• Race Report: 24 Hr NORBA Nationals

    Jeff Kerkove 1:28 PM
    Holy Cow! What an event. Weather was the x-factor. Not so much the heat, but rather the pre-race soaking, and the torrential rain that came at 5 AM till they cancelled the event at 7 AM because of a Tornado Warning!!!! Below is a recap of my sub-par performance. My legs just didn't want to go after about 5 hours worth of riding. I was hoping I could ride through it...but it never really happned. Not sure what it was, cause I rode my own race and pace. I can tell you that Eatough spanked all of us. Other riders who had a good showing were Ross, Hendershot, Ernesto, Sloane, and Eddie-O. For me, I pulled the plug at 5 AM right before the rain came for 12th place. I knew that I wouldn't make up any spots, so not riding in the insane conditions was for the better. Below is a brief recap of the weekend.

    Friday Buchanandale and myself busted butt up to Wausau in our P5. We got there around 1 PM were we were greeted to a swarm of pit tents and racers already getting their pits set up. Once to the venue we found the area marked out for the Cannondale Tent. Then we met up with Sloane and I gave him the new CatEye clothing which arrived overnight to the hotel.



    After some meet and great, we suited up and hit the trail to preride. This was the typical WI singletrack along with some open XC ski trail to allow for some areas to eat and drink.
    Course was around 13 miles in length, and took about 1 hour and 15 minutes to pre-ride. After the preride, we came up with the conclusion that the lap times during the race would be around 1 hour to 1 hr 20 minutes in length. Above, Buchanandale searches for the perfect line in one of the many rock gardens of doom. Ernesto (aka SoloGoat) has some good course pics here.


    Saturday morning on the way back from breakfast we were greeted with a freak storm with brought heavy rains and high winds. This pretty much set the tone for the rest of the event weekend.
    We got to the venue around 7:30 AM hoping to meet up with Cannondale, but they didn't show till 1 hour till start. Needless to say I was stress'n. No fear though, cause they showed with about one hour till start. This allowed just enough time to get changed and get the bike to start line. At the start line I lined up right behind Ernesto, and next to Ross. The gun went off at 10 AM and we were off. I was tag'n along right behind Ross who was leading the solo riders on the run. Ross and myself were the first solo NORBA riders to the bikes. Ross mounted up and was gone. I got on my bike and went into my pace. I rode for about 600 yards and looked back to see who was behind me, and the only rider was Eatough. To my surprise we ended up riding the first 3/4 lap together before he decided it was time to gun down Ross. He took off and I just stayed on my pace.

    After the 1st lap I was in 3rd and feeling great. I did the first 2 laps and my speed was good to go. 1/2 was thru the 3rd lap I was caught by a train of 3 riders which included: Ernesto, O'Dea, and Hendershot. I rode with them for the remainder of the lap and about 1/2 the 3rd lap before I decided that I was getting off my game plan.

    So far so good after lap 3. I headed out on lap 4 and was still feeling good. By now the race is about 5.5 hours long and the humidty was beginning to rise. For us Midwestern folk it wasn't too bad, but some riders were having issues. I finished lap 4 and loaded up for lap 5. This would prove to be the axe in my back...err...legs. On this lap, I lost all power and snappiness in my legs. I was pushing along at a super slow speed (7-10 mph). The result led to hot spots in my feet which killed. Every pedal stroke was like stepping on a nail. The remainder of my race was with this pain for the most part. I was able to cure the problem a bit with wool socks, and lowering my speed and upping my cadence. The downfall is that I was loosing time and laps.


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    It wasn't long till Eatough lapped me...and the rest of the field. I was in damage control for most of the night. For lights, I ran the prototype CatEye Double Shot Pro with the Triple Shot Pro battery. This gave me about 8 hours of battery life. It was awesome! Lap after lap, I just kept moving forward. Had a few nice chats with some folks. Even road 2 laps with Ross and we passed the time while rage'n the trail at 2 AM.

    At around 5 AM I came in from my final lap. The balls of my feet had it. Also at this time the storm was moving in from the North. Minutes later the skies opened up with heavy rains and wind. Riders were caught on course and even forced to wait at a designated feed zone. All of a sudden at around 7 AM all the riders come in at the same time. As they crossed the line, they race was called due to weather. A full 3 hours shy of the 24 hours needed. Why did they cancelled it? Because there was a tornado in the area! Crazy! How is that for a National!

    More pictures to come later. I am tired and I am sure will have more to type later. In the mean time, you can see full results here.

    One last thing...
    I have to give a HUGE shout out to the billion of you that yelled and cheered for me with on course, and passing through pit row. Based on the response, I bet half the registered racers read this blog. Thanks!!!