24hrs Of Cumming

Its been a long time Cumming....

My rolling yardsale

So the big day was finally here. I loaded up the car early and headed to Hy Vee to meet up with Kyle Sedore and Steve Fuller for breakfast. Large amounts of gravy were consumed by all and some last minute supplies were acquired.

At the start ready to go

Made it down to Cumming around 9:30. Got our pit area setup (Kyle, Nate Hicks, Steve Robinson and I). Did some last minute house keeping and it was time for the pre race meeting. After the meeting I grabbed my bike and headed to the start line. Double checked my Garmin and I was ready to go. Steve Cannon (race director) counted us down and we were off. Steve Fuller was off the front followed by Steve Robinson and Sarah Copper.

I settled into a good tempo along with Kyle Sedore. We wanted to push the tempo until we hit the level B roads. We knew that the B roads wouldn't be rideable so our average speed would be hurt from the walking. We hit the first level B with Mike Johnson. I noticed Mike was riding 40 mm tires on his Salsa Warbird which didn't give him much mud clearance. We made it about 8 feet before the mud was to much to ride. Some hike-a-bike down the middle...then in the ditch. About half way through the first level B Kyle yells at me (as he rides by) "Get on your Ducking bike we are leaving!!". He goes bombing down the muddy hill. I jump on with out a second thought. About 5 seconds later I realized I unhooked my front brake (for mud clearance) and I was riding file tread tires. NOT the best mud setup! After the end of the level B road we got back up to speed. Sarah Cooper joins Kyle and I. The second level B involves more walking. The three of us make it to the end of that together and carry on towards the end of lap one. About ten miles out Kyle wants to push the hills a little and I let him and Sarah go.  I roll into the pits and restock my supplies and head out solo on lap two.

My lovely Pit/Pit Crew

Lap two is pretty easy to write about...didn't see a single human...NO one!

I roll back into the pits several hours later to see Kyle standing in street clothes. Get the full report while eating two cheese burgers and thinking about lap three. 

Chesseburger...X2

I load up my bike, down some coffee and head out for my first night lap...solo.