Round and Round 24 hours MTB race 2014 Spokane, WA.

May 27, 2014

Spokane, WA, Round and Round 24 hours MTB race 2014.
Once again with the unconditional support from my wife and 3 kids we drove to another adventure in Spokane to race a 24hours mountain bike race. This time traveling with 3 kids wasn't easy but luckily my brother in-law volunteered to travel with us and help Maria with the kids while the race was on.
Ashley Myers was coming to race as well and he managed to picked up a spot for my trailer right beside his so that we can race together.

Leaving from home

Friday night we stayed at a hotel to ensure a good rest, however the twins didn't agree with the plan and didn't go to bed until midnight ! (teething babies are not fun at all) I was planning to mix my bottles and do some of the prep that night, instead I contemplated the idea of no racing at all after such a terrible night... so, I went to bed with one of the babies and gave up on the bottles preparation and other details... Saturday morning we all woke up at 7:00am and I told Maria that we should just go to the race course, pick up the trailer and go camping somewhere else and forget about racing, I felt so selfish for racing while the kids all wanted to do was to play with me that I didn't think it was the right time to be away from them.. Somehow Maria managed to convinced me that we were already committed and that I should try and if the babies were giving her to much work at night I could just stop racing, help her to put them to bed and then either continue or quit the race.
I guess that set me to ride as fast as I could right from the start in case she would ask me to stop !@ (GAME OVER) that way at least I could be ahead of the other guys.
Gun went off and Ashley cranked the first 2 laps in 59 minutes (first solo rider leading the race) amazing !!. I started well and fast, but in my second lap I had a flat and my Co2 didn't work, so had to ride the last 6kms with a rear flat tire, super tricky in the corners, but didn't have time to waste walking..
At the pits I put on some extra Stan's and Ella helped me pump it. I went out for the third lap and in less than 10 minutes the tire was flat again..... I stopped and put on a tube, problem solved now :-).

I kept racing and Maria went out to Walmart to buy some stuff we need for the Piñata of the twins in 2 weeks ! in her way back she had to bring me a burger, fries and soda for supper (yeah this is what the pros eat while racing) @@! At around 6:00pm my chain came off and I banged my knee really hard.. took some Advil and the pain was manageable... At around 7:30pm I put on the helmet lights, but it was so dusty that I couldn't see well, so right after that lap I put on a second light on the handlebars and it was much better with 1500+ lumen. Rode 2 laps and switch batteries to have full charge. 3:30am and I bumped into Ashley half way through the course, he was waiting for first AID since he couldn't see on one eye and was crashing lots.. He was pulled from the course and forced to rest until the sun came out and his eye was slightly better.
I stopped at 4:00am shivering (the temperature dropped to probably 3c), needing a hot meal or drink to warm up from the inside out, so I cooked an oatmeal and sat in the fire pit of some neighbours. Finished it up and made a huge mistake !, got into the trailer to get warm and close my eyes.. I felt sleep for about 20minutes (long enough to make me feel my butt seating on the bike after that... ouch, I think it was a big mistake, I almost had to ride that next lap standing since I couldn't seat without crying)... After that lap (13), I was committed to do another 2 laps to stay ahead from the guys riding behind me for 2nd and 3rd place. Lap 14 hurt a lot... then lap 15 was as fast as the first few laps since I rode it with Ashley and we were able to hammer every section of the course (360kms or riding by lap 15 !!, holicrap that is a lot of ground covered). Nick's race (kids race push a bike was set to start at 10:00am) and I promised Maria I was going to take him. Since I had a good lead overt the other guys a few minutes pushing Nick around the course wouldn't hurt. He was very exited, with helmet, bike, etc.. All I was hoping was for the lap to be a short one since I had a swollen knee. After his race, I saw the guys riding behind me and they weren't riding fast enough to catch up, so I knew I had already won the race and decided to take a shower and start packing. Ashley went out for a few more laps and I was tempted to go with him, but had enough ahead of me for the day packing and driving to Cranbrook and was happy with what I did.
After we packed all out we waited for the podium and lunch. Right after that started the drive to back to Cranbrook, Jose helped me out driving a few hours while I was resting.