24 Hours of Moab

Now that we're just about to leave for the 25 Hrs in Frog Hollow I thought I'd write a bit about the 24 Hrs of Moab that happened this past October 8-9th. My good buddies Will and Randy decided to enter in the Solo division, Will running single speed and Randy on his Carver Ti snow bike!

Will and I arrived early to set up our camp on solo row, but in the meantime we were able to hang out at the "Sandbox"/Stompa VIP camp, which happens to be a mere 3/4 of a mile from the start/finish area. This is by far one of my favorite parts of the 24 Hrs of Moab each year, and being able to stay here is truly a magical experience! We've actually won the Single Rigid Open class the last 2 years here, so that brings back great memories also!

Will play's with the fire.

Frenchy arrived early also and helped us cook up some dinner that evening. Jacques is a fun guy to have around a 24 Hour race scene too, he talks to everyone, finds out where the "source" (of wine) is, and is pretty much laughing the entire time!

The morning of the race was not exactly as we had imagined, but it proved to be perfect for start time as it was cooler than normal and gradually got better as the race went along.

Spencer (Randy's son) was my right hand man during the race too, here you see him patiently waiting to see dad come in from a lap and he would help out wherever he could and was just having a good time for the entire race.

Will and Randy are looking good after a few laps under their belts. Taking time to stop and refuel, hang out, and let me clean and re-lube their drivetrain and check that their brakes aren't rubbing for any reason!

Once the night laps started, I all of a sudden had a bit less to do so I played with taking photo's of racers riding by with their lights looking for the streaking effect. This was my favorite as you cannot even see the rider yet the path in front of him/her is completely lit up. Fun stuff.

The morning brings new life and many happy faces! Randy and Spencer enjoy a snapshot before Randy cranks out another lap on his big 'ol tires!

Jacques finds the largest folding camp chair on solo row! It holds a 6-pack, 3 on each arm!

Randy hits the fire booted our neighbors set up.

Paul Doty from Turin Bikes in Denver, 2nd place in the single speed solo division, shows a little trials skills after his last lap. Nice work Paul!

Tell me he's not super excited to see his dad come in from his last lap!! Love the pic of Will and Spencer hanging out in front of the Dales rig!

Oh, and Will won the Single Speed Solo Division with 13 laps at 15.7 mi. per lap that's 204.1 miles!! Also, with approximately 1,400 vert. per lap that's more or less 18,000 feet of climbing in one ride! Whew, I'm tired just typing all this stuff and thinking about that effort!!

And there we are, the 3 amigos, glad that the race is over and we can just hang out for a while! Pretty amazing experience on my end too, as I had two racers out on course and the time gaps were constantly changing. It definitely kept me busy cooking and making sure all their stuff was ready to go at a moments notice. See ya out there at a 24 or 25 hour race soon!!