Spectators in Washington

For the next seven laps I simply rode my own pace, keeping an eye on my heart rate, hoping that I would eventually catch Reed. Every lap in I got a report, "you are 10 minutes behind," "you are 20 minutes behind." I was feeling great as I hammered out pretty consistent laps, from 1:03-1:12. I rode 90 miles-six laps-before I even sat down at my pit to get my lights on for the night riding. When I finally did, I started to eat all the good "real food" that Krissy had made for me, hummus/tofu/avocado/lettuce sandwiches (sooo good), oatmeal, hammer bars, Balanced, etc. I ate everything within reach (including a whole Snickers!) and when I got up I could barely ride my bike. I had eaten too much and it slowed me down considerably. For the next hour of lap seven I felt gross. After that lap it was back to basics. I would drink one bottle, two scoops, of Hammer Nutrition's Perpetuem every lap. That is my "go-to fuel" and has worked for me in ultra-marathons, endurance mountain biking events and expedition adventure races. After 90 minutes or so the body requires some protein or it will cannibalize it from your muscles. Hammer's Perpetuem has a great 3:1 carb to protein ratio. When I wanted something different Krissy would make up a bottle of Hammer's HEED mixed with unflavored Sustained Energy.

As I approached the end of lap eight (120 miles) around 9:18 PM I could see a rider with an orange jersey that looked like Reed's. I told myself it wasn't him, but as I got close I could see that it was. We hit the flats before the start/finish and he looked back once. A few seconds later he checked again, probably to see if it really was me. I gave a big smile as I sped up down the doubletrack to catch him just before his pit area. As I rode alongside him I looked over and said, "way to ride, dude." I was pleasantly surprised to see he was hurting. With an exhausted look on his face and sweat dripping from his nose he said "you too."

As I got to my pit Matthew said, "That was first place. You're now in first." People started gathering around my pit area and things things were getting interesting. It was starting to get dark and 24-hour mountain bike races are won at night. My pace slowed during the night laps as I started to feel the pain at all three contact points: ass, hands and feet. My swollen hands were killing me and I started to ride all the non-technical sections resting my hands anywhere but on my palms. Aside from the requisite saddle soreness, my only other pain was my feet, which were a real concern for me going into the race. This winter I got frostbite on my big toes during a two-day ski tour across the Teton Mountain Range in Jackson Hole. Since then my toes go numb very easily. A road ride in the rain in 55-degree weather can have me doubled over on the side of the road in pain. Although they went numb at times, I was able to manage by adding insole foot warmers to my bike shoes.

My best night lap was lap 10, which I rode in 1:11. This was after I had taken first place and for some reason was feeling really good and mentally with it. As I got closer to the pit I considered not stopping at all, something I hadn't done since mile 90. I felt as though I had to make a move right now, in the middle of the night when most racers are weak. I had a bottle full of Perpetuem and a 30 minute lead at that point so I flew by my pit area and yelled "I've gotta put a gap on!" My crew just sort of stood there, like "what?" Later I noticed they wrote "are you crazy?" on my white board of statistics for that lap. This proved to be a good decision as my lead over the second place rider grew.

My worst night lap took me 1:30 and I vividly remember it as my lowest point in the race. On the trail, in the dark, alone, pushing my bike up Devil's Down I felt like I was going so slow that I would never be able to hold second place off. I convinced myself that there was probably another racer charging up from behind both of us. This third place racer, I was sure, had raced smarter than me and must have more energy right now than I did. I talked to myself a lot in an attempt to elicit some type of physical response to ride faster. That worked for a while, and then I'd fall back into tired thinking. What did work was the picture of my girlfriend running, taped to my bike's stem that said, "stay steady." I didn't want to disappoint. Through the lows of the night I was somehow able to keep my lead on the field.

Getting information on positions and how much of a lead I actually had was extremely difficult. As the sun came up my crew told me I was just 15 minutes up on the second place rider. It wasn't correct, but it helped quicken my pace. Fear is a great motivator. It also turned out that second place had sat down for good after his 17th lap. That, however, didn't really matter as I had told the crew that regardless of my placement I would ride as many laps as time would allow. I was going for a personal record even if the win was out of reach.

In the end I rode 18 laps on the 15 mile course totaling 270 miles in 24:22. That was good enough to win the Men's NORBA Northwest Regional and Washington State Solo 24-hour Mountain Bike Championship and take home my first check of the season. Having left my corporate job in December to pursue the lucrative world of endurance racing, anything helps. With my first big goal of the season accomplished, now I focus on the toughest adventure race in the world… Primal Quest!

By Matt Hart