The race I'll never forget (part 2)

The 24 hours of Finale

Friday, the day before the race, 24 hour town exploded to a tent village for about 2000 people. All of our bikes we assembled and a little preriding of the course was necessary.
The Course: Approximately 4 miles with 700' -800' of climbing. Out moderate pace for the preride we rounded the course in about 24 minutes. This was a little slower than our average time for the 24 hours. So the bikes (all Niner One 9, Tang) were great! Super smooth on this Rocky and 6" deep braking bump covered trail.

So after the preride, the crowd of athletes and photographers was unrelenting. Whatever we were doing there was someone talking to us or taking our picture. We felt like celebrities, in a way I guess we were.

So for the race, most of the time we did two laps at a time until the morning when we did one at a time. I was elected to do the run and the first lap. The run was crazy, I almost thought we were in Spain and there were a bunch of bulls chasing us. The area the run went through was only about 2 meters wide or on narrow single track, people were throwing elbows and pushing, if not the running of the bulls it was football (American) training camp.

When I got to the bike I was in about 30th place but by the end of the first lap I was up to about 5th. After a couple laps we were up to third and never looked back. A couple times we thought were in second but the standings were a little hard to decipher, so who knows.

The more laps we did the more people were coming to our camp and asking us questions, looking at our bikes. The language barrier was a little tough sometime but I could tell they were impressed and amazed at what we were doing on singlespeeds.

At the end of the race awards came quickly!!! The there was a huge crowd at least 1000 people.
The first thing they did was the General classification (the overall). After calling up the Italian national development team (1st, 8 people), then the second place team (also 8 person), the called team Nasal (that's us, more on that later), the crowd went crazy! Everyone’s eyes and cameras were on us, almost completely ignoring the two other teams.

Over all a great race and awesome people all around wonderful event! Thanks Mauro, Silvio, Lorenzo, Enrico and everyone else involved with race and getting our intergalactic team to Italy.


Pictures to come soon.

More posts to come...
Who took my baby?
Are we really in Italy doing a mountain bike photo/video shoot?
I haven't forgotten about Dirt (mud), Sweat and Gears.

One I'll never forget. (part 1)

Ariving in Italy, last Wednesday, we had no idea what to expect, and I don't think we could have ever imagined the experience we have had.

Da one picked up from the airport, with wine and fresh bread waiting in the car. and stopping(at a gas station) for some of the best cappuccino I have ever had. The drive from Nice, France was along the coast passing through tunnels,on cliffs highabove the Meditarian Sea and weaving through the deep canyons that drop to the sea. Then to the Italian bike hotel(hotel Florenz) to get some rest.

The next couple days we spent relaxing and exploring the town of Finale and the race venue/course. we walked the beach ate Gilatto, built our matching Tang Niner One 9's and did a lap or two of the course. the whole time there was someone waiting on us bringing us water, cheese, holding Ian for a half hour while Kristina and I ate, and the list goes on and on...

most of the gang on part of the race course.

The race was Saturday and Sunday 2:00p.m. to 2:00p.m.
24 hours
4 guys
4 bikes(singlespeeds)
60 laps (we got a little dizzy)

Come back later for more on the race, It's time I go get another cappuccino.

Fuzzy

24 hours of Finale

The race starts today....
Things are crazy..

20 minutes lap times in warm up and a real fun course.

they are writing about us on the race website. look for team NASA in the News section.

http://24h.next.sm/eng/index.php (can not make it a link sorry)

More tomorrow....

Well I hope to do a lot of posts in the next few days....

So here is the quick story.....

SSUSA (singlespeed USA) I wore a skirt and had fun...


Dirt Sweat and Gears 12 hour, No skirt, lots of mud had fun and made some money....

took a quick flight to Italy... rode some sweet singletrack...

Getting ready for the 24 hours of Finale.

www.24hfinale.com

Everyone has a bad day sometimes....

The NUE series started with a bang, for me it actually sounded more like a POP! I had nothing in my legs. I felt better after the Vision Quest than I did at mile 10 of this 100 mile race, which made for a long day. I was dropped from the front group with in the first mile or two and I thought I had no chance of catching them. I tried to find a rhythm and I ended up catching up the the four Singlespeeders in front of me on the first flat road section. I recovered for a little while and tried to pick up the pace to see if my legs had arrived yet. They hadn't, they must have still been in Texas. Hopefully they will show up before Dirt, Sweat and Gears.
Back to the race... Shortly after the second aid station the five of us were on our own(that's a whole other story). I started cramping, Tim took a little longer that the rest of us, some had better legs. From here on out I was in survival mode... Just trying to finish.

I can't remember when it happened but the five of us passed Floyd Landis(you might remember him from the Tour de France, he did pretty well a couple years ago) . After a while on my own Floyd was riding with me(on my bad day???), we rode together for almost two hours. He's a pretty funny guy... here is a little of my interview with Floyd:

FuzzyJohn: What have you been doing lately?

Floyd Landis: hanging out with Lawyer's.

FJ: Training through races really doesn't work for me...

FL: Try not training and partying, it doesn't work either.

FJ: What's you favorite part about Mountain bike races.

FL: you can stop at aid stations every 15 miles.

After a while Floyd pulled away from me and I was by myself on the slow road home. a few other singlespeeders passed me before the end. I ended up 7th place out of 41 singlespeed finishers in the race, not too bad for such a horrible race. I just hope I don't have anymore bad days...

Final Results

On the road again!

Well time for another update.

Kristina, Ian, Dejay, Juda(Dejay's dog) and I are officially on the road now! Well, we have been for a week.

We are rolling big! but some what green... We filled up  the van with bio diesel today and are running the travel trailer off solar electricity.  We have made it to Ashville,  North Carolina with a stop in Copperhill, TN to do the Choutta 100. It was a bad day for me but Dejay finished second in the pretty stacked Singlespeed division. 

more on the Choutta soon...