24 Hours Round the Clock - Vince Haag's Race Report

24 Hours Round the Clock
May 23-24, 2009


The 10th annual 24 hours Round the Clock started with a bang. Really. It was a blank, but standing next to the starter with his .357, it was still startling! After months of training for this race as my “A Race” in my training plan and logging 1,000’s of miles, we got to start… with a run… OK, it was only about 600 yards, but give me a break! OK, enough whining, the run got people spread out and with the prospect of riding solo around a 15 mile course for the next 24 hours, it wasn’t like I was in a huge hurry to sprint to the front.

As we discovered the day before during the pre-ride, the course was fast! It had plenty of relatively smooth single-track connected by a few miles of gravel or abandoned roads and one stretch of pavement. The latter due to the local power company letting out too much water the week before and flooding part of the course called “Little Viet Nam.” Interestingly enough, interspersed within all that smooth singletrack were quite a few rock gardens and technical sections. There was definitely enough to keep you awake and on your toes (or your face if you are not careful as Aaron Vanderwaal, former Sega teammate, can attest to.) As I caught up with him on the first lap, his nice new white Mafia Racing kit was covered in dirt. He begrudgingly admitted that his new, larger, front rotor had MUCH more stopping power than he was expecting. The first time he got to really try it was on a very technical, rocky descent called “Devil’s Down”. Fortunately, he was not hurt too badly but had to endure the entire race with a bruised palm. Nevertheless, he finished with a great race coming in second in the “Under 39 Men Solo” category (aka, Young Kids).

Russ and I shared a pit and a pit crew. What a HUGE difference a great pit crew makes! We had my friend Darren as our chief mechanic and he took absolute care of our bikes during the race. We left each and every pit with a freshly wiped and lubed chain. Over the course of the race, both Russ and I broke a spoke and needed our spare wheels installed, I had a couple of cassette issues that needed fixing, and the lights at night; all of which Darren competently took care of. While Darren took care of our bikes, Russ’s sisters and daughter (Linda, Elaine, Sandy and Stephanie) took care of our feeding and supplements (endurolytes, ibuprofen, etc) needs. My wife and daughter were also there for racer moral support and to support the pit crew. We left each lap with fresh food and clean chains. HUGE benefit to a tired racer!

Russ had a fabulous race. He was a machine through the night, churning out lap after lap with very consistent times. He reports that the night laps were great for him. He really enjoyed riding alone in the dark. One thought on that, with over 500 registered riders representing 157 teams and solos, you would think that there would always be somebody around, but I can’t tell you how often it seemed that I rode for several miles all by myself. Once I wondered if the race had been called off or if I was lost. Of course that was at 3AM, so I wasn’t too coherent. Anyway, Russ exceeded his lap count goal and finished with the same lap count as last year’s winner! 18 laps! There was one other solo rider with 18 laps and ties are broken by time-to-complete, putting Russ in third place overall with second place in the “Over 40 Men Solo” (aka Old Guys). A VERY impressive finish for a first time 24 hour racer!

I have done one other 24 hour solo race so I knew a little bit what to expect (and was therefore more stupid than foolish for doing this). I knew I was feeling fit and strong and was confident that I could place well in my age group if everything went well. Well? Everything went fantastic. I already mentioned my pit crew and my training. My feeding was great with only a few stomach problems during the race, but not enough to slow me down. I did 100% Hammer Nutrition using Sustained Energy and Perpetuem for my primary fuel, finally falling back to Hammer Gel for the last 4 to 5 hours. The only solid food I had was a bowl of instant oatmeal around midnight and almost left it on the side of the trail later. I had decided to put down a few fast laps to start, then back off. The first 3 laps were respectable at just a few minutes over 1 hour each. At that point I knew I needed to slow down, and settled in to a nice steady pace throughout the rest of the race. Towards the end, the only really frustrating part of the event came to light. The timing crew was having problems. My pit crew could not get a clear answer to any questions regarding positions of Russ or I. Towards the end, you really want to know where you are if you are racing for a placing. I didn’t know for sure where I was positioned until 40 minutes before the end of the race. At that point, I found out I had 18 laps completed and was first in the Old Guys group! I also found out I was in first Overall but the guy in second could come in and get another lap for the win. So of course, I had to go get one more lap! 19 was painful, but very sweet, knowing I was doing it for the overall win.

A few other random thoughts:
- It was very well run event. It was obvious that they have been doing this for a few years.

- The “Woodstock” theme this year was cute with sections of the course named after Woodstock era songs, but I don’t know if I’ll ever be bold enough to wear the BRIGHT RED tie-die event T-Shirt in public!

- There was a 12 year old boy doing the Solo event! What an inspiration. I called him “the Little Solo Dude” and when I passed him around 8AM, he said he was probably done because his front fork was getting kinda stiff. Great kid!

- There were lots of familiar faces from the local race scene there. Wick was there providing support in the tent all night and some swag for the raffle. I even see his name on the racer list! Many racers from our area and in particular, a 2 man team and their pit crew from Cucina Fresca who gave me great cheers and moral support every time I rode by. Thanks guys! They took second in the 2 person teams, by the way!

- Of course the TAI team was well represented with Russ and I, Karyn Abraham finishing 5th (I think), Allan Beattie finishing very respectably in a tough 5 person 200+ “Old Guy” division, and others I apologize for not knowing about. Ann tried to introduce me to someone somewhere around lap 16 but I was a little out of it at that point!

- Speaking of Ann! Yeah!! Big shout out to her and her moral support to Russ and I, and the whole TAI contingent, but also to “her” racer Deb Romaine. Deb, had a great race too! I saw her many times on the course and she always had a great attitude! Way to go Deb!

- Team TAI – Mr Heater was a BIG hit with my pit crew, thanks Joel!

- After 2 ½ days, I am just now getting feeling back in my toes… Russ says the same about his hands.