24 Hours of Moab

So 24 Hours of Moab, be FOREWARNED: I wrote a forever long post about this race, because it was forever long!!! Ha ha! Funny thing was, I was sad when it was over. I really loved this race. For me it was a culmination of everything I love about mountain biking. It had the endurance, the technical sections, the sprints, the all out overcome your fears sections, the night laps, the teamwork, the beautiful desert course and surroundings of Moab, the friends cheering you on, and the times you think you can't go on but somehow you press forward and keep pedaling. I am so glad I was able to do this race, thanks to a lot of amazing people on the team. This was one of those races where I realized how happy I am that I joined the Mad Dog Team. It has been a blast and I have made friends I will have for life. So I have to recap the whole race so I don't forget a single thing! Jed and I pulled in Friday night, later than we wanted since we had all sorts of trouble getting the tent trailer there. We had to stop at Home Depot and UHaul and it just all took forever, but MAN! Was I glad we had that warm oasis to go to thanks to Jed's friend Jason for lending it to us. I really want to own a tent trailer now. We ate some spaghetti that night, the beginning of lots of yummy food to come. Saturday morning we woke up and ate breakfast burritos (more yum food) and had the race meeting. Then we lined up to watch the lemans start where Jen had to run. It was great fun to watch, since I had to do the run at 12 hours mesa verde it was nice to just watch. :) Jen rocked it with a 1:33 I believe. Then pretty quickly my first lap arrived. I felt really strong, and was way more brave than I had been on my preride. It always helps in the technical sections to have some speed! It makes the bumps so less intimidating. I went down a bunch of things that I had pretty much been a baby about when I rode it the week before with Jen and Tim. Something happens when I race, I get a lot braver. That is one of the reasons I love racing so much! Then about mile seven trouble hit. I lost a pin to my rear brake, so I had absolutely no rear brake. I was so bummed. I stopped and looked at it, talked to some guy and decided there was nothing I could do. So the last 8 miles were interesting to say the least, but hey, I couldn't brake so I only could go faster right? :) I finished with a 1:39, not amazing but I was proud of myself. Luckily some guys from Bingham hooked me up and helped me fix the problem. Everyone had pretty consistent laps from there. I wasn't prepared for everyone to go that fast, so my lap came around faster than I anticipated. I had to do the night lap at around 8pm. It was really interesting. I really loved it because I hung with some people and it made it fun to try and follow their line. I think my time was 1:48. The only parts that totally scared me were coming down the road at the end. It was so dusty I couldn't see, but I wanted to keep my speed up through that section. I came in and could see Jed waiting for me. I was so happy to see him. He had the trailer all warm. It was awesome. I ate some chicken and potatoes and it was so yum . Perfect food to keep me going. Then I went to bed for a while, woke up at 2:30am for my next night lap. I felt sorta sick and nauseous. Abby and the crew in the tent were the best with all of the food they made! I was totally amazed by her and how awesome she is! I think all that good food helped me feel a lot better. I ate some chicken soup and headed out again. This lap was my toughest. I was so tired, and cold and for some reason NO ONE was out there. It was so stinkin dark and I totally felt all alone. I hated that. I kept hoping someone would come along, but somehow I was alone what seemed like forever. So I had no one to follow through the technical sections and I totally got confused. My lap was way slower, 1:52. BlAH. Then I slept some more, and big surprise, I realized Jen and I would have to do a 4th lap, which I had not planned on at all. I kept checking to see if it was even worth doing, because there was some discrepancy about the team that was either ahead of behind us, we didn't know. Jen went out so I just prepared to do one. I left at around 11ish I think, Jen said "The course is way fast!!! Have fun!!!" So I headed out and I had SOOOOOO much FUN!!!! It was the best lap yet. I was so glad to be able to do it. I felt on fire, I walked a few techy sections, but other than that I pushed it all I could. My quads were burning but the last 4 miles I felt awesome. It was such a rush, I was on such a high. I even passed one of the girls from the first place team because she was stopped at a technical section and I rode it! My lap was 1:38, which I was pleased with. We ended up in 3rd place out of 4 teams in the Sport Category. It was such a great race. This was some girl that I kept leapfrogging the whole lap, I would pass her and then she would pass me in the technical sections, and then any uphills I would pass her right back. Towards the end she passed me and said "you are doing great!" I know that it is bratty of me, but it just made me want to catch her, so I did and passed her back and held her off to the finish. YAY. I love that Jed caught this picture, classic. I will never forget passing her. :) I am so mean. No hard feelings though, I am sure we would be friends if not in this setting, ha ha. :)
Our sweet trailer setup
Before my first night lap, feeling excited!!! I loved the night laps!!!
Coming in from the first night lap and seeing Jed. I was so happy to see him! He is amazing. What an awesome support he is to me. I love him so much! He even learned how to press garlic while he was helping cook in the kitchen. He helped me get my lights ready and charged, he chopped potatoes and kept the trailer warm. I can't wait till he gets to do this race. He would rock it!

This is before my 4th lap. I look really tired.
Home Stretch, I felt like I was FLYING here
Coming in for the finish, all smiles. What a RUSH!
I think this was before my first lap
KC coming in off her first lap. She did Duo with Sarah Kauffman, crazy amazing girl! KC did 8 laps. I can't even imagine. Well, I kinda can and it hurts. :)Wendy and I prerace. What great teammates! I am so bummed I didn't get a team pic. I felt like we never saw each other the whole 24 hours! Funny how that works!
Hangin out in our Mad Dog Camp.