Word is probably out by now that Caveman Productions once again brought home the win at this years 24 Hours of Rocky Hill. I feel like I’m beginning to make it look easy. At the least the people who’ve done a 24 hour race know this couldn’t be farther from the truth. These races take an enormous amount of preparation, the highest level of execution, and indescribable physical pain and emotional battering. My lap times from this year make it look like clock work, and to some extent it was, but those numbers don’t come close to telling the whole story. Just ask the guys who spent the entire race chasing me. Ask my pit crew. Ask the neighboring pit crews who saw the pain, fear, and doubt in my face after blazing 6 laps to start the race out.

A 24 Hour Solo win is rarely ever solo at all. Before I get into race details, I have to thank the following folks. Kathy and Scott Hudson and everyone else at Terra Firma Promotions for putting on the race. The course was well marked, the scoring area well staffed, and the event was well organized and sponsored. My wonderful pit crew started out with my lovely wife but somehow overnight grew to arch rival Adrian “Little Man” Barron ( he himself was racing solo but decided to pull the plug on lap 9), the crew that was supporting him ( Jeff McMahan and Heather Herrick ), and Derek Delpero, who, unbeknown to me, had loaded his 29er with a tent and sleeping gear and rode from Austin to watch the race and camp. Ladybird was there too, but I can’t say she really helped that much. Many, many thanks to Carlos Matutes, a massage therapist who come up from San Antonio to work the race. He worked on me before, twice during, and after the race. That mid race work was clutch to keeping me on the trail. As always, many many thanks to my awesome sponsors: Eastside Pedalpushers for parts and service, Puresport for liquid nutrition, Performance Wellness for pre and post race therapy, Bobcat13 for race photos, and Chipotle Congress for weekly Caveman Salads.

Now, on to the nitty gritty. This year 27 men entered the Solo Open category, 13 more than last year. Not only that, some really fast names showed up that left me knowing I’d have my work cut out for me this year. John Russell, last years runner up was returning to make another run for the gold. I had the chance to ride with John at Walnut Creek a few weeks back and he had me hurting like a dog. I could tell his hard training had paid off and he would be a formidable foe. I found out a few days before the race that respected adversary Wink (Nathan Winkelman) would be there. I’d never raced Wink head on at a 12 or 24 hour race but had always wanted to-yet feared the day I’d actually get the chance. Little Man Adrian Barron would there. He “unofficially” beat me at the 2009 Dirty Dozen, not to mention every Xterra race we’ve ever done together. 24’s are totally different beasts, but he is always a wild card. Bicycle Sport Shop Cat 1 phenom Marshall Bell also showed up. I’ve raced him at the dirt derby before and and have seen his times at XC races this year so I was aware of his threat potential.

So, I knew I had my work cut out for me. I said in previous posts that I would keep an eye on solo racers, but try to race against the teams to up the ante. So, I ditched the usual game plan of starting easy/moderate and finishing strong in lieu of a race plan that entailed starting ridiculously fast, staying stupid fast by the half way mark, and finishing pretty fast by the final laps. It would be great way to get a good jump on the solo field and totally demoralize and beat them down, while staying in “contention” with the teams. I was going to lay it all on the line, or go down in flaming ball of glory trying to. In the end, it kinda worked.

Gun goes off of and the crazy LeMan’s running start ensues. I didn’t break out in a full sprint, but I didn’t lollygag it either. Once on the bike, I didn’t waste much time moving up. Proud Mary was setup for speed with 34-18 gearing on a course that had a lot of climbing on the front end. With that kind of gearing, fresh legs, and good adrenaline pumping, the climbs flew right by. Fastest first lap of the race belonged to Sol Frost of Austin Bikes at 46:28. Second fastest? Yours truly at 47:13. I didn’t

know that at the time, I just felt good and knew I was on a mission. Second lap came in at 46:18 with no run to deal with this time. I got edged again by the Austin Bikes 4 man team at 45:43, but again, I didn’t know this and just kept going. Lap 3 48:04 . A little fatigue starting to set in at this point. I hopped on the Dark Knight with 34-19 gearing for 2 laps while Proud Mary got dropped down to 34-20 gearing. I was happy with the fast start and knew I was starting to settle down to my 24 hour pace.

By the end of lap 6 those blazing fast laps came back to slap me in the face, or adductor muscles actually. The race had started at noon and the high temps for the day were unseasonably high at 86-88 degrees. The combination of heat, singlespeed, and hard efforts had left my legs cramping badly. Adrian had fallen off pace, and John, Wink, and Marshall were apparently riding together about 20 minutes back at that point, so I felt I could spare a little time in the massage tent to loosen those tight legs up. Carlos was quick and effective and I was back out on the trail. It didn’t take long before I started cramping again and began having serious doubts of whether I’d be able to finish the race. It’s one thing to have sore muscles, it’s another when they’re locked up and refuse to fire. I remember stopping at the top of Fat Chuck’s, slapping my legs and massaging them to flush the pain out and forcing them to keep turning the cranks over. I knew if I could get past these first climbs and into the twisty forest singletrack I’d be ok-and I was.

Getting past these painful climbs at the beginning of loop became my primary focus of each lap. I’m not sure if the cramping went away or I built up enough cortisol in my system to just not feel it anymore, but either way it became a non issue each lap I was able to complete. Lap 7 was the last day lap for Saturday and Lap 8 was the first of several night laps.

Things always slow down a little at night, but I tried to keep the pace up as best I could. I was putting 1-2 minutes on the competition each lap and I figured if I maintained consistency that I’d be able to lap 2nd place by morning. Hydration and nutrition was keeping up with demand. By laps 11 and 12 I really didn’t want to turn fast night laps anymore to try and slow the race down. I was on pace to complete 24-25 laps and having just done 12, I couldn’t fathom actually riding another 12 more. Pressure from a new dominant 2nd place kept the pace up though. Adrian had dropped out at 9. Marshall had bailed at 10. Wink took a long break after13. John Russell was comfortably in 2nd and he wasn’t going down without a fight. All I remember about those 14-15-16 laps was that I was 21 minutes up, then 25, then 29, then I took another massage break, and all of a sudden I was back down to 20 minutes.

It was time to put the nail in the coffin and deal 2nd place a blow so large he’d have no way of catching back up. I gathered all the strength I had and rode every bit of that course except for that stupid climb before crossing the road and heading into the Grind. I knew no other solo racer was riding it anyways, so that part I could afford to walk. I wouldn’t know the end result of that effort until coming back from my next lap since John would have to scan in before my pit crew could get the split. It was very favorable though. 53 minute lead, almost a full lap. Not only that, but the lap I had done in waiting was quick enough to actually catch him. That hard early morning lap had cost me a bit, but it had cost him even more. The win was all but tied up, all I had to do was ride with him until the clock expired-or until he decided to quit. Having amassed a 4 lap lead over 3rd place, John was in a position to throw in the towel. We rode my lap 20 and 21, his 19 and 20 together for good measure. Lap 20 was the twilight lap, the most coveted and celebrated lap at a 24 hour race, and oh was it sweet. 21 was a full morning light lap and it wasn’t so bad either.  Riding with John those 2 laps was enjoyable, albeit a little painful because I was so saddle sore by this point that I was relegated to standing most of the loop and we were “trying” to ride slow since it wasn’t even 9am yet and the race had another 3 hours left to go.

During our two laps together, we made a gentleman’s agreement to end the race after my 21st lap. It was a mathematical impossibility for 3rd place to catch either one of us, and there wasn’t much sense beating the crap out of each other for three more hours when the outcome wasn’t likely to change, but just for fun he still wanted to ride one more lap when we finished those two. I had lost my focus and desire to compete with the teams at this point and didn’t feel like riding lap 22, so I let John take off on his lap 21 resting assured he wouldn’t punk me and go out on another lap. I was done. John held up his word and after the clock rolled over 24:00:00 our 1-2 finish was official once again. Kind of a non-climactic finish to a 24 hour race, but if you look at it from the standpoint of a poker game, and you have so many cards and chips to work with for a set amount of time, you can take a gamble and use it all up front and hopefully walk away big or you can be calculated spread it out over the course of time. I went big up front and it paid off, so I got to enjoy the victory early!

I pretty much did nothing but get a massage from Carlos and sleep those last three hours before the clock expired. I had done 21 laps to last years 18. The laps were about a mile shorter this year, but that still came out to more mileage, about 193. All done in 21 hours too, instead of 23.5 compared to last year. I’ve got a little hand numbness and saddle soreness to contend with, but otherwise I’m very happy to report that physically I am much better shape than in years past following the event. I only had two very minor mechanicals the entire race and neither set me back more than 30 seconds. Payout was $730 plus a custom painted carbon frame from YBS bikes. It’s a 26″ frame, unfortunately, but those guys are working with me to swap it for a 29er frame. Check them out if you are interested in a custom bike from a Texas builder. To top it all off, it was my birthday and Colleen presented me with a little chocolate cake. I can’t tell you the last time I had cake since clamping down hard on the paleo diet to prepare for the race. I won’t lie-it was pretty tasty. The cold Shiner on tap wasn’t bad either All in all, couldn’t have asked for a better race.

Editors note: the magazine  published below is purely fictional and for entertainment purposes only.The responses are mostly real.

Modern Caveman Magazine caught up with Caveman to discuss the upcoming 24 Hour mountain bike shin-dig going down this weekend.

MC:So what exactly are you doing this weekend?
CM:Racing a mountain bike for 24 hours straight.

MC: Cool. Sounds tough, and fun. Do you ever sleep during the race?

CM: I can sleep when I die. The people that sleep lose the race.

MC: What do you eat and drink?

CM: I try to keep it real. I do have a sports drink called Puresport. It has a lot of protein compared to other sports drinks, and doesn’t upset my stomach. on the munchie side of things, I mostly eat fruit and homemade caveman energy bars, which have stuff like dates, nuts, berries, and honey in them. I’ve been known to take a rabbit or two on the side of the trail for a little midnight snack when fruit sugar isn’t doing it. I probably consume about 50 grams of insects throughout the race as well.

MC: tell us about your ride?

CM: ha. Velocave just published an article about it. My ride is pimp this year. Check it out here.

MC: sweet. why singlespeed?

CM: well Zuzar, why does a woodchuck chuck wood? It’s just the way I roll. Why run gears? SS is lighter and more reliable. Plus, some sections that one would ride lazily on with gears, I am forced to ride harder so I actually feel like SS is an advantage. The few parts I have to walk, the geared guys are probably walking too so it’s no big deal. Last year the creek crossings were muddy, and this wreaked havoc on a lot of geared drivetrains. Plus chicks dig singlespeeders.

MC: How do you ride at night?

CM: I have Caveman night vision. Just kidding, dude. I have a cool lighting system called Ayup. A bunch of kangoroos from Australia make them, that’s why they’re so “cute”

MC: what about when “nature calls”

CM: hey man, that’s personal. but you know, it’s a serious issue that no one ever tells you how to deal with during a 24 hour race. If it’s #1, you try to wait for a long flat or slightly downhill section of trail. Make sure no one is looking and whip it out while cruzin. Takes practice, but you’ll get it down. Pray to God #2 doesn’t come up, but if it does, about your only option is to hold it thereby making you go super duper fast to put a little time on your opponent so that you can spare a minute or two in the port o john when you roll into the pit.

MC: how do you plan on celebrating if you win?

CM: The competition figures to be pretty stiff this year, and I’m not as welled trained as in years past, but I’ll still give ’em hell. If I win, the Caveman victory ceremony will be enacted. A raw steak and Lonestar beer will be consumed. I will look pretty for the cameras, get my pottery, go home, and then sleep for 16 hours straight.

MC: I hear your birthday is on Sunday, the day the race finishes?

CM: Yep, it will be cool riding a bike through the night into the morning of my birthday. I hope I win, that would be the bestest birthday gift ever!

 

Check back in Sunday night, or more likely Monday afternoon to see if Caveman can once again pull off this incredible feat. Good luck to all competitors.

I woke up at 5 this morning and took off on the singlespeed towards Walnut Creek. This was to be the last major training ride before Rocky Hill this weekend. I wanted to be out on the trail when the sun came up, when the stillness and darkness of night gradually succumbed to the light of day. For many, 5am is a normal time to get up-not for me though. It was tough hopping out of bed, throwing some gear on, and heading out the door on an empty stomach for the 14 mile ride up to the park. I’m glad I did though. Not only was it nice to wake up with the creatures of the forest and have the morning twilight eventually overpower my lighting system, but I was tired-real tired- and it was a good reminder of a challenge I will face during the race.  It’s often cited that a racer’s greatest enemy at a 24 hour race is himself. This kind of effort really takes a toll on the body and mind. There’s no real good way to prepare for it, your just have to do it. Two full laps and the ride back home made for a nice 50 miler to start the day, only to result in a lunch buffet and some good hibernation back at the man cave.

 

Following some R&R, Team Caveman Productions made it’s intent to enter the 2010 24 Hours of Rocky Hill official. The diet has been strict, training has been satisfactory, sleep has been good, and the machines are in good working condition. I plan on spending this final week leading up to race resting and finishing preparation. I’ve got caveman energy bars to make, other foods to gather, final equipment preparations, and final physical preparation, which entails sleep, yoga, foam rolling, all that good stuff.  Check back in Wednesday for an exclusive interview by a special guest discussing the race.

Life has been nice since the last installment of the Burning Flame was published. Colleen finally put in her resignation at work the last week in September. We both knew it was only a matter of time since it was really wearing down on her and the call of a new direction was beckoning. I had just wrapped up a large chunk of contract architecture work and was ready for a break too, so we decided to skip town and head out for the mountains of New Mexico-Cloudcroft and Ruidoso to be exact. It was this same time last year that I was laid off and we did our big trip to Colorado. It is not only a time to relax, enjoy the sights and sounds of new places, take in the cool fall weather, and and be inspired to move to some place more enjoyable than sea level with 1 million people and congested roadways, but a chance to get some hard core training in! Rocky Hill is now less than 2 weeks away. The altitude, combined with the mountain terrain provide ample opportunity to get some fantastic exercise in. Here is a brief recap.

Days 1-2 Abilene/Travel

There just happened to be a TMBRA cross country race in Abilene this weekend, and Abilene just happened to be on the way to Cloudcroft, so I reckoned I would kick start the training effort by dusting off the racing legs for my first XC race in over a year. There was a little internal debate whether or not to go Pro/Cat 1 or fall back to the Cat 1 age group since it had been a while. I don’t like taking the easy way out, though, so racing with the big dogs it was. To make it a little more interesting, I would race singlespeed. Proud Mary was setup with one gear in preparation for Rocky Hill (Cat is out of the bag, I will be racing SS again this year). For the most part, it was a good singlespeed course. There were only a few spots wide open enough to gear out, and only a few short climbs that hurt but were all doable. I felt my 34×18 gearing was just right. The start sucked with one gear since it was a long flat jeep road intended to split the group. That didn’t happen though as all 11 racers hit the singletrack in one group. I was 10th and just happy to have been there after spinning 160 rpm for a mile. From there it was classic Caveman cat and mouse moving up the ranks. By the end of lap 1 I was sitting in 4th, 20 seconds back on 3rd. I didn’t see 5th behind me, but i felt he wasn’t too far back. No matter, trying to catch 3rd (Payson McElveen) would be my focus. For the first part of the 2nd lap, it worked pretty well. I got within 10 seconds maybe, but then just gradually fell back as the gear-less effort on the climbs took its toll. That kid was just floating up the climbs! Through the feed zone into the final lap, he was 30 seconds up again. The focus was now just holding onto 4th, which I was able to do comfortably by a minute. 4th-on a SS, not too shabby. Really surprised myself, and a few other folks. It would be nice motivation to carry into the mountains and out to Smithville in a few weeks.

 

 

I got my check, we packed up, ate lunch/dinner at the Abilene Cracker Barrel, and then hit the road for Cloudcroft, NM. Come midnight, we were exhausted and in an eerie, damp Lincoln National Forest just a few mile from town. We found a make do campsite on the side of a forest road and setup camp for the night, not sure if we had chosen a safe spot and whether any bears would come and eat us.

Day 3 Cloudcroft

Yay! The bears didn’t eat us! We awoke to sunshine, fresh mountain air, and great vistas of the Lincoln national forest beyond. Cloudcroft ( elevation 8,960 ft) was a quick drive away where some huge green chile stuffed Omelets at Big Daddy’s diner had our names on them. A quick stop at the Ranger station and we decided to do the 8 1/2 mile Trestle loop hike.

Following the vigorous 4 hour hike, we briefly dropped down to 4,000 feet to visit the space musuem in Alamogordo and then go play at White Sands National Monument.

Back up Highway 82 and we veered onto another forest road to find our campground for the night. Colleen was again worried about wildlife messing with us, and I did hear something quite large gallop by our tent in the middle of the night (probably just a deer), but by morning everyone (and dog) was safe, ready to start the exciting new day.

Day 4 Rim Trail/ Ruidoso

After bacon and eggs, we didn’t waste much time making our way to the Rim Trail trailhead. This trail is considered one of the top 10 mountain bike trails in the country. It is 31 miles out and back and somewhat follows the edge of the Sacremento mountains overlooking the Tularoosa basin 5,000 feet below (the location of Alamogordo and White Sands) The terrain isn’t very technical, but the elevation change is grueling. I had with me my trusty singlespeed, with the lowest gearing I had, 34×21. I’m a masher and like a tall gear, so this felt fine at first. At about 3 miles and 1200 vertical feet of ascent in we hit a Forest road. Colleen was spent at this point and decided to turnaround and work on homework in town while I went out for some more. Having read and heard so much about this trail I wanted to ride as much of it as possible. 60 miles in Texas on a singlespeed would be tiring but do-able. About another 3 miles down this killer New Mexico trail and I was destroyed. The lungs were seared and the legs felt like deadweights dangling below me. I maybe could have made it another 3 miles out, but at this point I had 6 miles to go back so I turned around and made for town.  Never had I wanted gears so bad in my entire life, but sometimes you have to rung whatya brung.

After making it back to the village and changing clothes, I was starving. Sometimes, the only thing to satisfy such a hunger is big ass burger, so we found a cafe in town that had exactly what I was looking for, The Mountain Man Mongrel Burger. Behold:

The waitress had to do a double take, and then when she hollered out the order to the chef, the other waitress too did a double take, before the cook himself had to ask if he had heard the old lady correctly. I was impressed by the mighty burger, but not intimidated in the least. Far greater accomplishments had I achieved. The ice cream might not have been Blue Bell, but you better believe it was still delicious!

Following this lovely lunch, we drove up to Ruidoso and began scoping out stuff to do and place to stay for the night. Having endured the highway and the elements for the past 4 days, we opted for a warm shower and cozy bed in a cute little cabin along the Rio Ruidoso for the night.

Day 5 Ruidoso

After visiting the Ranger station in town we got some info on where to ride and camp while in town. The first ride would be Perk Canyon, supposedly a local favorite. it was fun, but just turned out to be a moderate climb up a canyon that dead ends at a logging closure and then descends back to the bottom. The legs still felt heavy from the day before, and I still only had one gear, so even though the ride was short, it was still a good workout.I had actually brought parts with me to setup the bike with 9 gears, but didn’t have a long enough shifter cable to make it work on this ride.

Afterwards, Colleen did some homework at a coffee shop while I went to visit Cody Thurston at Ruidoso Outdoor Adventures, a friend of a friend I had been referred to. I was able to get the parts I needed to fix the 1×9 setup and talk about where to ride and camp. He even agreed to ride with me in the morning on one of his favorite trails! We setup camp at Cedar Creek on the edge of town, cooked a nice pork chop dinner with Caveman salad and hit the hay.

Day 6 Ruidoso

We awoke to some chilly temps in the high 30’s  but the weather was no match for our zero degree double mummy sleeping bag nor my wool jersey and warmers! Colleen and Ladybird hung with Cody and me for the Cedar Creek trail before we crossed the highway and rode what they call the Spaghetti bowl. I had working gears for this ride and they made a huge difference. Climbs didn’t hurt nearly as bad and I could maintain the pace for longer. When we hit the end of the singletrack, we turned around and rode everything backwards. Just as fun! I thanked Cody for showing me the trail and the Parham family was back on the road to the mountains north of town. We drove up to the Skyline campground at 9000 ft and decided to make camp about 300 yards and 200 feet up from the parking area. Lugging all the gear up the hill was a pain in the butt, but the view was worth it.

After camp was setup, we took a brief hike up to the Monjeau lookout tower, built int 1936 by the CCC.

We had some daylight left so we hiked a portion of the Crest tail, a 22 mile foot trail that connects all the peaks of the range in this area. While the trail doesn’t crest any of the major peaks, it offers a way to get to them as well as spectacular views as far as the eye can see. On our way back to camp, a huge doe jumped out in front of us. Startled, it took off leaping down a steep mountain canyon. Ladybird wasn’t far behind. It was a sight to behold watching that crazy dog take off full speed after that deer. She didn’t catch it, of course, but it made the hike that much more interesting. As we got close to the trailhead a rainbow appeared and added a nice touch to the end of a long hike.

Following some Cowboy fajitas and a bottle of mead, the gentle mountain breeze carried us to sleep.

Day 7 Ruidoso/Bonito Lake

On today’s agenda was to ride the Kraut/Littleton Canyon loop near gorgeous Bonito Lake a little further north of town. Kraut canyon started out as nice jeep road then turned to tree clogged single track and finally hike a bike right before the top. We weren’t even sure we were on the right trail until reaching the top and seeing a little trail marker for it. I guess the trail just doesn’t get much use. The trail at the top was in good shape and was lots of fun. Soon, we were heading back down Littleton canyon and this had to be the highlight of the trip. The descent down was a steady grade with lots of berms and turns thrown in for a stupid fun roller coaster effect. It eventually turned into jeep road, but this just meant you could push the bike faster! Getting up to about 35-40 mph was a huge adrenaline rush. Too bad we ran out of trail eventually! Oh well. We got back in the car and travelled on down the road until hitting Forest Road 108, a backcountry jeep trail that would take us up to our hike for the day, and possibly a campsite for our last night in the mountains. At 8700 ft, we again set out on the Crest trail and took a right on to the Nogal peak trail shortly thereafter. This is where the real fun began. This is was the loosest and steepest hike I’ve ever done. We went from about 8800 ft to 9957 ft in 1.1 miles. The view was totally worth it though.

We didn’t find any campsites up in the area, so we cruised on down Forest road 400 until finding a cozy spot under some apple trees and next to a small creek. Spit cooked chicken on a stick with Caveman salad and Lonestar beer was the chef’s special that evening before dozing off to the trickle of the creek.
Days 8-9 Terrell

We ran out of water for breakfast so some boiled mountain water made a killer brew of coffee Saturday morning as we began the long drive to Terrell, TX. Sunday was my mom’s birthday and I told her we would pass through on our way back home. A late arrival that night barely left time for hugs as we crashed in the guest room. We enjoyed a nice breakfast, a trip to the picture show, and a late lunch at the hometown favorite, El Nogalito before heading back to Austin Sunday night.

What another awesome adventure in the books. Stay tuned for more adventures to come!