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RACE REPORT: 24 Hours of Big Bear

Race Report: 24 Hours of Big Bear 2006
by Joel Gwadz

A week ago at this time I was loading up the Honda Element so that I could head west through Maryland and onto West Virginia for Granny Gear’s 24 Hours of Big Bear. I was loading the car while I should have been driving the car. But gathering all the gear for a 24 hour race and the camping that surrounds it can be a great task…. especially when there is the comfort of my wife and children involved in the packing process. There was lots to remember on the mental check list, there were lots of things to assemble… third tray on the Element, drinks and ice in the coolers, lights, chargers, walkie talkies (that never got used), power inverter (which never got used), bug spray and citronelle candles and torches (which never got used) There were a number of things that I felt I must have… much of this stuff never got used.
Once packed I drove out of town solo planning on intersecting with fellow DCMTB/City Bikes/Metro Gutter team mates Kent Baake and my brother Marc Gwadz. Once on Interstate 270 I made the call… they were just 15 minutes ahead of me on the road. We established that we would meet in Hagerstown for a late lunch.

The drive was moderately uneventful. There was the fast moving bumper to bumper traffic and the intermident rain. The rain did bother me a tad, but I did not think that the weather paterns of western Maryland would really be a good indicator of what would be happening miles ahead in mountains of West Virginia. Yet,the thought of rain and mud was not something to get enthusied about even if rain and mud have been a trademark of the Granny Gear events in West Virginia in years prior at Snowshoe and at Caanan. Some may have thought that mountain bike hall of fame member and 24 hour mountain bike event creator, Laird Knight, was cursed.

We met for lunch… we managed to get lost shortly after lunch… we arrived at Big Bear Lake Campgrounds a tad later than expected…. there was time for an early evening sans lights pre-ride of the course but I lacked the ambition. Setting up camp and bullshitting with the fellas seemed to be a priority over getting to know the course. Especially since this is a multi lap race which would be giving me plenty of time to get to know the course.

Kent Baake, Marc Gwadz, Chris Clarke, and myself (Joel Gwadz) would make up one of the DCMTB/City Bikes/Metro Gutter teams racing at Granny Gear. We would be racing as Men’s Vet 35+ while Matt D, Mike K, Jon Weaton, and Alexander Viorst would be racing on an additional City Bikes team in the Expert Class. We all camped together with plenty of space for all of our little tents, our various cars, and the massive City Bikes van.

The Friday night before the race was quite a display. The wind and the cold were background to the threat of rain. The clouds blew in and out and the threat of rain was on the tip of everyone’s tongue. I made a call home to prep lisa for the cold… making it simple… BRING WINTER JACKETS AND AN EXTRA SLEEPING BAG FOR THE BOYS. Sure, I was in need of some more gear, but there was no way that I was going to ask my wife to dig through the basement for some of my long tights or a light weight rain jacket. Can you imagine?

The first night of camping was a pleasant time. Everyone broke the anxiety by looping the campgrounds and chatting with old friends and familiar faces. Everyone was curious who had come to race at this West Virginia 24 hour mountain bike relay race. An event that at one point sold out to over 500 teams in early spring, now maxed out at roughtly 170 teams. There were many familiar faces… ran into rival and friend Chris Redlack, who was also racing as a Men Vet and some Clydesdale racers I only know from their podium finishes at this event. There were all sorts of people moving about the campground… perhaps less familair faces than I expected, but lots of friendly hellos just the same.

The night went by fast. The music from the City Bikes van was turned on as the chorus of frogs chimed in after sunset. A few beers were consumed and lots of stories were told as people eventually snuck off into their own tents. The use of the aerobed, the dog bed, and multiple sleeping bags had me slumber like the princess and the pea. Plenty warm… Plenty comfortable. Slept peacefully… woke to the excitement of race day. Was relieved that the faster and fitter Kent Baake was taking the first lap with the run, yet I was pleased to be racing second… so much energy can be wasted by being nervous in the campground. Noon came fast. As the LeMans start had the racers sprinting for the singletrack that same sound of the gun had me going for the bikes ontop of my car and my riding gear out of the interior of the car.

With a blink of an eye Kent’s lap was done and my lap had begun. I was entirely unsure of what to expect from this course. I started out slowly but quickly picked up the pace. The course started with a steady downhill… not a descent per se… but a steady grade down with some slight rolling up. I was nothing shy of psyched to be racing. This seemed like a great course for a Clydesdale as well as being a very good course for my Surly Karate Monkey 29 inch wheel bike. Although I brought my rigid single…. I was riding/racing the Karate Monkey with gears and front shock. Later I decided this may be an excellent course for the single speed… but a course where I really enjoyed the cush of a front shock. My brother was convinced that his Specialized Epic was designed for this race… he and Mike K almost sold me on running one lap on my brother’s bike. Feared wrecking my brother;s machine so I stuck with what I knew and stuck with what I had….  short travel hardtail weighing in at 31.5 pounds.
About 20 minutes into my first lap I was moving along at a steady pace…. passing a few racers while trying to avoid being caught by others. The feeling of Mike K.’s breath was always over my shoulder. Just as I started to smile and grin about the lap that was happening and the laps to come I heard a wicked hissing. My rear wheel had struck a sharp rock. I noodled my way through chosing the best line I could… but you can not avoid each and every rock. Some stuff you just got to roll over. I was unable to just roll over that sharp rock that was tuched between two taller rocks. I pulled over and started my repair. With one hand on the section of tire where the rock stabbed through the knobbies, with the other hand I dug through my Cambelback for all the tools I would need for this repair. Call it providence… minutes before I went to the Start/Finish for the exchange my brother passed off some duct tape to make a tire boot in just such an incident. This handoff of the tape certainly changed the fate of this lap. Sure enough.. with all the digging through the pack, the removal wheel from the bike, removal of the tire and the tube from the rim, the pulling of the tape from its small square… I lost the spot on the tire where the tube was sneaking through.. Time was passing quickly… and so were the other racers. All the racers I had passed… passed me. Mike K who had started minutes after me made a pass. Eventually my tire is repaired, my tube replaced, and the wheel returned to the frame… only after wrestling with the Monkey Nuts.

After packing my bag, wrapping my tube around my seat post, puting my gloves back on the hands, unfogged glasses over the eyes..  I was back on the bike. A hundred yards back onto the trail I stop and hook up the rear brake. More time passes. More valuable time passes… time on my lap time… time on my team’s overall time.

Back on the bike… still pumped I get back into the groove of riding. The thought of no more replacement tubes haunded the recesses of my mind. That anxiety moved in tangent with my fears of previous injuries and potential injury. The course was a joy. The unfamiliarity with the course was not an issue. So much of everything was ridable the no pre-ride did not seem like an issue. I anticipated a Laird Knight signature hike-a-bike and sure enough I got it. In the last third of the course there was a boulder rock garden that casued me to dismount, but there was still plenty of great riding between the hike-a-bike and the finish.

Entered the Start/Finish tent after an hour twenty-three on the course. Not a bad lap time after you factor in the flat. I assured myself that there is no more room for error on future laps. I replace the rear tire, put two fresh tubes in my pack, and put two CO2 cartriges in my pack. My fork had bottomed out a number of times on that first lap… was more due to ugly aggressive riding than the pressure in the shock itself. Just as I finished some repairs and acceptance of my shock’s behavior I guided my wife and children into the campground. Great timing.
In rolled the family in the lime green VW Passat wagon. Grant was sleeping. Dean was talking. Lisa was excited to be out of the car. I immediately snagged Dean from the back of the car. He ran from my arms to the tents… he went from his little Ikea tent to our family tent. The aerobed made the tent into a little moon bounce. I swooped Dean away so Grant could take a nap in the tent.

While my team continued to knock out fast and consistent laps I took Dean to sign up for the kids race. He was pumped to be out camping. He was psyched about the notion of racing. We waited in line, he tried to sign the release form but did not put anything down after “D”, Dean aided me in the placement of the race number on his bike… the we tried to kill some anxiety at the START/FINISH of the Kids 24 Minutes of Big Bear. In my overly cautious sort of way I coached Dean about winning and losing and the importance of never giving up. My story of the flat on my first lap and my refusal to give up fell flat…. as Dean told me that he does not know how to fix a flat. Well, my four year old son… that is not the point… but you are good for listening to the details. His race went well… he got 4th in the 6 and under category…. I was proud…. very proud. After his race I fired up the grill for some hot dogs and brats… that is real fuel for real racing.
Time passed and I refueled for my next lap. Had no real idea of our placement or our actual lap times. Felt it was too early in the race to focus on the board. I got ready for my second lap. Being more familiar with the course and how my body felt I was able to put in a more stable lap time… knocked out an hour seventeen. Felt good about my contribution. Felt good about racing. Went out on my lap with the vision of my boys cheering… returned to the campground with my boys cheering.

It was amazing having the family at the race. Lisa was very supportive. She has been at these events before. Lisa has a good handle on the race format and how it all goes. She asked all the right questions and gave me all the right support. I took the boys off her hands for a bit. They rode their bikes around the campground while I chased several feet behind. Being a dad is such a rush.

Around dinner time I went out for my second lap. On this lap I set out to do what I had stumbled on during my first lap. I set out to put out my fastest lap of the day. With fresh legs and the excitement of the day I attacked the course with a smile. Feeling confident of knowing the obscales and the approach I rode with pleasure. This lap finished with very little drama. No Real crashes, no mechanicals, sure there was a dab here and there…. then a dismount or a girl scout route. But cross country is about smart racing. Being efficient and effective for a cross country rider is a bit different than for a trials rider.

Returned to the campground only to be greeted by the smiles of my family. Dean was still throwing around the glow in the dark frisbee he had gotten for the kids race. Grant was moving at his side with the broken remains of one of his prizes. The boys had eaten but I had not. So I chatted with the boys about their day as I moved about the Element stuffing my face with various fuel. Fueled up with double chocolate chocolate chip cookies, fig newtons, gummy bears, check mix, and whatever else I could grab and stuff and not worry about preparation.

The night came so so did my next lap. I went out at nearly midnight with a full moon. The conditions for this racer were as close to perfect as they could possibly be. My night laps were a little slower than my day laps. Some of that was due to fatigue. Some of that was due to conservation. I tried to race smart. Did my best to race fast and hard avoiding chance for injury and chance for mechanical failure. I used that mechanical card on my first lap…. no more minutes to spare. The night is a time to ride smart… not the time to seek my fastest lap.
The Midnight lap was as much of a pleasure as the laps prior and the laps to come. The course rode like a pump course. Being more familiar with the course at this point I had a good idea of where I could let the wheels roll and where I could push the gears hard. I had decided what point at each technical section offered the best line for me. And I had a pretty good idea what was around the next corner. There were parts of the course that I looked forward to but there were no points in the course that I dreaded. No I did not care for the hike-a-bike section… but I looked at this as the gateway to the finish. So even that section of the course gave me something to look forward to.

After this lap I set my alarm clock on my watch and climbed into my tent with my family.  I had rested with my family on the aerobed in the tent. When I left for my lap Grant was on the dog bed off to the side. On my return Grant was in the center… somehow at two he manages to take up as much room on the bed as I do at 38 years of age. The dog bed was my best option. The dog bed felt pretty darn good at this point in my night. I managed to steal an hour or two of sleep.
My midnight lap and my morning daylight laps would be consistent at an hour thirty two each. Although the midnight lap factored in a minute plus for being late for the exchange. Kent was a tad faster than my ill prepared self had expected.

With the arrival of morning came the time to look at the board and get a feeling for our team’s status. We were fighting for 4th with the 5th place Vet Team. The 3rd place team was out of reach of us.. but we were within reach of the 5th place team. As it turned out we were in the top ten for teams over all… but 4th within our class. The Vet Class turned out to be the super fast class; top three in Men’s Vet were the TopThree Finisher Over All. Having Gunner Shogren putting in the fastest lap for the day as well as leading there team to being the fastest team over all.

The return from my morning

As the lineup would have it I was given the pleasure of doing my last lap as our final lap. It is a great lap to have. Sort of a victory lap. Sure I was spent from the four laps prior. But… I most certainly had some more miles left in my legs. This prelap prepartion was as much a routine as the course itself at this point. At this time in the day I knew where my Ibuprophen, E Caps, Gatorade, and GU was stored. I ingested all the above. This lap like many others had water in the camelback and coca cola in a water bottle mounted on the frame.  The cola worked like little bursts of nitros. Took a mouthful of sugar and caffiene as often as my riding would permit.
Kent rolled down from the bridge, around the last 20 yards of course and into the tent. I got the baton and took to the course. The body always feels better on the bike. Once back on the course there was a lot to look forward to. At mile three I crested a climb out of the woods only to be greeted by my wife and kids. OH… WHAT A RUSH!?! Having your kids cheer for you can be like a shot of espresso. But… I was racing… not time to stop and hung and kiss them like I wished I could do…  I gave them a wave and a scream while I was focused on Kent who was running along side of me giving me the low down on the teams that were chasing us.

Bye kids… back to racing.

The last lap was done in roughly an hour twenty five. Enough to keep anyone from taking away our slot in the top ten…. enough to maintain our fourth place spot in Men’s Vet. It was an awesome feeling.

I returned from the last lap for a moment of glory then the word we were pulling up camp and going out for pizza. No time to rest the legs… stomachs are calling. As my efforts would have it the time it took to tear down tents and pack away gear it was awards time. So we stuck around to support the winners. I pulled out the camera to capture some images of the third place sport folks from the Baltimore area and the City Bikes third place Expert. Then after the awardless award ceremony we stuck around for the raffle. A raffle that ended up being well worth our time… As one of my team mates won an HID light, I won for th team 4 thompson seat posts, the swag grab worked out well for us!

The new West Virginia Granny Gear venue at Big Bear is awesome! The course ROCKS! The proximity to Washington DC is superior to the locations of years prior. It is my contention that the popularity of this event with continue to grow. Laird Knight is back into the hearts of many East Coast Mountain Bike Racers

Highlights?

The other DCMTB/City Bikes team managed to score third in Expert! PODIUM FINISH!
the race was awesome! could not be happier with my team’s performance. sure I was the slow guy on a fast team. sure, mike k. beat my lap time average. sure, I raced men’s vet rather than clydesdale. but it was great racing and camping with my friends on the team

some of the images that stick in my mind?
the course was beautiful…. especially the ferns
the night laps were glorious… the artificial blue lighting with the clearn lenses that make things shaper gave a very trippy feel to the ferns
sort of like a studio lit setting shot with rich high format film…. nothing short of spectacular

links
granny gear
granny gear results for DCMTB Men’s Vet

granny gear results for DCMTB Expert Team

some images on my blog
mr and mrs fastest lap
dean and laird after a kid’s race

blogs of racers from our camp
me at gwadzilla
matt d
mike k
jon weaton

my team stats for that event

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