24 hr. Mt. Bike Race

  The Seven Springs 24 hr. mt. bike race is in the books and it was a fun, exciting and different experience. I was a little nervous going into the weekend because I wasn't sure what to expect since I never did a mt. bike race, never been to a mt. bike race, just really started mt. biking this year and rode the course at Seven Springs last week for the first time. The 24 hr mt. bike race is just what it implies, 24 hrs of non stop mt. bike racing on a 12 mile loop. There are quite a few catagories but we had teams in the expert (4 man), sport (4 man) and corporate (8 man).

Rock Star Bus

  Brian and I packed up the car and pulled out of my driveway at about 6:30 am sat. morning excited about the experience that awaited us starting at noon at the Seven Spring Resort. We got into this mess because the guys at Spokes n Skis needed some extra guys on their corporate team and we were stupid enough to say yes. We were suppose to meet the team in the camping area where the Rock Star bus was set up. the rock star bus is a motor home owned by the fiores and is the only way to camp. Richard Fiore was one of our teammates along with Anna, Andrea, Jason and Rob. Our team was there to have fun, but we had an expert team with Zac, Brian, David and Kevin that was there to compete and compete they did. They were in second place most of the race till late on Sunday morning and then dropped to 3rd and thats where they finished (podium). Our team finished 12th out of 16 teams and did 14 laps. Our 3rd team was a sport team which included Matt, Jason, Jeff and Martin and they finished 4th in their division.
  To start the race theres a half mile run which helps stagger the field so everybody isn't getting to the singletrack at one time. Rob was our leadoff and he was really good on the run he was actually the 2nd on the bike and had a really good ride his 1st lap was 1:29.  Me, B.,Andrea, Richard, Jason L. and Anna G. finished out the riding order. As I got on the bike the course starts with about 2 miles of very fast downhill which is not my forte and a wide sweeping left turn which I almost over cooked that turns into singletrack some of which is very technical both decending and climbing. The hardest part of the course is probably from mile 4 to mile 7 alot of climbing but thats where I was able to make up time and pass some people. The best part is from miles 7 to 10 theres alot of fast rollers that was just really fun to bomb. They saved the big rock garden till the end at mile 10.5 when your about wore out and then along climb to the lake and a flat ride around the lake to a short climb to the finish. All in all a pretty good course. I got to do 2 laps the 1st one at 1:30 PM and then the 2nd was at 2:00 AM, riding at night is so much different the woods is so quiet and peaceful except for the crickets singing and the quiet hush is overtaken with heavy breathing mt. bikers with super bright lights crashing the silent darkness. My night lap went very well I took my time and just enjoyed the woods. Once I was done riding my night lap I was going to lay done and sleep in the tent, but I was so stoked from the ride I couldn't sleep so I just stayed up. We packed everything early and when noon time came and the race was over we helped Richard pack up the Rock Star bus and then took off about 12:30.

    I'm glad I did the race and will probably do it again if ask, but now its time to get the trail shoes out and start doing some trail running, Hyner is right around the corner!!