24 Hours in the Old Pueblo

24HOP has been historically one of the biggest 24 hour mountain bike races in the US drawing crowds in the thousands including anyone from the US's top pro racers to weekend warriors. This year was the 14th annual 24HOP put on by Epic Rides and my first year to race it. Our team consisted of my AZ Devo teammates, Ian Wilkey and Dilyn Sheber along with Bicycle Ranch's head mechanic, Jon Gorman Cannondale/Stan'sNotubes pro racer, Krista Park, and myself.

 The course was 16 miles and included roughly 900 ft of climbing, opening up on what is known as the bitches which was seven short, punchy climbs on a dirt road with quick descents.

Here is a quick look at the course: http://app.strava.com/segments/636546

The order we decided to race in was me first, Krista second, Ian third, Dilyn fourth, and Jon fifth. With me going first, I had the responsibility of running to my bike about half of a mile to participate in the stampede of mountain bikers along with everyone else who had the first lap for their team. This was the only part of the race I was concerned about. I couldn’t help but think about how I was going to avoid being trampled by all the other racers. Everybody lined up to run counted down with the announcer and as when everybody shouted go, it was a mad rush for our bikes half a mile down the road. Our team captain, Ian was holding my bike for me. As I ran up and found my bike, I felt completely exhausted just from the short run. After hoping onto my bike, I caught my second wind and was able to start hammering on the pedals almost immediately. I pushed a hard pace through the dirt road we were on and upon making the first turn onto the actual course, I made the mistake of coming in too fast and crashed at 25 mph. Luckily it was a relatively clean crash and my Trek Superfly was still running just fine. After crashing, I saw one of my friends and former AZ Devo teammate, Sam Gross who I felt that I could hang on to for the lap. I hooked onto him as quickly as I could and stayed no his wheel until he dropped me after half the lap. Shortly after however, I found another one of my friends and respected Arizona coach, Art Macfarland and hooked onto his wheel. I stayed on Art’s wheel for almost the rest of the lap. On the final descent back into 24 hour town, I had another high speed crash, this one causing my chain to fall off. After getting it back on and finishing the decent, I came in to finish the lap with another one of my friends and respected coach, Darrin Permenter, made my way into the exchange tent and got Krista going on her first lap. After Krista left for her lap, I went back to our AZ Devo area to drink some Hammer Nutrition Recoverite, roll out my legs with Triggerpoint Performance Therapy’s Quadballer, Footballer, and massage ball, and finally flush them out with my Compex electro-muscle stimulator.

My second lap was the sunset lap, I was able to put down about the same time as I did for my first lap. At this point, everybody was scattered and a lot of passes had to be made, regardless though, I was still able to hold a fast moving pace. About half way through this lap, I had to turn on my Baja Designs Stryker and Stryker SL lights to keep it rad in the dark. I found myself alone for most of this lap making it rather uneventful but it was also without any crashes or mechanical issues. Afterwards, I was able to get my recovery in, hang out in the AZ Devo area for a while, then get a little sleep before the next lap.

My third lap happened right at around midnight, having a comfortable lead on the second place team, I decided to cool down just a little so as to not have a repeat of crashing twice like I had on the first lap. I felt like the night laps on this course would be slightly more difficult than in the day laps, more because of the concentration required due to how twisty the course was; also the factor of night riding anywhere, just not being able to see as well. This night lap was nice though because a lot of the people who didn’t want to ride at night had finished up their one night lap and went to sleep so not a lot of passing had to be made. At this point, I was really looking forward to just finishing the lap and getting some sleep in. When I saw the sign on the trail that said “This is the final push” I knew I was just one climb from the end of the lap and I was relieved to knock it out and hit the final descent back into 24 hour town.

My fourth lap I was starting to get a little worn, being as tired as I was coming back from the last lap, I fell asleep as soon as I got the chance to lay down and got almost no recovery in, leaving my legs sore. It was 5:00 AM, not a time of day I typically look forward to, but what is 24 hour racing without a little bike racing in the odd hours of the day? I was waiting in the exchange tent anxiously ready to go and found myself sitting next to the second place team’s rider who at this point, we had almost two laps on. I sat and made small talk with him for a while until surprisingly, his teammate came in before mine did. When this happened, I knew something must have happened out there. When he came in, he looked disoriented and told me he crashed and hit his head hard, not good news. At this, I wanted to make up as much time as possible so I hit this lap as hard as I could in the dark and with worn legs. I ended up bringing back a few minutes to start recovering our lead on them. At the end of the lap, I stretched and rolled out, then went right back to sleep.

I was woken up for my fifth and final lap. I woke up to sunshine and nice weather which I was super happy to see. When it came to be about time for me to start the lap, I knew that we had won the race. I started out being competitive but then realized that I had the luxury of going easy and that was what I did. I got ahead of the guy I was drafting off of and told him I would pull him around for the rest of the lap. He ended up dropping off about half way through, but I still made the lap more chilled out than the other ones. It was a nice feeling to go out and get one last lap in before getting ready for the podium. I finished the lap, and sent Krista on her last lap; the victory lap for our team.

24 Hours in the Old Pueblo put on by Epic Rides was an experience I wouldn’t trade for anything. It is an event all about racing bikes and having fun. Having enjoyed this event so much, I plan on doing it year after year!

For this event, there were a few special thank you’s and people that were a major help worth mentioning.

First and foremost, I would like to thank my 24HOP team, Krista Park, Ian Wilkey, Dilyn Sheber, and Jon Gorman. I would also like to thank our support crew from the race who kept us on track the whole race, Marty Coplea, Laurie Sheber, Todd Park and my dad, Ron Thomas.

A special thank you also to Baja Designs for their incredible products and making our night laps look like day laps with their Stryker II and Stryker SL lights.

Hammer Nutrition for all of their various products such as Race Caps Supreme, Anti-Fatigue Caps, Endurolytes, HEED and Recoverite.

Brad Wilhelm for coaching me and keeping me in fighting shape for every race.

One more thank you to AZ Devo for supporting me at all my races and supporting the development of Junior and U23 racers in Arizona

I would also like to thank the rest of my sponsors for their support and incredible products:
Trek
Bontrager
Hammer Nutrition
Bicycle Ranch
Sram
Genuine Innovations
Feedback Sports
Pro Gold Lubricants
The Mountain Bike Association of Arizona
Stan's Notubes
ESI Grips
Triggerpoint Therapy
Baja Designs