24 Hours of Seven Oaks

Derrick, Brian, Tim and I (Ted) drove out to Iowa for the 24 Hours of Seven Oaks race in Boone Iowa. This is probably the fastest growing segment of mountain bike racing but I have never tried one before so I figured I would try one out and see if it is as hard as it sounds.

The course was damaged in the recent Midwest floods so much of the trail system had to be re cut. On the preride lap this made the course really slow without much flow. It didn't seem like a fun course. Luckily, as the day went on, all the bikes broke in the course and made the course roll a little easier while still maintaining technical elements such as steep switchbacks both uphill and downhill, roots, and narrow bridges. Once I learned the nuances of the course after the second or third lap, I started to like the course and appreciate the challenges it presented. Each lap was 7.5 mile and had about 980 feet of climbing.

Derrick started the race with a LeMan's style run and got the hole shot just like we expected. He was able to ride strong and come in for the 1st lap in 5th place. On the next lap mechanicals set the team back a lap and put us in last place. With the bad luck out of the way, each racer focused on riding hard and staying within their limits as we chipped away at the deficit. Our consistency was our strength and we were able to move up nearly a place per lap by the time the night laps started.

By morning we were in second place. The first place team was nearly untouchable but the third place team was right behind us. Tim and Derrick rode some of their best laps in the final hours and we maintained second place by a comfortable margin.

Overall we rode a total of 27 laps. That is 204.5 miles (the first lap had an extra 2 miles) and 26,460 feet of climbing. Doing a 24 hour as a team was an incredible challenge and we all pushed ourselves to the limits.