Well… the mental process of being excited to suffer for 24 hours straight on a sandy, technical desert course in October was born in the month of May. Don’t ask me why I’d PAY a solid 350 dollars to ride my bike for 24 hours solo. I mean, I could have bought a sweet plane ticket somewhere or a couple weeks of fancy groceries, or maybe even 375+ PayDay candy bars… that’s beside the point.
Today I made my commitment to race 24 Hours of Moab, which is also the 24 Hour National Championships. I’m registered, my credit card is charged, and there is no going back.
I’m not sure why I’m doing it to be honest. I actually don’t really like 24 hour racing. I’m a baby and I like my sleep. I don’t like riding around in circles. I am not going to like the ass rash that will ensue after the event – not hot. I have done several of them, but in different formats – mainly 4 person teams. Hell, I was on a 4 person women’s team in 2006 and we won 24 hour nationals, but that feels like ages ago (I guess it was). Last year, Yuki and I raced the Moab 24 Nationals as a Coed Duo and took 3rd place. Some say Duo is the hardest format for 24 hour racing because you trade off every lap, you don’t get much rest, you have to go hard on every lap you ride, and you have to stop which makes you feel like the living dead when you get started again.
I have never raced solo and I’m thinking that racing solo is harder than racing duo. I have never ridden my bike for longer than 11.5 hours. If I’m going to be an endurance racer, I need to do it all the way and at least do a solo 24 once. Who knows? I might like it! It’s going to be hard, both mentally and physically, but I’m up for it. It will be new experience, which I love because new experiences can sometimes wake up parts of you that you didn’t know existed… and I have had a lot of new experiences this year. I commit to never give up. I commit to be nice to my pit crew no matter how tired and grumpy I am. I commit to recognize the life in me even when I feel like I’m dying at 3AM in the dark and I want to curl up in the fetal position and go to sleep. I commit to HSB and most of all, I commit to HAVE FUN. What a way to end my 2010 season with a bang!
Photo from last year.
Looking for something to do Oct 9-10? Come out and race… or just hang out, drink a beer, and heckle!
Ok, time for another recovery ride. I’ve been so tired this week. I’ve been alternating easy riding and easy running. The day I took out my road bike, I wasn’t sure what was more awkward- being on my road bike on a flat road, or getting busted by my neighbor as I sang LL Cool J to my headphones in the garage.
I got bored on the paved flat road, so a little road biking on singletrack was in order. 
Don’t worry, I have beefy tires, tuffies, and the it wasn’t technical.
However, tomorrow will be a little more challenging. I will not be riding hard, but I get to ride sweet trails above singletrack with Yuki and Jeff. Stay tuned, high alpine droolage to come.
