The 24 Hours of Great Glen is a 12/24 hour mountain bike
race that takes place in the Great Glen Trail system… basically the base of the
Mt. Washington Auto Road. Racers can
participate as a part of a team or as a solo rider. The forecast leading into the race weekend was pretty good, daytime highs
in the mid 70s, no rain… but chance of showers the
night before. Oh weather.com… apparently by “chance of showers”… you really mean… 3 inches of cartoonish rain
will fall in 4 hours. I’m way too much
of a wimp to sleep in a tent in those conditions, so Robin (pit crew) and I found a
motel in town. Before check-in, I went to the race site to pick up the race packet and set up our group’s EZ UP tent on some high ground. I figured that there would be plenty of
pedaling on Saturday, so there was no need to preride the course in the
torrential downpour. After a great (dry)
night of sleep, it was time to go to the race site and get ready. Upon arrival, I found Jim and Angus scrambling to
put together the mangled remains of the EZ up tent, which apparently blew away and
was partially destroyed sometime around 3 in the morning. It could have been worse… our neighbor's tent blew into the pond.
At least we got “the thing that always goes wrong” out of the way before
the race actually started.
Despite showing up plenty early, the pre race meeting and
noon o’clock start seemed to come quickly.
Great Glen uses a Le Mans start, which means that all racers run to their bikes and ride, in this case run around a pond at the starting line. At Great Glen, people seize the opportunity to
dress up in some pretty amazing costumes … and with the theme this year being
“Beach Party”… let’s just say that there are some things that cannot be
unseen. The starting cannon fired and the
costumed people and team riders took off screaming and sprinting like
wildmen/women, while the solo riders started jogging at a more casual pace… At one
point during the run, it occurred to me that I may have taken off a bit too
slowly… because I was jogging/shuffling alongside a guy who was in costume (I think) and was carrying an open bottle of Budweiser. This looked like a guy I could probably beat! Before long, I was reunited with the bike, a union that would hopefully last for the foreseeable future.
Spectators at the race start
Angus found his bike
Pedal Pedal Pedal...
Because I didn’t have a chance to preride the course, I had absolutely no idea what to expect in terms of terrain. I just reminded myself to keep the intensity
down to avoid a blowup in the first couple of hours… And for the most part… I was able to do this (certainly better than 12 Hours of Millstone Race Report). After a segment of carriage road,
we ducked into the woods for the first taste of singletrack.
Note: The
first lap of these type of races is a bit frustrating at times because everyone is bunched up…
and apparently everyone forgets that you are allowed to pedal your bike in the woods too… It was tough not to power
past the groups people who were walking their bikes on very manageable singletrack
Pedal Pedal Pedal...
After the field spread out a bit, I was able to settle in a rhythm on the bike and I started taking mental notes of how the course was
generally laid out. The first part consisted of carriage roads interconnected by some singletrack sections, and toss in a
few doubletrack sections where the mud was deep. Strategy wise, all of the carriage road
climbs seemed to be climbable with my chosen gear ratio, but the
muddy singletrack climbs would be done off the bike to conserve energy. The course also had 3 advertised Strava
segments on it… a climb, a sprint, and some sort of “all around” segment. Even though I'm not on Strava, the signs indicating the start
and finish of each segment served as convenient landmarks, which helped me
break the course into pieces that would be easier to remember and plan
for. Once we rode for a while on one
side of the road (just after finishing the Strava sprint section)… we crossed
the road, rode up some tough switchbacks in a blueberry field (aptly named Blueberry Hill), up another paved/gravel hill and then rode on another muddy
section that was pretty much unridable unless you were willing to put down some
serious effort… which I was not. After
this, we crossed back over to the other side of the road, did one more
techyish/singletrack/ switchback climb, and rode “The Plunge”, which was
basically a set of logs that were filled in with some gravel to form some crude downhill steps. This was a part of the course
where spectators gathered to cheer on the riders (ie witness some crashes), and they all seemed
amused by the speed that I carried through this
section. I’m very much of the opinion
that the proper way to approach sketchy sections on a hard tail is to let go of
the brakes and trust that the bike would rather roll over things instead of careening into the woods. Bikes have a
sense of self preservation … right? The
final notable feature of the lap was A FLOATING BRIDGE shortcut across
the pond (same pond we ran around at the start). They even had sharks in the pond! Totally Awesome. Across
the bridge, through the timing tent… Boom… Lap one was officially official (8.2
miles by my GPS)…. But I was in dead last place in my division…. oh well
Trying not to get eaten by a shark on the floating bridge
Pedal Pedal Pedal...
There isn’t really a whole lot to write about in terms of
play-by-play of the race itself, because the race was mostly uneventful for me…
and from what I can gather, that's good thing for endurance races. It would absolutely be worth talking to Bruce, Angus, and Jim for their experience. In short, there was a lot of pedaling, some walking, a lot
of eating/drinking, and some resting. Throughout
the day, there were short conversations with people as I passed and got passed
… before I knew it, the sun was going down, and the night laps were
starting. I had been warned by a few
people that racing through the night can be tough. These people talk the nighttime laps being “the witching hours” where people “go to dark
places.” I didn’t find this to be the
case at all, in fact I felt best at night. Maybe this is an instance where my sleep
disorder puts me at some sort of competitive advantage.
It was at night when I was able to pass a few singlespeed riders, and found myself sitting in 2nd place in
the category…. Right on!
While we are on the topic of rankings, it’s about time to start gushing a bit about some aspects of the event. First and foremost, the timekeeping system is incredible. It's all RFID, so you (or anyone else) can follow your progress in real time… on the interweb… so you and your pit crew know exactly where you stand at any point in the race. It was awesome to go into the pits for a snack and receive updates on the other riders. The access to timing data also kept Robin entertained while I was on the course. Long story short, Jim was riding like a madman fueled by peanut M&Ms (no surprise), and was battling for first place in his age group with a guy from Central Maine and Bruce was the epitome of steady and proper pacing (this is not news). Another thing worth pointing out about the event were the volunteers. These people were absolutely awesome. I bet that it is 10x harder to stay awake through the night when you are sitting in a lawn chair or hammock in the dark than it is to stay awake riding a bike with a headlight. These people were awake (mostly), constantly cheering on the racers, and making sure we didn’t get eaten by the wooden sharks that were alongside the floating bridge. It doesn’t sound like much… but I it provides a huge morale boost in the middle of the night! The enthusiasm of the volunteers spread inside the lap point/timing tent, because people went a little nuts with applause/cheering whenever they saw any solo riders jogging through the tent to go out for another lap in the middle of the night. Incredible.
While we are on the topic of rankings, it’s about time to start gushing a bit about some aspects of the event. First and foremost, the timekeeping system is incredible. It's all RFID, so you (or anyone else) can follow your progress in real time… on the interweb… so you and your pit crew know exactly where you stand at any point in the race. It was awesome to go into the pits for a snack and receive updates on the other riders. The access to timing data also kept Robin entertained while I was on the course. Long story short, Jim was riding like a madman fueled by peanut M&Ms (no surprise), and was battling for first place in his age group with a guy from Central Maine and Bruce was the epitome of steady and proper pacing (this is not news). Another thing worth pointing out about the event were the volunteers. These people were absolutely awesome. I bet that it is 10x harder to stay awake through the night when you are sitting in a lawn chair or hammock in the dark than it is to stay awake riding a bike with a headlight. These people were awake (mostly), constantly cheering on the racers, and making sure we didn’t get eaten by the wooden sharks that were alongside the floating bridge. It doesn’t sound like much… but I it provides a huge morale boost in the middle of the night! The enthusiasm of the volunteers spread inside the lap point/timing tent, because people went a little nuts with applause/cheering whenever they saw any solo riders jogging through the tent to go out for another lap in the middle of the night. Incredible.
Pedal Pedal Pedal…
sun comes up.
Sometime around 8 or so in the morning, I started
looking at the standings again, and was excited to learn that I was still in 2nd
place… and I had a 3 or 4 lap lead on the guy in 3rd place (he left
the course for a few hours). I was still
a few laps down on the leader… and he was still going strong… and was much
stronger than me… so I was working to preserve my spot in the standings. As I was getting ready to go out for another
lap, word got out that one of our tent neighbors had busted up his ankle pretty
good on the trail, and was being carted off the mountain. This caused me to reason through the following logic: “I
have had a lot of fun racing bikes today… I would like to have fun riding bikes
beyond today… therefore maybe I should ease up because the trails are getting
pretty beat up, very wet, and I am starting to get tired… getting hurt would make it so today was not fun, and would also make it so I can’t have fun riding bikes beyond today.” Not too bad for a sleep deprived guy who doesn’t have a strong self preservation instinct. Because I still wanted to do what I could to
maintain my position in the standings… I just sat in the camp wrapped in a blanket, eating junk food… and if the guy in 3rd place went out for a lap…
I’d go back out for a casual lap to maintain the buffer.
The guy in first place began implementing the
same strategy… which my ego appreciated because he wouldn’t continue lapping me
(even though he absolutely could have… the dude was strong). Once the time was getting closer to the end
of the race, it was clear that the standings had been decided, so I returned my
timing chip and took a much anticipated shower.
THANK YOU GREAT GLEN FOR HAVING SHOWERS/HOT WATER ON SITE. Once clean, I ate some junk food, had a semi
coherent conversation with Angus about the positives and negatives about
reduced fat Cape Cod Potato Chips… and I decided that it would be a good idea
to climb halfway into my open trunk and take a nap before the podium
ceremony. While I was asleep, Bruce steadily rode into 2nd place for his age group. My GPS read 136
miles, and 14,500 feet of climbing, but if you believe the mile markers on
course, my mileage was closer to 147. Either
way, that’s double the distance I’ve ever ridden a mountain bike continuously, so I was happy to have finished comfortably.
Not a bad day for the Qualey Granite/Rose Bike Team. Jim Rose and Bruce Malmer took 1st
and 2nd respectively in the 50+ Solo 24 Hour Class, and I was able
to take 2nd in the Solo 24 Hour Open Single Speed Class. Angus Rose was riding like an animal until an
old knee injury caused him to end his day early… but he still ended up taking 4th in the
Solo 12 hour division.
Jim (center) and Bruce (left) on the 50+ podium
I got 2nd place for Solo Singlespeed
A Few General Notes:
- I cannot speak highly enough about the event coordinators and volunteers. These people even had people trying to repair muddy sections of trail during the race. This selfless crew put the racers first, and that type of effort undoubtedly builds loyalty for the event
- Boredom is something that others had warned me about in a race like this, but I can’t say that I really experienced it, even though the course did have a lot of carriage trails and the muddy conditions caused me (and most others) to walk quite a bit of the singletrack.
- If you are looking for a mountain bike event that favors fitness over bike handling, this is the event for you. If you’re like me and you are a stronger “rider” than a “pedaler,” you should still put this event on your calendar to hold yourself accountable for fitness. We should try to get a much bigger group over there next year and compete for the “Best Team Camp” (Central Maine Cycling Club won it this year)
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