OT: Did anyone do the national 24 hour challenge this weekend in Michigan

swalburn · #1 06-18-2006, 02:57 PM

I was just curious. I participated, and it was the hottest day I've experience in a long time. They told us it was 94 degrees with high humidity. Even thought the weather was brutal, it was the greatest collection of bikes I've ever seen. Seriously, it was like bike porn.

Anyways, I saw a lot of outstanding riders absolutely destroyed by the heat. I called it quits after 12 hours. My hamstrings started cramping and that was the end of that. It was the first time I've ever attempted anything like that. Acutally, it was my first century so I left with some satisfaction. I ended up doing 173 miles, and it was a lot of painful fun. Just curious if anyone else on this forum did it. There were people at the competition from all over. I rode with this guy from France for the longest time. It was kind of surreal because the whole big event takes place in a relative rural little haven. It was cool

Ginger · #2 06-18-2006, 03:11 PM

Ah, I had to teach a trail maintenance class on Saturday, so I missed it. Shucks.
Heck, I rode after class and it was way too hot. Can't imagine what your ride was like!

There is an odd chance that you did get to hear the sweet sound of my friend Susie singing. She works support for the event every year.

Congratulations on your 173!

scrooge · #3 06-18-2006, 07:26 PM

I wish...
I did it last year and had a blast. This year I had hoped to but didn't really have any long rides in ahead of time. I was thinking of you folks riding all day (and night), mostly wishing I was there.

Then again, I went for a ride yesterday and it was hot, hot, hot!! (More so since its one of the first days we've had this year like that, isn't it?). I did a fifty miler and felt like crap (probably not enough water...) I'm curious how the winners did in the heat. Last year the top rider got 478 and I think two others got 472... but it was a cool day (70s) with a lot less wind than yesterday.

By the way, 178 is great, particularly if you've never ridden a century before! Maybe I'll see you there next year!

scrooge · #4 06-18-2006, 07:28 PM

By the way, any plans to do another 24 yet? I'm thinking of trying the one in Iowa/Illinios over labor day, but don't know if I will be around or not. There's something about riding at 2:00 am that can't be beat...

Ginger · #5 06-18-2006, 07:56 PM

You could just ride home from the bar at closing like we do...

(joking people...I'm JOKING)

swalburn · #6 06-18-2006, 08:19 PM

The conditons were absolutely brutal. I was told that the woman who won it last year was out by 4 P.M. We had a guy on our team that did over 300 last year, and he was vomiting at 96 mile marker and was out of the race. It was crazy really. I drank so much fluid. It got to the point were you just were drinking because you knew you had to, but not because you wanted to. I was looking at the leaderboard before I left and it looked like a ton of people never even made it to the second loop. The first loop is 126 for those of you that don't know the event. A lot of riders just kept joking that they were on a suicide mission, but sadly I saw an enormous amount of riders that had to be carted back to the school and receive some medical attention. The announcer for the event said the pace was way down from the year before.

Don't get me wrong there were alot of men and women that just kept biking and didn't appear to be phased by the heat. We had a great support crew, and the people who put on the event did a great job. The had massages for the crew and riders during the day. I had them work on my hamstrings for a while and I was able to ride the short loop about 3 times, then I called it a day. It was a great experience, but it would have been a lot more fun if mother nature would have been a little kinder.