male! And I am thinking maybe solo next year.....