The Springs Seven... Part I

7 Springs is a race I have been thinking about all year. It has been lurking in the back of my mind whenever I felt my worst during a 4,6,9 hr or 50 mile race. I kept wondering, if I can't keep this up for this many hours, how can I keep it up for 24 hrs? Well I did, and I still have no idea how.

The run was the worst part. I hate running. A lot. The most running I like is whatever happens during a cross race. That is ok running. It has a purpose. The only purpose of the Le Mans start in a 24hr race is to jack your heart rate up and give a good show for the crowds. The only thing worse would be if we swam across the lake instead of running around it. I rode the first few laps and settled into a rhythm. It was slow. For some reason I couldn't motivate my self out of the middle of zone 2. I guess that was good in hind sight, because it kept me from loading my legs with crap.

So I rode on. The course, by the way, was awesome. It opened with a ripping singletrack descent, fast and flowy with rocks. It was basically perfect for me. So I continued ripped off the first lap in my fastest time, a 1:33. About 2/3 of the way through the lap guess what happenned? My fork had no travel any more. Yeah. I rode cautiously, and traded for my fully steel, fully rigid singlespeed in the pits. Mmmmmm funness. I had visions of riding the rest of the race out on my SS because my fork was a no go. I did get my main rig back the next time through transition, and I rode out the lap with decreasing amounts of fork. When I came through the pits the next time I was given Don's bike (thanks a lot Don). I did the next lap on that while my bike was being fixed. His not necessarily new bike was very nice.

A lap or so later I was given back my bike, but fixed. The mechanic from the Pro Bikes team across the way had diagnosed the problem, pulled the required part off a spare Lefty he had, and installed it on mine. Apparently there was no bottom seal on the air spring. Boo.

So on I rode. Nothing really happenned until about 3:00AM. I was starting to spiral downhill, but pressed on for another lap anyway. It was slow going, with lots of walking. Around 4:30 I completly lost it and decided that the only way I would make it back to the pit in one piece was to walk. So I walked for about an hour, got back to the pits and slept for an hour. After much pressuring from Ms. Geology I got back on my bike and continued on with Don trailing me. It was nice to have someone riding with me. It really kept me going. Thanks Don.

At the end of the lap I found out I was in 3rd place, and that 2nd wasn't too far ahead. More laps. Two laps later the guy I thought was ahead of me came walking up a short steep climb behind me. I took off hard, with Don following me. I came through the pit, picked up the National Forrest and went out on my last leg of my last lap. We ripped though the 3 miles like butter, arriving to the finish after 24 hrs 7 min to take 2nd place with 11 laps. Stoked.

I could barely walk, I could barely sit, but man was I happy. Big props go to my parents and Ms. Geology, who stayed up all night to keep me fed. Thanks to the Chas at Pro Bikes for the mechanical support, and Matt, Don, Zach, and Megan/Jen for the encouragement. Also thanks to everyone who gave me 24hr racing advice: Brandon and his parents, Vegan Rob, Chris Scott, and anyone else out there. Especially to Vegan Rob for lending me that Lupine Tesla that led me through the night. Also thanks to Ergon USA, Crank Brothers, and Cannondale for making great products. More pictures later.