Race Report - Burn 24 Hour

On Friday 5 members of FM: Race made it up to Wilkesboro North Carolina for the 9th annual Burn 24 Hour Race: Nico, doubleA, Kraut, X, and Ross-needsanickname-Martin, with Neal stepping in to coach. Every year this race is hosted on Army Corps of Engineer's land at the Dark Mountain trail system. Its a picturesque spot next to the W. Kerr Scott reservoir with a huge flat field for everyone to set up camp. Kurt drove up early for business in Charlotte so he got there first and claimed a premo spot for camp FM. DoubleA and I arrived next and soon we were settled for the night.

Race morning started nice and early with me and doubleA getting a preride in to scope the course. Lots of short climbs with switchbacks and plenty of burmed scorching descents, with a flat grass mash through chicanes to the finish. One lap totalled only 7 miles so the decision was made early to do 2-lap pulls. We also decided that doubleA would get the first lap with Kraut to follow, then me. Our yet-to-arrive teammates would have to decide how we would round out the order. As we mobilized for the start, we got word of an interesting twist: The teammate chosen for the le mans start does NOT have to be the person going out on the first lap. I volunteered and strapped on Kraut's running shoes. At 12 sharp the run began - longer than most le mans starts but too short for me to be competitive. I sprinted the entire way and probably sent doubleA about 15th into the woods, sending my self into double-over mode. I am the worst runner ever. He was back around and off on his 2nd lap in no time, picking up a few spots and going back into the woods in 8th place. At this point I realized that we were the only team doing 2 lap pulls. I knew other teams had plans for 2 or 3 or 4 lap pulls at night or as riders got tired, but we seemed to be alone in doing it at the beginning. Still, our lap times were competitive and all of us agreed after the first round that it was the best strategy. Since our training rides average around 25-30 miles (or more)and races often average much more, we knew our bodies were more tuned to a 14 mile grunt than a 7 mile sprint. Plus there is probably a limit to how many times I will remove and replace a wet chamois. 2 lap pulls would cut that in half.

Nico, Ross, and Neal had arrived and they were getting geared up to round out our cycle: Nico would follow me and Ross would be cleanup. Meanwhile, Neal would keep time and alert the rider on deck when to get ready. After my first 2 laps I went with Neal to get some additional supplies. We were sitting in 7th place and we needed to improve that. We discussed our goals and both agreed that 30 laps would be a good target and any more would be gravy. We returned to grey skies and the begginings of light rain. This dampened the mood a bit with memories of the mudfest at DSG still fresh on our minds. Ross seemed bothered so I offered him some race gravy. He didn't accept. Fortunately the trail conditions stayed intact except for a few slick roots and our lap times stayed fast. Even with nightfall, our lap times didn't slip more than a couple minutes. Nico, our resident night riding expert, held the night-preme record for most of the night, with a blistering 36 minute lap, not even a minute slower than his day laps. We had climbed into 5th place during the day but Nico's night laps pulled us into 4th place where we were squished between last years champs, Middle Ring Mafia, in 3rd and Carolina Bicycle Co. in 5th.

I was getting some rest after my second time out and just as my eyes started to close I heard "Aaron, Aaron, AARON!!!!" from far, far away. I wondered what it could be but I didn't want to leave the sanctuary of my tent, since the rain was still lightly falling and I was comfortably nestled in a fog of warm-humid-chamois stink. Kurt arrived back to camp and said "ok, everyone gets 30 more minutes. Aaron just took my lap". Apparently Kurt flatted just a few pedal strokes from the transition area. Aaron, just having finished 2 fast night laps and probably on his way to camp for a hard earned break, had to 180 it back onto the course for a 3rd lap while Kurt fixed his flat. Poor guy. Me, I had at least 30 extra minutes to marinate.

My next set came about 4:00am. Fesh contacts, fresh chamois. Neal kept me on track, letting me know when to expect Kurt to come out of the woods. Like clockwork, he blazed in to the transition area and tagged me in. Two laps later I flew out of the woods and the sky was lit in a depressing morning grey with the morning sun hiding behind the clouds. Nico was off to race what would be 2 more 36 minute laps. Ross would finish our last 2-lap pull cycle and we needed to strategize our finish. Still sitting in 4th place, Middle Ring Mafia had pulled away from us by 15 minutes but Carolina Bicycle Co. was only 5 or 6 minutes behind: dangerously close. We also knew that one mechanial for Carolina Bicycle Co. would give us a chance to pass them. We had to be ready to capitalize on that. By now we had already acheived Neal's and my early prediction of 30 laps. We could finish with 37 but only if we carefully crafted the distribution of laps. We couldn't send doubleA out now because he was still recovering from his 3 lap rescue stint, so Kurt volunteered for a last 2 lap pull. I would follow with a single lap and hand it over to Nico for 2 laps and doubleA would step in to finish us off. If everything worked as planned, Nico would return just before 12-noon, the cutoff for sending riders out. No one slipped a minute and Nico was back by 11:45, comfortably sending doubleA out to secure our 4th place glory.

Unfortunately the podium was only big enough for 3 teams so after platefulls of pulled pork we broke down camp and prepared for departure. To show our support and gratitude for a great, well run race, we donated bags of Faster Mustache coozies, bottles, and socks to stuff the winners' bags.

It felt really great to go out there and get 4th place out of 40 teams in our category. It felt even better to do it with such a great crew and all while flying the FM Flag at full mast. Thanks also to the promoters, Bike Rumor and Brushy Mountain Cyclists Club