Nebraska Cycling News

Gary Nebeker
Photo Lisa Baumann

Although I have only been in the sport two years, I heard about these 24 hour team relay events before. This past winter I read a story in a mountain bike magazine about the physical and mental effects of a 24 hour race. The story included round-the-clock passport-style photos taken of a select group of competitors. The first photos show the racers with jovial looks on their faces. But as the event wore on the photos reveal the toll the race was taking. The final photos give more the appearance of corpses than living beings. War stories from other mountain bike competitors confirmed that these events were grueling. Despite these grim accounts I found the challenge of racing a mountain bike all night and all day rather inviting.

I figured that if I was going to do one of these, that it might be a good idea to prepare for it by trying a 12 hour event first. John Holmes recommended this and asked me if I wanted to do the 12 hour race at Branched Oak. I agreed to do it, but we needed two more team members. So, we decided to put an ad on the Nebraska Cycling website. Ted Lechnowsky, owner of River City Cycling and Hockey responded by saying that he and his good friend Andrew Keffer would be willing to ride on our team. To our amazement we won the 12 hour event at Branched Oak in May. This was just the motivation I needed to want to do a 24 hour rally. 

Ted was not able to do the Afton event in late August, so I asked Paul Ullman, one the mechanics at Highgear Bike and Outdoor if he would be willing to be on own team. He graciously agreed. We had a pretty solid line-up: John Holmes a 12 year mountain biking veteran, Andy Keffer, the current points leader in the Open Sport class in Nebraska’s Psycowpath series, Paul Ullman, who just turned a NORBA expert this year, and me, a 47 year old wannabe.

Preparation for this event built off of my preexisting training schedule: a weekly 45 mile plus road ride, structured interval training, a lot of single-track riding, and competing in the Nebraska Psycowpath Series. John Holmes and I were also able to participate in the 65 mile Laramie Enduro in July. That arduous event proved most helpful in providing an endurance base for the Afton race.

In addition to putting tons of miles under me over the summer, I received a good bit of help from Jeff Kerkove, a professional endurance racer from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. A blog on his website, www.jeffkerkove.blogspot.com, contained a particularly encouraging piece of information. He stated that 40-50 year olds can do well in 24 hour events. While forty- and fifty-somethings lose power and speed with age, endurance is a factor that plays heavily in their favor in 24 hour racing.  

When the event day came we knew we were in for a challenge; it had rained the entire night before. When we arrived at the Afton Alps Ski Area there was an inch of water in the camping area, it was foggy and drizzling outside. It would continue to rain until about 2:00PM. Eventually the rain stopped and the sun came out just before the race began at 5:00PM. Needless to say the course was muddy in the first laps. Especially tricky were the grassy off-camber downhill sections.

I am pleased to say that I encountered only a few minor problems during the entire event, which amounted to almost 7 hours total on the bike and sixty miles of distance covered. Because the first laps on the course were really muddy, I experienced some derailleur problems. But thanks to Paul’s excellent wrenching skills that problem was resolved. During one of my night laps, my handlebar light came loose and kept shining in my face rather than on the trail, but I fixed that on the trail in less than a minute. On my last night lap I crashed on some wet roots and my Ni-Cad charger came unplugged after it fell out of the water bottle holder. I went down the trail a few yards before I discovered it was missing! I backtracked and found it lying in the brush. Other than these few mishaps, my ride was virtually trouble-free.

Between each lap I engaged in a ritual of (1) hanging my sweaty clothes on a clothesline, (2) cleaning and lubing the drive train on my bike, (3) guzzling energy drinks, (4) eating sandwiches, fruit, and Power Bars, and (5) lying on my cot in my tent until my turn came around again. My rest time between laps was about 2 hours and fifteen minutes. Unfortunately, I found it impossible to sleep. I was so keyed up that my adrenaline flow would simply not shut down.

Perhaps the greatest physical and mental challenge for me was completing the last two laps. The midday heat of the second 12 hours of the race was really quite energy sapping. Staying hydrated and taking E-Caps Endurolytes helped a lot. Happily, I experienced no cramping. What really put pressure on me is when I learned midmorning that we were third overall in the Veterans’ category.  I kept saying to myself, “I can’t let my team down.” All kinds of things ran through my head as I was about to start the last two laps: “What if I crash?” “I hope I don’t have any mechanical problems.” “Will I bonk?” “Is this is my last year of mountain bike racing?” But I pushed on and managed to stay clear-headed and focused for the remainder of the race.

Near the end of my final lap John Holmes radioed me and said, “Gary, I don’t know if you can hear me, but all you have to do is finish your lap. Paul will also need to finish his lap too so that we can sew up a third place finish.” I gave John a big 10-4 and finished out my lap. Paul turned in a really fast final lap and we secured a third place finish in the Veterans’ class.

We were quite proud of our fellow Omaha team, and the only other Nebraska team, which consisted of King Hawes, Steve Jarrett, Greg Shimonek, and Greg McDaniel. They won the Veterans’ class and finished fourth overall. Our team was happy to learn that we finished ninth overall. Not too bad considering that we were competing against 46 other teams. For our third place finish we were each given a nice set of Cateye lights for our bikes.

A month has passed since the event, so I have had some time to think about the whole experience. Will I compete in another 24 hour event? Maybe. Looking back I can say that I truly enjoyed the camaraderie and teamwork that it took to finish in the top ten.  For variety’s sake, I might be tempted to do another one of these next year, perhaps the 24 Hours of 9 Mile outside Wausau, Wisconsin.

I was somewhat surprised to notice that there weren’t too many old guys entered in the event. Or, maybe I just didn’t see them. Could it be that I was the oldest competitor out there? I was under the impression that there would be a lot more older riders in 24 hour races. Afton seemed to be a young man’s event. However, this won’t discourage from competing again in an endurance race next year.

Physically I was pleased with my overall performance, but I definitely fell short in the climbing category. And mark my word, there was plenty of it; the course was constructed on the face of several ski slopes. Climbing is an area that will require some attention as I train for next season. Although experiencing some muscle soreness afterward, the greatest physical toll the race took on me was on my sleep pattern. It took about two weeks for me to get back into a normal routine. Uncontrollable drowsiness would set in everyday right after lunch. Fortunately, my work allows me the luxury of naps, so I was able to recover with an afternoon siesta each day.

All in all, I would say that I really enjoyed the challenge of my first 24 hour race. I am also grateful to have ridden on a team with some really fast guys. Not only were they fast, but they were easy to get along with too—great team players! Hopefully, there will be more Nebraska teams represented at next year’s event. I do wonder, however, if such a race, or one similar to it, could be pulled off in Nebraska? Perhaps in coming years we might see enough interest among Nebraska riders that a 24 hour race could become an annual thing in our state. If so, you might just see me at one of them.  Be looking for me. I will be the old guy on the Trek with a smile on his face.