24 Hours of Adrenalin

24 Hours of Adrenalin- Monterey, CA. Just for bragging rights. That’s why everybody has that goofy smile.

Roll back to the pit, and get off that saddle as fast as you can. Climb out of those sweaty, dusty, dirty, filthy chamois. Scrub your face a bit. Sit on something other than your saddle. Drink something other than what has been sloshing around in your water bottle.

Rest. For two-and-a-half glorious hours.


Warming up the day before the race...

Then before you know it, much sooner before you’d like, you gotta start rooting around for your stuff again. Where are those gloves? Clean up the eyewear. Pull on another pair of chamois, slip into the sweaty shoes, hop onto the trainer for a few minutes.

Then voices start yelling that there’s not much time. Better put on the helmet. Not much time, now. Get over to the start/finish line. Get over there!

Grab the baton, from a smiling teammate.

Tuck the baton under the elastic band of your chamois, take a deep breath, and then start pedaling. How do the solo riders do it, lap after lap, hour after hour?

Then you just pedal as fast as you can.

The first couple of laps aren’t too bad even though you went all out. Each lap is about ten miles, or 50 minutes, around the hills above Laguna Seca. Even late at night in the fog, or later on after the sun has heated the trail into an open pit BBQ, the trails aren’t that technical. Sure there might not be any zip in the bags of concrete that are clipped into your pedals, but you can still get around the course.


Running at the start...

It turns out that the “rest” was the real test. Trying to “Rest” six times for 24 hours straight is torture. At least you can shut your brain off when you’re riding your bike as fast as possible. But to maximize the short break after discussing your lap time, cleaning up, changing clothes, hydrating, fixing the bike, and then gathering all your stuff for the next lap… is the ultimate test.

All of this so you can tell people you raced for 24 hours.


Luna Notes:

-Overheard at the start/finish line: “Watch out for the Luna Chix with the pony tail…she’s really fast.”
“Dude, They all wear pony tails.”
-Two guys arguing, “I’m not going, it’s your turn.”
“Well, I ain’t going!”
“Ok. I’ll take your lap for you, but you gotta go over to the Luna tent and see who’s warming up on the trainer. If it’s Shonny, I ain’t going either.”

-The Luna Chix finished 2nd in the “open class.” We beat 27 teams of men.
-Shonny Vandlandingham had the fastest Luna Lap unofficially 43:00 minutes, and the fastest night lap as well, a 47:00, and the most laps ridden…eight laps!
-Alison Dunlap’s best was a searing 44:00, and this was her first time ever riding at night.
-Katerina Hanusova was the only Luna Chick who was not scheduled for a night time break for sleep and still averaged 48:00 per lap.
- I was able to hang with the rest of the team and only threw up 7 times.
- Paul Mckenzie, our Team Director, raced solo for 204 miles to place 5th !
- Dave Mac, our Luna Team Coordinator, had a note from his mom excusing him from the event.

Special thanks to Chris Mathis our team mechanic, to Wally our manager for the rubs and encouragement, and to Janet McKenzie for the hot meals!