Chico Racing 24hr Summer Solstice - Race Recap
Well this past weekend was the annual Chico Racing Summer Solstice, which comprises of a 24hr mountain bike relay race. As always, this event is held at Albion Hills Conservation Area, in Palgrave Ontario. This race is the largest 24hr event in North America, with approx. 2500 riders from all over the place converging for a weekend of camping and racing. This year, I joined Derek and Bike Right for a social 9 person team, which after doing the race solo before, it is a nice reprieve.
The nice part of this event is that you can head up on Friday after work and set up camp, and that's it, you are there camping for the weekend! Derek got the normal campsite, which is right on the side of the trail and hecklers corner, which is about 400+m from the finish line. Perfect spot to sit down and watch the festivities.
Our team this year comprised of Lars, myself, Tracey, Michelle, Shawna, Eric, Josh, Jamie and Derek, so we had both a fast team as well as a fun team. With our mix of male and female riders, we were entered into the Corporate Mixed category. Luckily for us, there were only 28 teams compared to the over 140 teams in the Corporate Open category!! Some pretty amazing numbers.
The course itself, based on my GPS came in at 19.2km in length, which was a tad over the 17km that was advertised, but still a fun and fast lap! As always the lap started with the climb from the Chalet, and up the double track, but instead of making the hard right into the singletrack, we took a left and hit some singletrack that ways. I really wish I could remember the names of the trails, but I remember how they rode!
The first 6-7km of the lap consisted of all the climbing. We rode the Wu Wu Track backwards, which was a nice singletrack climb, which spit you out onto the double track that lead you to the dreaded Brown Monster, a straight shot double track climb. Once the Brown Monster was done, it was time to put the head down and really push out some km. The trails just flowed together making the time and the lap fly by!
As I finished my first lap in 57min 30 seconds, I started to prepare my lights for the night lap which was coming fast. I had everything mounted batteries charged, bar light worked like a dream, then turning on the head lamp and the HID ballast popped.... yup just like a normal light bulb, just done... So with some ingenuity, walked to the marketplace and bought from Light's & Motion one of their Seca 1800 light sets. Pretty smart I know... But wow!!! I had run the HID light for 7+ years, and I was use to the light that it gave. But the new LED lights just are so bright! Imagine a freight train going through the forest, that's how much light they produce! I'll be purchasing more of the Light's & Motion lights for sure for when I do the solo 24hr gigs again (which will be next year).
In the wee hours of the morning the rain they had been calling for all weekend finally rolled in. By 8:30 Chico made the right decision to call the race. No use damaging the trails or bikes! With the last laps finished up, our team finished 6th out of 28 teams, which is amazing!
Everyone survived, had fun, and were all smiles sitting under the tents during the rain. No doubt I would race and ride with everyone again for sure!!!!!
Thanks again to Derek for setting everything up.
Our team this year comprised of Lars, myself, Tracey, Michelle, Shawna, Eric, Josh, Jamie and Derek, so we had both a fast team as well as a fun team. With our mix of male and female riders, we were entered into the Corporate Mixed category. Luckily for us, there were only 28 teams compared to the over 140 teams in the Corporate Open category!! Some pretty amazing numbers.
The first 6-7km of the lap consisted of all the climbing. We rode the Wu Wu Track backwards, which was a nice singletrack climb, which spit you out onto the double track that lead you to the dreaded Brown Monster, a straight shot double track climb. Once the Brown Monster was done, it was time to put the head down and really push out some km. The trails just flowed together making the time and the lap fly by!
As I finished my first lap in 57min 30 seconds, I started to prepare my lights for the night lap which was coming fast. I had everything mounted batteries charged, bar light worked like a dream, then turning on the head lamp and the HID ballast popped.... yup just like a normal light bulb, just done... So with some ingenuity, walked to the marketplace and bought from Light's & Motion one of their Seca 1800 light sets. Pretty smart I know... But wow!!! I had run the HID light for 7+ years, and I was use to the light that it gave. But the new LED lights just are so bright! Imagine a freight train going through the forest, that's how much light they produce! I'll be purchasing more of the Light's & Motion lights for sure for when I do the solo 24hr gigs again (which will be next year).
In the wee hours of the morning the rain they had been calling for all weekend finally rolled in. By 8:30 Chico made the right decision to call the race. No use damaging the trails or bikes! With the last laps finished up, our team finished 6th out of 28 teams, which is amazing!
Everyone survived, had fun, and were all smiles sitting under the tents during the rain. No doubt I would race and ride with everyone again for sure!!!!!
Thanks again to Derek for setting everything up.
Comments
Post a Comment