24 Hours of Old Pueblo 2010

 1st (155-199 co-ed team)

24 Hours of Old Pueblo 2010 Results

 Cindy, Stan and Mike with all three Stan's NoTubes teams

Every year the promoter of the event (Todd Sadow) chooses a person in the sport of mountain biking to dedicate the event to. This year Stan Koziatek (NoTubes.com) was honored and put together three teams, all of which placed 1st; my team a 155-199 team (22laps), a 200+ team (21laps) and a female singlespeed solo Karen Rishel (13 laps).

 

The Hippie Ninjas of Stan's World was our team name and included Fuzzy Mylne (Niner), Dejay Birtch (Niner), myself, Harlan Price and Jake Kirkpatrick. A great group of guys for sure!  We raced in the co-ed 155-199 category against the Team Topeak - Ergon (Dave Wiens, Yuki Saito, Sonya Looney, Jeff Kerkove and Rebecca Tomaszewski (Niner)). Todd and Andrew came out to support the team which was cool, since they would probably rather be racing.
 

This was my second time to race The 24 Hours of Old Pueblo. Two years ago I was part of the Kenda Team (blog post), it snowed, the nights were really cold, and we had flats every lap since our mechanic at the time did not believe in Stan's. Yes, we actually ran tubes that year. Never, never run tubes on the OP course, especially in this race. Cactus is knocked into the trail, if you are racing fast you cannot avoid it, if you are able to outrun your lights you will miss turns and run into cactus, and if you have to pass 80 people in one lap you will run over cactus. Obviously I was thrilled to go back knowing flats would not be an issue this year, but Stan sponsors the Ergon team too, so we knew they wouldn't have flats either.

I believe I got both fastest day and night laps for the women (1:05:47 and 1:10:16), but don't see those results posted. The best part of the weekend was being on such a fun/fast team and having Stan and Mike so involved with our racing. They knew lap times, who was up next, when the next racer was due in, etc. 

 Mike

It was awesome standing in the exchange tent getting ready to go on a night lap and have Stan himself give me the strategy, adjust my light and make sure I had everything I needed, then when I finished my lap Mike would meet me. Mike knew everyone's lap time right away as he walked around with his iphone and kept an eye on the live results. Todd loved it too and went to bed for the entire night.

 Dejay's final lap done. Stan, Cindy, Mike sitting at the table with Todd.

SSUSA 2010 Results

 

Roll-out 

See how wide my bars are? What I lacked in power against these boys I planned to make up with leverage.

 Tim Allen's new carbon Niner (17lb SS), picture by Fuzzy Mylne

Here are some of the SSUSA Results. 

Racers continued to come in after those listed here, in fact riders were still rolling in past dark. Only a few finish times (time of day) are listed. The race officially started at 9:45am after a 7.5 mile neutral roll-out to the dirt via paved roads, staging of bikes, removing front wheels, singing happy birthday to Dejay, running back to and assembling bikes. 

Dax (1st place) did not know his time and in true SSing fashion no one wrote it down. Scott Morris who was crazy fast today after just converting a SS came in ~4th in about 4 hours. I was in ~13th with a race time of 4:13. Todd and I were on the same pace until he broke not one, but two eggbeaters. Some riders, including Todd, skipped the Chiva (right) loop and presumably did not sign in at the finish. With one broken pedal Todd waited for me to complete the very slow 17-mile Chiva loop. While waiting he borrowed a pedal and drank a Dales Pale Ale, or two. Going down Milagrosa he broke his other pedal.

It was a great ride, we had a blast and it was really cool to see the Durango singlespeed crew so well represented. I hope to post some good race pictures, once I find out who took them...

2010 Sponsor Update

I am excited for 2010!  I was lucky enough to line up every one of my first picks when it came to companies and products this year! My goal was to build the sweetest bikes possible after looking at all Interbike had on display in September. Thanks to every company listed on the right side of this blog I was able to do it!

Cannondale and Incycle are my title sponsors, most of my other sponsors will remain the same as in 2009.

New Frames:  For 2010 I think my hardtail will weigh ~ 17.5lbs and my full-suspension ~19.5lbs. hmmm that will be really cool! Of course this is on paper, we'll see what the scale says. My 2009 S-Works carbon hardtail was raced just over 19lbs and I thought that was light!

 Flash Frame

 Scalpel Frame

Picture them with the Lefty forks, Cannondale Hollowgram SL 2x10 cranks, SRAM XX drivetrains and the rest of the builds looks like this:

White Jagwire Housing with red bits

 1210g Podium NoTubes Wheelset

 Kenda Small Block and Kenda Karma tires

 Magura Marta SL Mags

 WTB Silverado Saddles

Racing Singlespeeds, it's a great date.

 SS ready

Friday night Todd and I loaded up the van with dogs and bikes and headed to Suprise, AZ just west of Phoenix for the MBAA White Tanks race. We pulled into the venue late and and most racers were already sleeping, it was cool how many people camped Friday and Saturday night.

Men's SS Open Race Start. I'm on the left, blue and white helmet. (photo thanks to MTBR Bikedad)

Todd and I raced our first XC race of the year in the Men's SS Open class (there were two men's SS classes). Results are here. We placed 6th and 7th of 18 (I was 8 seconds out of 5th). We will be racing these guys again next week in the SSUSA race. Check out my cute little 205 gram UVEX FP-1 helmet! I am in love with that helmet, I have a red one on the way, and a red Boss Race as well, too cool!

Saturday morning came way too early, they started setting up registration before sunup with floodlights, I always wonder why AZ folks do things so early, but with 100+ degree summer days they always get started at first light or before, even in the winter.

Registration was the quickest of any race I have ever been to, I didn't have to fill out any paper work. I walked up, told them my last name, was handed a pre-printed waiver form to sign, given a race packet, told to pick up my timing chip and that was it. They didn't give me a hard time for racing in the wrong class, but made sure I knew that I was signed up in the Men's "Open" class. Great folks, well organized. The races started on time with the Marathon racers going out 30-minutes ahead of the XC Men Pro/Cat1 waves.

a picture for no reason

With no call-up I stood on the front line, that may be one of the only times all year I get a front row start. Todd got the hole-shot and I found a nice spot a few wheels back. When the course pitched up Dejay launched an attack that splintered the group while we were catching geared riders, so at that point I had no idea what position I was in.

The course was fun, it felt like a big social ride. The guys were very nice, almost everyone called passes; basically we were talking and passing the entire race (there was a lot of yo-yo-ing with Cat1 geared riders). Todd and I went back and forth a few times and talked about the race, we have never raced at the same time and should probably wait till after the race to compare notes. The last time I passed him he was on the side of the trail holding a can of Big Air, something about burping his tire. I guess that was all I needed, we finished 6th and 7th and he was ~one minute behind me.

After our race we watched the Marathon racers finish up. My old Kenda teammate Danielle Musto (MI) just got into town for a week of warm weather riding with her friend Juli Allaire from CO and decided to race, placing 1st and 3rd in the Women's Marathon race. Marathon Race Results here.

Saturday evening Dejay led a night ride, there was a BBQ and a pretty big group hung out around a propane burner "campfire" till late then camped again.  Sunday morning we made breakfast and watched the short track race, then Todd and I headed out to ride the Sun Valley Parkway on road bikes.

The inner loop on the Topofusion map is the White Tanks MTB race course, the other is Sun Valley parkway, a divided four lane road with a shoulder as wide as a car lane and almost no traffic. This map shows the Phoenix sprawl on the right, Sun Valley Parkway was built for further expansion, but it stalled out.  They did call this the road to nowhere, but since they recently connected it to I-10 (bottom left) it actually goes somewhere.  It is a little bumpy as cracks have developed and been filled, but I was comfy on my carbon Cannondale road bike with Ergon grips.

We spent Saturday afternoon with my Aunt and Uncle at Happy Trails RV Park, which is where we parked and started the ride on Sunday. We rode out to I-10 and back.

White Tanks course profile.