Thursday morning, the 3 of us plus Bronson Silva and Bruce Bundy headed
off to Toronto from California. By 11:30pm, we arrived safely at the
Groves' house to find the Boston crew (Ben, Joey and TheDan) with Ryan
Atkins, in fine spirits. We had a 3 hour time advantage on them, but we
all stayed up until 1:30 or 2am snacking, watching Jeff's video
footage.
We had no plans for Friday other than to head to the race venue in the
late afternoon. So the day was spent checking out the neighborhood,
playing pool, juggling, frisbee in the park, etc. Jeff picked up Andy
and Irene in the afternoon, and we all met out at the Mansfield Outdoor
Centre by early evening. After checking in, some of us had time for a
partial test-lap - we rode 1/4 of the course before it got dark. I was
encouraged as it was mostly all singletrack and was generally smooth and
rideable. We met the members of Team One (from London, ON and
thereabouts), then headed off for dinner nearby. We ate at a fine
establishment serving "Chinese and Canadian Food". It was a great meal
but no one ordered poutine so I couldn't see if this famous food is
really real. The LifeStyles race is catered (I guess because Rich and
Famous people don't do their own cooking) but we stocked up massively at
a 24 hour supermarket. Back at the cabins, we started a great campfire
and roasted marshmallows and told lies until 2am.
After breakfast, we set up tarps and prepared our unicycles for the
ride. It was drizzling a bit and the weather forecast for the weekend
was not very encouraging. At noon, the long anticipated race began.
Brian, Ryan and myself were the first riders and the "Modified Le Mans
Start" went like this. You lay your bike/uni down upside down. Then back
a ways, helmets are put on the ground, then everyone backs up a bit more
and exactly at 12 noon, everyone goes for the helmets, the bikes, and
then the starting line. With only 22 teams plus 17 solo riders, crowding
was no problem. I kept to the back with some of the solo bike riders -
the mellowest start I've ever seen. The course starts out level and
slightly up on a fireroad, then heads up a singletrack into the forest.
After a while I caught Brian and rode with him. We had a downhill back
to the start, then a long climb up a sandy fireroad. There was a
checkpoint at the top, and from there, the remaining 70% of the course
was mostly all singletrack. There are log obstacles, a skinny little
bridge that I only rode on one lap, a teeter totter that I think only
Brian rode, and a "log bridge" that is basically a bunch of small logs
horizontally placed on a steep downhill. I rode it the first time, but
after the rain it was slippery. We rode through pine forests, a couple
of very steep uphills that I jogged every time, then a final descent
called "The 45", basically a narrow trough that goes straight down and
looks very slippery (but was ok except during the downpour). At the
bottom, there was maybe 1km of flat riding, including some sort of nasty
grass, back to the start/finish. The first lap went well: Ryan 54:07,
Nathan 1:01:46 and Brian 1:02:20.
On we went, each team fielding their next rider. By the time Bruce came
in and I took off on my second lap, it was 5:51pm. I went out and the
rain started at about 5:52. It increased as I rode until it was pouring
by the time I was halfway through. By this time the leaves were no
longer stopping it and the course was really wet. I was starting to slip
and slide towards the end and had to slow down a little but still
managed 1:02:21. At the finish line, Carl was dry under the tent and I
was sure that the lightening flashes I'd seen meant that my lap was
invalid. But no, the race was still on, so Carl (and Jeff) took off and
were instantly soaked to the skin. Right about then was when the
lightening started to get serious and the race was halted. Carl and Jeff
were called in after completing the first quarter of the course. Brian
was out in the middle of the course at this time and was actually nearly
hit by lightening. And he was riding his Coker! It was the only lap any
of us did on Coker and the "45" section at the end was an epic for him -
pouring water everywhere! He certainly got his money's worth. Luckily
for him, his lap was counted even though he finished slightly after 7pm
when the race was called (good time too: 1:08).
A new start time of 8pm was given and we all hunkered down to stay dry.
At 8pm it was still howling so it was rescheduled for 9pm. Before 9pm,
the weather cleared and the sun briefly came out, so at 9, another start
was held, with Carl and Jeff, damply heading out to redo the section of
the course they had already done. The course had also been shortened for
safety - down to around 11km. So the scoring was done in two parts: Race
1 and 2.
It was pretty dark by 9pm so these laps were dark and it didn't get
light in the sky until 5:20am or so, but riders needed lights until 6:30
under the trees. After Carl made it in, Beau headed out for his second
lap, his first time riding offroad at night. He was using my HID light
and said, "The dark didn't hinder me at all." In fact his time on that
first night lap was faster than his previous day time lap (althoguh the
course was shorter). Still there weren't many faster night laps than his
1:10, and none were done on a 20"! So it went all night, with people
sleeping when possible, although for me, it was pretty much not possible
- I slept one hour one time. On that first night lap Beau's seat flatted
so I rebuilt that in time for him to ride again. Megumi and I looked at
Beau sleeping peacefully on his bunk, after riding his heart out on two
laps and wondered what time of "Champion Child Abuser" award we would
get, but we woke him up at 3:40am and he was ready to go in time to
crank out a second night lap. Amazing. I actually really enjoyed my
night lap too. Although it was very misty, the HID punched enough light
through that I only had to guess once and a while. I rode as fast as I
could and finished in 1:06.
After Beau finished his second night lap, it was getting brighter every
minute and soon we were back to much easier daytime riding. And a bonus
that no one expected: the course got better! The mud mixed with the sand
to produce wet dirt that actually gave great traction. As the morning
went on, it got better and better and some of our last laps were the
fastest. I managed a 55:14 for my last lap which was basically riding
the 29er (152mm cranks) all out. Team Cyclops II rotated Ryan back in
for a final lap and he went all out to set a course record. We took over
the checkpoint and watched him go by twice, absolutely flying. He
started something like 15 minutes behind Beau and caught up before the
end, finishing in an amazing 45:40 (29er with 158mm cranks). Beau had
the honor of being the last unicyclist on the course and got an amazing
ovation as he crossed the line at 11:48:03. A bike had gone out with 39
minutes to go and made it by a couple of minutes, but there were no near
misses to laugh at.
After packing up our gear, there was an awards ceremony. No medals for
the unicyclists, but Team Cyclops II was 4th in the mixed category with
20 laps and Team Cyclops I beat a bike team with 18 laps. We were given
an honorable mention and lots of cheers. Then lunch and we headed off to
visit Darren Bedford's unicycle showroom. He has a lot of unicycle stuff
there, and a LOT of other interesting stuff too. If you are ever in
Toronto, make it a point to visit him. You might even get him to sell
you something useful like a couple of us did. We spent quite a while
there, then headed back to the Groves' house for a fantastic barbeque
and evening of fun. You would think that with only a few hours of sleep
(and more hours of hard riding), that we would crash early. But no, we
were out playing foosball, pool, and walking through torrential
rainstorms until we ended up back at the house, ordering pizzas at 1am.
Fantastic day.
Monday, we had booked an hour at the local 'WhirlyBall'
(http://www.toronto.com/infosite/147474/) Court. I had never heard of
this great sport before, but if you ever get a chance to play, DO IT. I
didn't have my camera but used Pete and Maggie's to get some shots -
basically it's lacrosse with lightweight scoops and balls, played on
bumper cars. Great stuff.
Afterwards, more fun was had until we had to go to the airport and head
home. We made it to Los Gatos by 1:45am which was 4:45am Toronto time,
and amazingly, I couldn't sleep. I guess I still had too much adrenalin
from such a great weekend. So I read for 2 hours!
The combination of the beautiful course, with the right balance of
technical vs non and plenty of climbing but nothing too long, plus the
fantastic attitudes of the organizers and other racers made this my
favorite 24 hour event. Having 15 riders on unicycle made it such a fun
social event that I was practically wishing it was a 48 hour race. My
training was such that I never felt a thing in my legs, during or after,
and really had a blast cranking around the course. It was a learning
experience for me as prior to this race, I had done one 6.8km lap in New
Zealand plus a 10km ride in California on a 29er. I think the 29" wheel
with 152mm cranks is a great 24 hour machine for courses that are a
little too much for a Coker. This course is Cokerable, but I question
whether it is worth it. The extra weight and lack of steerability are
pretty big drawbacks.
Finally I want to thank everyone who helped us so much to have such a
great time. Pete and Maggie Groves the most, plus Carl Hoyer and Brian
Mackenzie for pulling it all off, and the organizers of the race -
they've got a great thing going.
Let's be Rich and Famous again next year, eh?
And 'here are my photos'
(http://community.webshots.com/album/146305713cPjnau)
---Nathan
--
nathan - BIG rides: Muni & Coker
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