This one was going to be one of the highlights for the year. A little more laid back and was 'meant' to be a more social event ! 24hrs of light - meant just that - it was a 24hr mountain bike race that you could do solo, in a team of 2, 4 or 8 - riding it relay style, aiming to do as many laps as your team could do in 24hrs .... with one rule - no headlamps allowed. In this neck of the woods so far up north, the sun never really went down in the summer.
We were pumped. Richard, Matt, and I were a team of 3 racing in the team of 4 category - and well, as competitive as we all were - we were going for the win ! but also to be social - it can be done. We were Team Innovative Fitness.
We arrive after a 2 hr flight, all pulling out our Blackberries and Iphones to quickly check our messages to get some work done at the same time. Oh no - no Rogers Cell coverage in the Yukon - oh well, guess it was a 5 day holiday with no work to be had on this trip, we put them away and got to business.
Within 4hrs, we had our bikes built, had picked up our 30' foot RV, stocked it with some amazing food, bought a BBQ to cook this amazing food on and had a cooler full of beers, and had set ourselves up at the race start. Although it was only the Friday night and the race didn't start until 12pm the next day, we were not moving. Take a look at the set up we built ourselves.
We built the BBQ (well the boys built the BBQ while I went to the team meeting), and we had steaks cooking and beers in our hands in no time. What a start to a great trip. We drank beers and played arsehole until we thought that Emmery should drink no longer - maybe it was a little past midnight (but Richard was saying more like 1.30am!) - with the sky still so bright it was hard to keep track of the time.
Ok race day. Emmery was feeling a little under the weather, but he was an absolute trouper! We cooked up a sweet breakfast and got ready. Our plan was doing 1 lap at a time to tag off to the next team member. Approx 45-50mins laps. Order Richard, me, Matt.
Richard crushed the first lap coming in 3rd and I was on my way for my first lap, riding up ... more up .... then .... more up. What the ??!!
I was waiting patiently for the reward of the downhill but was also immersed in the amazing scenery. The reward was at the very end with a 5 mins down ... ha - ok better get the climbing legs on. I tag off to Matt, we are now in 2nd.
We had our own little competition going on, of who could do the most consistent laps!
We rolled on for the afternoon, wondering how long we could maintain these lap times and filing into 1st place by the 3rd lap. We had about 10 laps each to do. As we got into the night (although still light) we decided to do double laps to get more time off and try and rest of bit. We saw all sorts of riders and all sorts of teams dressing up in costumes - including a couple of guys doing laps in the nude - yup - full nudity - that has got to hurt!
I was the lucky one that didn't get a lap in the darkest hours of the night. For 2hrs, it was pretty low light in the woods. Matt decided to have a fight with a tree going at full speed - but I think the tree won, after taking him off his bike and having to take time to get his head around what had just happened. The course was tight - narrow trails with trees right at your handlebars. One off movement and you were going down and going down hard.
We draw in close to the last laps of the 24hrs. Richard heads out for his 10th and final lap, we were all so tired and not looking forward to our last laps. As I start my last lap I realize, if I do a 46min lap, then Matt will also have time to do a 10th and final lap - Richard and I do 10 laps, then I was making sure he had to do 10 as well ;)
I come in right on cut of time, grab the baton, smile and pass it off to Matt - he has 48 mins to complete his last lap to get in before the 24hrs. Of course he was going to make it.
We won and set a course record. Well done boys, it was great fun racing with you both.
What a fun event. The train museum area 5km out of town where the event was based, was action packed for 24hrs, continuous music, camper vans and tents set up all over the place, tons of prizes, tons of great costumes, fun trails with great scenery. But we were worked and destroyed - we went hard and each covered about 130km at Zone 5 pace.
We cooked up a BBQ, had some Beers, went to the Rec Center to shower, did some laundry, then kept ourselves awake until 9.30pm and crashed out cold for a solid 11 hours.
The next day was just as much a highlight. A friend of mine that was a local took us on a 2.5hr mountain bike ride to show us some of the best trails of what Whitehorse had on offer. Although our tired legs and bodies didn't like it too much, we managed to put smiles on our faces and enjoy a great ride of flowy trails and amazing views - while trying to focus on the tight single track at the same time.
What a weekend. Dropped off the RV, re-boxed our bikes and was ready to head back to Vancouver after an eventful weekend.
Race highly recommended to anyone interested.
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