24-hour mountain bike races are few and far between and are some of the most special events out there. They aren’t well known so if you’re hearing about it for the first time here, you’re in the vast majority. 24 hour races involve a full weekend of being a tight-knit community living together in a pop-up tent city next to the course. Families and friends of racers come join in the weekend festivities to support and be part of the party, and there is a huge crew of volunteers and staff who make this whole little city run smoothly for the whole weekend. People start arriving the minute organizers say that the camping areas are open so as to stake out their space, pitch tents, assemble complicated outdoor kitchens for their team.
Before I dive into this event and the details that I can remember, first a massive THANK YOU to the promoters of the MOAT Mountain 24 Hours of Great Glen, (#24HOGG), the volunteers, and every single person who had a kind word to say. I’m leaving out some special moments and people in this post, but it’s already too long and I can’t remember everything right now. Every single person made the difference out there throughout the weekend! It was the best of cycling community and positive vibe from the very beginning until we rolled out of the field we’d called home for the weekend.
NEER’s home base was comfortable with lots of tents, tables, trees, and lights around a pop-up for night time hanging out. The big, red van was hiding behind its large awning. We wanted to be ready for both the sun and rain, and we really hoped predicted thunderstorms didn’t materialize (they didn’t).
Starting at 12pm noon on Saturday, racers battle the course, the conditions, the heat of the day, the dark of night, the wet of the rain, and all of the challenges together. Everyone shares the same course no matter one’s race category, men and women, junior racers to seasoned racing veterans. I love being part of a mixed field of people. Racing is not the reason I’m there, yet this aspect played into my overall good feelings of the weekend which I’ll get into later. The top organized race events of my life have all been an everyone-races-together scenario. Great examples: Unbound and Fat Pursuit. Every group ride I ever do falls into this category too, but right now, I’m talking about racing.
There are a lot of rules and interesting things that surround what a 24-hour race is and how it’s run. I’ll highlight some in this race report. Most racers participate on a team of 2 people, 4 or 5 people. In this race, 72 out of the 456 entrants were 24-hour solo racers. There are 12-hour categories as well. Some multi-person categories are women-only categories, some delineated by age, others are mixed so men and women can be on the same team. For the teams, one team member races at a time, then at the end of the lap, that person taps out to the next team member who races the next lap of the course. The promoters keep track of all of the data surrounding each lap for each person and team. It’s an impressive task to keep track of everyone’s timing, what lap each racer is on, who is on which team, all of that good stuff.
It’s certainly fun to see the stats afterward: how many laps were done at night, what the fastest lap was, who had the most overtakes, the statistics are endless.
I went with a group of people who are part of the New England Expedition Riders AKA NEER. My original intent was to be on a team of 4 others for the shared experience. To make a very long story short, we ended up with 5 people wanting to be on the team so I kicked myself off of it, electing for a solo 24-hour category a couple of weeks ago. This is something I had never, ever considered doing. But once I did it, I couldn’t not get excited about the prospect of racing for 24 hours. Besides, I need to be training for Fat Pursuit and this is ideal.
NEER friends Ben, Mike and I did a course recon ride on Friday evening to see what we’d be in store for during the race. Our other NEER teammate, arrived later at camp so she wasn’t there for the pre-ride.
20 years ago, I attended the 24 Hours at Moab mountain bike race only as a volunteer. It’s one of the first things I ever did as a new cyclist and it introduced me to good friends who I then got into road cycling with. When I was in Moab, I saw pro-level men crack in the middle of the night and quit. My impression was that 24 hours of mountain bike racing is impossible. Fortunately, there’s no rule that you can’t stop at any time, you still get to be in the results. Some 24 hour races have different rules about being on the course near the end, this one didn’t have anything like that.
It’s taken me 20 years to do my first 24-hour race and this is my second mountain bike race ever. Never too late to start. I highly recommend volunteering for one of these races because the camaraderie and community vibe is so great, much of the fun simply has to do with being part of the whole thing.
This is Heidi, she and I happened to sit next to each other at the racer meeting held just before race time. She and I were in the same category, it was fun to meet her and chat with her before the meeting started. She last raced here solo 16 years ago! It was neat to see her on course and know the person behind the helmet.
On the podium with Jessica Nankman and Lauri Webber. All fresh as daisies at least in this moment for the camera!
Winning the race: my top secret strategy
Work has been out-of-control bonkers with lots of new bikes being ordered (and tax-free weekend is coming up in a few days!) I didn’t have a plan hashed out and hadn’t thought much about the race itself. I was more worried over the logistics surrounding the organization of the 4-person team.
I won my age group (women 41 and over) and was 2nd overall woman. I logged 16 laps. To add credibility to this result (there aren’t a lot of women participants but those who were there took it seriously), the 6th place man under 41 yrs old logged 16 laps as did the 4th place man 41+ years old. In case it’s not obvious from my other race reports (where I’ve come in mid-pack or further back), doing well here had absolutely nothing to do with the experience and my happiness at having done it. But it’s a fun story to tell!
My strategy: go steady and just keep moving. My transitions (time in between laps) could have been faster, but they were a lot faster than I thought they would be. Originally, I thought there would be time to get back to the team campsite, make a sandwich, fill a water bottle, change into a clean/dry jersey and bibs, mosey back to course every other lap. My husband, Rob, was there and he was a saint to meet me at the race tent after every single lap to give me a full water bottle of High Carb Skratch mix (400 calories per bottle), a 1/2 bottle of plain water, and whatever else I might need. He may have slept for 40 minutes total all night. That’s much harder than racing.
I knew I didn’t want to sleep, that was something I wanted to avoid if at all possible. I think I may have shut my eyes for 5-10 minutes during one transition break while sitting up in a chair, but I don’t know if I actually fell asleep during the full almost 25 hours of the race. Yeah, I made a long race longer. Keep reading.
The idea of going back to camp even once flew out the window the moment the gun went off and I realized that this is a race and the competitive part of my brain turned on and I had to at least try to race, and give it my best.
NEER friends Mike, Ben, and I at camp Friday evening. I wondered what was happening here when I was out racing and knew if I returned, I’d never leave to continue racing.
I’m not a technical mountain biker, and I knew other people would beat me in the techy parts of the course. My level of mountain bike riding confidence went up from the pre-ride to the end of the race but I’m still not going to race on boardwalks or wet rocks. I know I have the ability to ride for hours and climb reasonably well so I made sure to take advantage of the carriage road portions, get off of the brakes on descents, and move as quickly through the parts that were above my ability level either by riding slowly or getting off of the bike and walking over/around whatever it was.
Seeing other people out there walking their bikes in places was comforting. No one is doing this thing perfectly, everyone is having their difficulties, and no one seemed to be judging anyone else. All I saw all day and night were kind people being nice to each other and fast guys saying “thank you” when I’d move out of their way so they could keep moving. The fast guys were really fast, it was fun to see them fly. There were fast women and some very strong junior girls out there passing me, too, riding with tremendous confidence.
I watch pro mountain bike racing all of the time on tv. They show the top few riders the whole time, the difficulties people have, even at the top of the sport, rarely get shown on tv. Those courses are so much more gnarly than this course. I think others would agree this ~9.1 mile course was really well designed with a perfect mix of elements and fun spots, whoop-dee-doos, let-er-rip descents. The climbs were hard, the course required nearly constant attention and both hands on the handlebars, thus not many opportunities to take a drink. It was also very beautiful. I have no pictures from the course. This is one time I put my phone away and didn’t look at it for over 24 hours. It was like being on another planet.
Race bike setup FTW
I raced my Seven Cycles Treeline fat bike with 27.5 / 2.8” tires which is also my winter fat bike with a different set of wheels and fork swap. I got compliments on the bike during the race from guys who wished they weren’t hauling the weight of their dual suspension bikes. I doubt any of them could tell I was on a fat bike since the bike doesn’t look fat when mountain bike wheels are on it. The course was ideal for a titanium hardtail since there weren’t any jumps or huge features that favor a dual suspension bike, but staying planted on the wet roots, rocks, and boardwalks was important which the titanium participates in beautifully. With a little over 1,030 feet of climbing per lap, having a light bike that transfers all of my energy into the forward motion of the bike was important. Being in a perfect position and protected by the smoothness of the titanium added to my comfort. I didn’t have any pain from being on the bike for a total rolling time of 21.5 hours. My thumb got sore from shifting the electronic shifter since I was shifting so much. Imagine if it were mechanical shifting! And one of my toes got sore. I have no idea where that came from. No saddle pain, back pain, or any of the other pains showed up that are likely causes of people hanging up their mountain bike for the day.
Race bike set up with its 29” wheels. I took off the extra mount on the handlebars where I usually keep the 360 camera because the steep hills require getting close to the bars to stay balanced. Chompy, the adventurous dinosaur joined in on every lap in my handlebar feedbag.
Gearing: 30t chainring, 10-52 cassette. SRAM Eagle AXS. I was in the 30-52 low gear plenty, especially on Blueberry Hill. That hill is long, steep and the sun baked riders on it since it’s paved. Cruelty. But another reason to love the night laps!
I had debated 29” wheels and 27.5” wheels and decided that since I’ve spent more time on the plumper 27.5”/2.8” tires, those would be my race setup. The 29” wheels are great and very light, but they were new to me 2 days before the race and riding unfamiliar wheels on unfamiliar terrain isn’t smart.
Two of my NEER friends who were at the race have very similar bike setups: Seven Cycles Treeline bikes that are designed for dual wheelsets and both fat tires and this kind of mountain bike riding. Versatility and easy-to-manage bikes that do this kind of thing very well, offer balanced control, confidence, and comfort with all necessary speed. If it weren’t for the confidence my bike gives me, I would not be mountain bike riding, it’s that simple.
Gaining a new identity: Number 9
With my big yellow number, everyone knew I was a solo rider. The whole race I heard “great job solo rider!” And that was so nice to have this constant encouragement and positive vibe from all of these other racers and spectators out there. Most of the other racers were faster than me and they were being so darn nice. I exchanged stories and a few broken sentences with a number of people.
Best story: I met a woman who was doing the race with her husband as a 2-person team. They were trading laps and caring for their 1-year-old! LOVE these stories! I hope that worked out for both of them and their kiddo.
I was still clean on the first lap. This and the other pro photos taken by Rob Vandermark.
There’s so much camaraderie out there across all riders, and there’s even more shared by solo riders. The amount of camaraderie seemed to increase as the race went on as well. At the beginning, I didn’t trust I could do it or that I would want to go past 2 laps. A compliment from someone early on wasn’t anything I felt I deserved because anyone can register for a big ride. I’d just laugh and say, “Let’s just see where I’m at tomorrow morning.” After getting through enough laps, at some point, I could accept that I’d taken on a challenge that wasn’t too big or scary.
One of the volunteers told me really nice things when I passed through the tent in the middle of the night: “You’re having a great race, Number 9.” The way he delivered his messages, he made me feel like I was doing something special. I wish I could have said “thank you” to him at the end of the race. Words matter and in the middle of the night, there aren’t many of them. All of the volunteers were nice and many were part-time cheerleaders too. Number 9 was my name throughout the race and I loved it.
How the race began: Making mountain bikers run!
I’m not a runner. But here we gooooo!!
Many 24-hour races start by having the first person from each team run to their bike. It’s called a Le Mans start. This keeps the start safer since everyone runs at a different pace and bikes are placed at various positions. We are cyclists NOT necessarily runners. I don’t know how to run in my bike shoes! The solo racers plodded their way to their bikes and though it’s been basically forever since I’ve gone on a real run, I felt like it got my whole body moving nicely, blood flowing, nerves shook out on this little run that was probably all of 5 minutes or less to lap the pond and grab the bike.
Racers ran past their bikes, around the lake, then back to where the bike is sitting and then it’s time to find the bike and ride!
The lap blow by blow
I’m not going to bore you with details of every lap. Mostly because it’s a blur now. Here are the highlights of what I can remember:
Lap 1 - 12:00 PM - 1:15 PM
Trying to suss out who’s who in the field as we were standing around waiting for the starting cannon to go off. There are too many racers to see all of the women in my field and figure out who looks serious.
Once we started on the bike, I saw some go ahead of me, and I saw plenty of 24-hour solo men going around my pace. I was very careful to stay steady, smooth, resist any temptation to go hard. I watched my heart rate trying to stay in zone 2 (endurance, talking pace) as much as is possible without falling over on a climb.
The first trail section started and people got jammed up. Lots of people hadn’t pre-ridden the course so it was a surprise to them. Most people were patient with the traffic jam.
The course was warm, dry in most places, and sketchy descents were a little better since there had been some rain overnight.
Lap 2 - 1:23 PM - 2:38 PM
The fastest laps of the day for me. Dry trails, confidence, freshness.
At one point, I was trying to get off my bike and instead slipped and fell. Immediately I got two very serious cramps, one in each leg and I couldn’t move. Two guys (solo riders I think) were there and wanted to help. I explained that all was well, I just needed to get the cramps to go away. I’ve never cramped on the bike before so that was a little unnerving, but after pulling my feet back, the cramps went away and I got back on the bike. All of that drama must not have taken much time given the speed of this lap compared with my others! 1 hour 14 minutes for those of you wondering. And no, this is not fast compared with the fastest lap of the day which was sub 40 minutes. The fastest solo man had a 45 minute fastest lap and 1 hour 7 minute slowest lap. He did 25 total laps. Fastest lap for any woman solo 24-hr was 1 hour 5 minutes.
Lap 3 - 2:47 PM - 4:08 PM
I think this is when I got up the nerve to ride the floating bridge. The entrance to the bridge is a bit intimidating and I was certain I’d ride right into the pond which, with the high temps and humidity, would not have been unwelcome. As I started onto the bridge, I heard someone encouraging me to just roll onto it. Turns out it was NEER friend Dave who was also doing a 24-hour solo race riding right behind me!
Riding the bridge makes for great photos. Only problem is that photographer and my super supporter husband couldn’t do both things since the start/finish and bridge are too close together. I was glad he figured out how to capture this crossing!
Lap 4-5 - 4:09 PM - 5:24 PM & 5:42 PM - 6:57 PM
Feast of tortilla and nutella. Great combo except my stomach started refusing food not all that long after this was taken.
No memory of these laps except that at the end of lap 5, I felt like I really needed to eat something and few things sounded digestible. Skratch Labs in my bottles and Honey Stingers gummy chews were all I could eat. I tried some fake chicken salad and it went down easily. I think there were some pickles in it. I was craving pickles but hadn’t thought to pack any. DOH!
The sun went down somewhere in this time, all racers are required to have 2 headlights starting at 7pm. It’s racer’s choice as to when they are turned on. It’s dark early in the woods!
Lap 6 - 7:11 PM - 8:31 PM
Got into the transition area with no problem, got bottles, drank, the usual.
Made it about 200 yards into lap 6 when I felt like I was going to vomit. Got off the bike and quickly dispensed of all stomach contents next to the pond. No more fake chicken salad in stomach. But I needed those calories in there. A nice guy who was camping on the course near where I was getting sick came over to offer water and anything I needed. He must be a dad, he asked me if I felt better or worse. The answer was “I think better.” Except I knew I would miss the calories and wondered if my race was over.
Found I could continue to drink the Skratch bottle and plain water tasted much better. So I fueled the lap and made it to lap 7.
At dusk it was still bright enough out but under the trees, bright lights were necessary to see anything.
Laps 7-10 - 8:42 PM - 3:18 AM
Eating half of a s’more and staring at the fire. Good scene at Temptation corner!
All night laps, all good. I loved the quiet of night, that there were fewer racers on course because the 12-hour racers were done by 1:15am, and so many people were sleeping. The race tent that had been buzzing with activity was quite and subdued in the middle of the night with many fewer racers coming in and out.
This was my chance to make up for time lost, I was in 2nd place with 3rd and 4th places not far behind. And it looked like they might be sleeping. It was hard to know. Just keep moving.
At some point, it started to rain, I think that might be lap 8 around midnight? (Memory is so foggy). The temps cooled when the sun went down and the rain felt great. Everything got slipperier and the mucky, previously slimy sections got slimier.
I just kept thinking about how much I love night riding and was remembering some of the many pleasant times I’ve had on Full Moon rides and other night rides with friends. I find trails easier to ride at night and no, I don’t ride faster (everyone goes slower), but lights focus your attention on the trail, there are no distractions, it’s quiet and peaceful.
From 7pm-11pm the promoters had a fire on the far side of the course, and were serving up bacon and s’mores. Rob met me here for a s’more. I ate half and couldn’t get down the rest. At least I tried!
Lap 11-12 - 3:30 AM - 5:06 AM & 5:55 AM - 7:19 AM
At this point, I was getting ahead of the others in my race probably because they were sleeping. They probably figured I would, too. Technically, if everyone else is cracked, then I could stop here and get a finish time that ends up with a podium spot. Sounds good to me. I got tired and with the rain, it was chilly after stopping for too long. I was shivering (even with a jacket), and I closed my eyes. Not sure if there was sleep there, but those few minutes of closed eyes was good. I was stopped for 49 minutes and that was almost too much. Rob told me it was time to either go back to the tent to sleep or go back to the race. I knew if I laid down on the (very comfy) air mattress in the tent, I would never wake up. Time to race!
Dawn started at the beginning of lap 12 and I never felt even a wink of tiredness after that point.
Lap 13 - 7:25:29 AM - 8:48:55 AM
I think I told the judges I hoped this would be the last lap. I’d know when I returned if the other women had woken up and started racing again or if they were done.
Not long into this lap (I think it was this lap!), I spied a woman with a yellow number passing me when I was dealing with stuffing my rain jacket into my pocket for too much time. I didn’t know what lap she was on or anything, I just knew that it was close between me and at least 2 others so I couldn’t mess around any longer.
Game ON!
Lap 14 - 8:55:28 AM - 10:13:48 AM
Up to this point, I was mostly riding to see how long I could stay on the bike and try to make it to noon Sunday. Suddenly, the feeling of racing started, the feeling of chasing and being chased. What a great feeling! What’s going to happen, how will this play out? Time to shift mindset from finishing to how to finish, how to win this thing, if that’s possible.
Everyone is awake and racing, maybe they’re fresh, maybe they’re dealing with what I saw in some of the men: 2-hour sleeps are brutal. Wake up to feel worse than before the sleep.
I’m trying to do the math on how to make this work. The rule is this: if you come through the finish line before 12pm, you can do another lap. The race ends at 12pm so if you arrive just after this time, that’s your lap count. If competitors have the same lap count, the fastest time wins the race. If you leave for your last lap prior to 12pm, you have to finish before 1:15pm or that lap doesn’t count.
With my lap times right around 1 hr 15 minutes, I’d need to get through the next lap with enough time before 12pm to give me time for yet another lap. Not that I wanted to do two more laps, but there was a race happening now and I am here to race!
Lap 15 - 8:55 AM - 10:13 AM
Gotta keep moving! Rain stopped somewhere before this I think. Hopefully the sun stays away. The sun was absolutely brutal Saturday and I didn’t want to try to reapply sunscreen.
I saw another woman with a yellow number on her bike across the course on the first half of this lap. My heart jumped, I was certain this was the woman who was in 2nd who would be hunting me down. I couldn’t see her number, I just knew the chances were good I was going to have to stay ahead of her in this section since she would get me on the technical portions of the technical part of the lap a little later on. Also, if I saw her at this point, we couldn’t have been that far away from each other on the course. YIKES! RACE!
Now I’m trying to move faster and I’m passing by people who are on their last lap and happy to be done. The fast guys were really fast (just like at night) and the slower guys were getting chatty. It was sweet, but I was now trying to race and I was running out of energy to talk in general. Funny change in things from a bit earlier when I was more in that chatty mode.
Doing the math figuring out if I’d need to do another lap or not. I didn’t drink my full Skratch bottle since I figured it’d need to last 2 laps. Rob wouldn’t necessarily have more clarity than me on the situation and I’d need to make the next transition very fast.
This lap was within seconds of my fastest lap of the day. By playing it safe all of this time, I had more to give to this race…
This is Jessica Nankman from PA on her first lap. Turns out (thanks to Google that I am just now employing to learn who everyone was out there), she is an experienced 24-hour and endurance mtb racer. I’m sure she gambled that I would sleep and that would have made the difference. The odds were in her favor. Rob got this great photo of her that I’m just now seeing! Now that I see this photo, I think I may have seen her on course. One of the people who you look at and you know they have it all together.
Lap 16 - 11:32 AM - 12:49 PM
I thought I’d be passing through the tent later than 11:30am, but this timing allowed me a much longer last lap to still get credit for completing this last lap before 1:15pm, the race time cut off.
The problem with not doing a last lap is that if the woman who I am sure is right on my heels chasing me crosses the line before 12pm, she gets 1 more lap. That would put us on the same lap and in an actual race during the entire lap for the win. Again, I am pretty sure she’s faster than me, so I can’t let this happen.
I have a 46 second transition, I don’t try to find Rob, hope he’s not too confused as to why I didn’t come find him in the race tent like on every other lap, and I take off on this last lap with zest. I’m still sure I’m being chased and am not sticking around to find out the details. I debate whether I’ll pick up my phone if he calls me. He could be calling to say she didn’t make the 12pm time cut so I could stop racing and come back.
This last lap is 1 hr 16 minutes, so not far off from my fastest lap. I inquired (without being too annoying or hoped this to be the case) with people I saw on course. as to whether they’d just passed a woman with yellow number. No one had seen anyone. Still, not leaving things to chance, I completed the lap and finished feeling great. And yes, this is how a 24-hour race stretched to almost 25 hours.
The Finish
I was smiling at everyone standing at the end cheering, so nice to see a bunch of people there at the end!!! I felt good and was satisfied with the effort and my race.
The end of the story is that the woman, Jessica, who was the actual person who was chasing was just far enough back that she wasn’t able to take the last lap. Thus, I didn’t have to ride that last lap after all. I don’t remember seeing her out there once the whole race, same with the woman who came in third. So all of the people who were freaking me out who I thought were chasing weren’t the ones to worry about! But having them there and feeling that “being chased” feeling added to the fun.
Jessica was super friendly and said a few things on the podium about the time she slept and I really wanted to spend a whole lot more time digging into the details with her and Lauri who took 3rd to hear their stories of what they’d been through, how long they’d slept, what their races had involved. Pretty sure I wasn’t capable of conversation now being hours since eating anything and a total of 31 hours since sleeping. It was time to rest.
Everyone scattered post-podium and I headed straight for that air mattress for a good, long 2-3 hour nap before breaking down camp and heading home.
Moments after the race, I took a few deep breaths then joined NEER friend Ben in the river just a few yards away to clean up and feel like a new person for the awards ceremony at 2pm. There wasn’t much time to decompress and I didn’t eat anything though I knew food was necessary, it just wasn’t going to happen yet. Cold seltzer water did go down and hit the spot!
What I learned & what I hope you take from this
24 hour races are for EVERYONE. Racers, people who ride mountain bikes but don’t consider themselves “racers,” non-riders, young and old. Sign up for the races, they’re not expensive when you consider it’s a full weekend of camping (10am Friday until 10am Monday), well organized, there’s a t-shirt… it costs promoters a LOT to run something like this on this scale. Keep them in business! Volunteer if you’re not a racer. Take your kids to the kids’ race and kids activities.
I felt I had an advantage with my age (46 at the time of the race, 47 at the time of this writing) and experience of being a cyclist despite my major lack of mountain bike-specific experience. I knew how to keep my heart rate low. I don’t know that younger people can tolerate the lack of sleep as well. The point is to race your strengths, give yourself grace on your weaknesses, and just keep moving forward. Everyone is having some trouble out there, you’re never alone.
Fuel the ride and go in with a plan and back-up plan with your team/support people & communicate. Practice eating on long rides and make sure to keep the calories coming in however you can tolerate them. I should have had ice cream and pickles at the ready since these foods work well for me when I’m deep into a ride. Next time.
Having a bucket of ice to just put on my skin or wash off with would have felt great. If it’s feasible, that’s a treat in between laps.
Get to the venue as soon as they say it’s open. Getting in late doesn’t give you enough time to prep everything and get decent sleep prior to the race start. 12pm is EARLY, it is not as late as it sounds given the amount of pre-race prep is necessary.
Pre-ride the course before the race so you know what to expect and have a chance to practice anything you’re not certain of prior to needing to race it.
Twist your friends’ arms, it’s a good time to spend together. Like the promoters of this race said: Tell your employer you’ll be sick Monday after the race. Truth. It was nearly impossible to think enough to get any work done today. Take time to recover, replenish, and reflect on the event. A whole heck of a lot happens in that 24 hours as well as the many days before it starts.
Savor the experience, grow from it, realize just how much more you’re capable of than you ever thought possible, and make plans to return the following year!
