Since we are in a suffering sport....How about 24hrs of sufferin'?

What a great race, I'll say that first thing because throughout the full 24 of racing and recovering Ii couldn't always keep that in the front of my mind.

It all started when John Stevens (18hrs of Fruita solo champ, epic/marathon bad boy, and one of the coolest biker bro's) called me and asked if I was in for a two man team...let me think...sure. Why not? I've never done one but what the heck, I'm game. That was really the extent of my preparation, along with coming up a nutrition plan, bike plan, and doing a 5hr ride on the mountain bikes the weekend before.

So we showed up at the 'campsite', where Hoppe was bedded down in a tent, and Marty Moriarty had a big ole Budget moving truck with a spin bike, air beds, cheap patio furniture set, and all the comforts of a homeless looking biker in the back (chamois and jerseys on hangers, bins of biker food, and fold up chairs). This would be home sweet home for yours truly throughout the ...challenge? Tim Bolton (of former 2000 NMORS Champ fame) lives in Tucson so he was representin' for the locals on a few hours of training a week, but as he pointed out many hours of beer drinking per week. Paul (Marty's bro-in-law) was there to leave his guts on the trail as well.

Stevens had the last of Ben Halls ashes to dedicate to the race that he and Ben won back in 2004. They did 19 laps and bested a strong field of 5o teams. http://www.epicrides.com/results/24results/results2004/index.html

With that Stevens sent Ben's ashes into the sonoran desert wind to run free amongst the Cholla cactus once again. Kind of a heavy moment, thinking about a bro who died racing his bike in Moab, at least he died doing what he loved, still pretty heavy to think about, especially for Stevens who loved ben like a blood brother and had some of the best times in his life with him. What was I doing here? at this time in this spot, feeling loss on a grand scale? Thanks for making me part of that Stevens, it was a memory I will cherish and never forget.

Damn, now the bike story will seem lame and trivial after that but here it goes...

We went to the Marla Streb honor dinner and threw back a few pints for a Ben and we prepared to bring back some glory to the land of manana in his honor. Marla was a good speaker and she talked of racing, and riding, and getting sponsored and earning a house in Marin because of that wacky commercial where she ran into the tree. We saw some cool NMexicans also and I realized this was different event than the hustle fast pace of most XC races I do...

Stevens and I decided that I would do the Lemans run through two arroyos to the start the race and so we lined em up at noon Saturday. Start on the BOOM of the Cannon!

As you can see I had good start postion on the front row far runners left. That quickly turned into barely a top 50 position by the time we hit the bikes. I do not run and am not a runner...period. My 5 time surgically repaired left knee knows better and one day I'll know better too. It held up well though and then I was biking!

The first lap was a quick one, with everyone attacking and acting like we were in for a Short track XC race so I was game and jumped in with all my limited Anaerobic ability (did I mentioned I'm doing base training this time of year?). By the end of lap one (58:39sec into the race) I was in the top ten so I passed the baton to Stevens for his first lap...which he blazed throug in an hour. The next lap was fast as well, the Scalpel was just flying through the rolling cactus laden course and it took 1 hour and 4 seconds. Stevens was consitently knocking down low 1hr times also so we were in second place, only problem with that was that the team ahead of us had lapped us already so they fixed the error in their time/scorekeeping apparently and we were then in the lead.

Lap 3 was cool because I caught Tinker (solo 24hr king of the world) and we worked together into the headwind on the back stretch of the course. He told me about RAAM and how it took him 2 months to recover so he couldn't enjoy riding, and he likes to ride his bike so much that he'll never do that again! Good advice, I'm not going there either! I could tell he was in a zone I'll never be in but the chit chat was good for my mindset and it's not everyday you get to rip singletrack with one of your idols.

After lap 4 I realized what I had signed up for in cold January when Stevens called. I was hurting, cold, and my legs were already turning to sour mash. The boys in the Budget truck humored my dread and just said to "hang in there".

At night I pulled out the new Cannondale Carbon Rush and started to rip some laps on it. It has a slacker head tube angle and more cush suspension (4.3inches) so I wouldn't have to be so sharp on the handling and still stay upright. I also put on the super lights (thanks Yogi!), I hadn't ridden at night since the Cali days/nights in 2002. It all came back quickly and the nocturnal ride was good. Stevens and I decided to take 2 lap segments so that the other could get a nap in and it worked out real well. I had to roust Stevens in his tent after my second lap because he "wasn't expecting me that soon". He swears he wasn't sleeping but the "what whoa what" response he gave when I yelled his name gave me the impression he was but good for him, lucky! Anyhow he got out of his bag, threw on the gear and took off on a tear to throw down another great lap.

My "crap lap" was at about 6:30 am. Stevens ripped his fastest night lap in 1:16:25 and when he came to the baton exchange tent I was still putting on my helmet,lights, bottles, etc...at camp!

I "wasn't expecting him so soon" but hey we're teammates and there was definitely a supportive vibe going, after all we were both suffering. He came over and told me to get going but I realized I had to go do the dooty real bad. So I had to undress in the porta potty because I was sporting the bib shorts. After that ordeal and adding about 5mins to my lap time without even being on the bike yet I took off. I must admit, I felt GREAT and you can figure out why!

At this stage of the race we were 10 mins ahead of the second place team and they were closing and we were losing ground so it was time to get down to the real nitty gritty. The sun would be out soon so that would help the mindset.

Once the sun came I decided to throw on some music for the first time and pull out the Scalpel again. Immediately I was back in the game and riding strong again, throwing down a 1:05:19 and feeling fast again. Damn, we might just be able to close this one out!!!!

Stevens whipped it up again and he finished his last lap in 1:07:40, super fast for his 10th lap and he was pumped when he passed the baton the last and final time. My last lap was real nice, "just a real nice surprise Clarke". I was caffeinated for the first time in 24hrs, had the black eyed peas on the mp3, and was riding my favorite bike, the Scalpel, for my 11th and final lap. Let er rip! I had a great lap that was actually more fun than I would expect for the 1tth time around the 16 miler. Some guy on a 4 man team caught me and passed me, for the first time in the whole race. Not going down like that, I kept him close and then threw down the hammer and dropped him in the headwind. The caffeine had me fisty and feeling a little fasty...

I knew we closed out the win and when I hit the campsite Stevens and I did a big stinky sweaty bloodshot eyed bear hug and let out a huge roar like only adult males who are overjuiced on testosterone and lack of sleep can do! We were pumped to say the least and that made the 8hr drive home much easier to handle.

After the dust had settled we won by a lap and I realized that the roller coaster of emotions, physical pain & suffering, and pure elation in a 24hr race was the challenge that I was looking for and did not even know it. Next time I think I'll do a 4man team so there is more recovery time between laps and hanging out time...because that is the fun of these events, hanging with friends. A big shout out to my campmate who kept me in the game when I was falling apart and kept me warm with the heater. Also thanks to Cannondale for getting all the bikes to me before this big adventure. Thanks to Yogi, Mike, and Richie at The Bicycle Company for getting me all the supplies I needed for the race. Special thanks to Stevens for believing we could win this one and for picking me to be his partner on this adventure. I'm glad we were able to bring this race full circle for our departed bearded bro Ben Hall, gone but never forgotten...

Special loving thanks to my family for letting me go out on a limb for 3 days and for supporting me throughout by calling me and cheering me up; and for asking great questions like "Are you still riding your bike? Because we're eating waffles and watching cartoons!" I'll be back next year prepared to suffer for 24 hours In The Old Pueblo!