Kirk left Wednesday, Feb. 16th driving solo in Chef Ken's RV. (Although we worked on him until the 11th hour, Chef Ken was unable to join us this year. That left me with awefully big shoes to try to fill! I'm certainly not a
chef.) Although slow going he made it into Tucson at a reasonable time. The next morning, teammate David Sammeth left Santa Fe with Kirk's two Monte del Sol proteges, Derrick and Rico, in the SpinDoc truck sporting six mountain bikes. I held down the fort at SpinDoc with the lovely and capable Ashleigh, and flew out with David's wife, Janine Sammeth, on Friday evening.
The four guys picked us up from the airport in Tucson, and we headed straight to dinner. The two teammates had taken the two proteges on a ride of the course earlier in the day, and it was great fun to hear their animated descriptions of the course, their prior night's dinner at a Cheesecake Factory (definitely a highlight for the boys, as they'd only heard about them from others).
Friday dinner was at P.F. Changs. . . .and that's where the first part of the adventure kicked in ala full-on SpinDoc mode. Rico ordered a shrimp dish, and we all discovered an hour later that Rico is allergic to shell fish. He was only suffering a mild scratchy throat with no breathing issues, so we felt safe with immediate self-medicating. With Kirk's lethal nut allergy, we always travel with Benadryl strips, liquid Benadryl, and Epi Pens, so we dosed him up with a few strips which dissolve in the mouth and are the fastest means of ingestion. The symptoms quickly subsided, and even by the time we got to the hotel he felt fine. We did tell him, though, that should anything change he was to call us immediately.
At 12:45 we got that call. 15 minutes later we were on our way to the emergency room. The kid was covered in hives and miserable. Once hooked up to an IV, the symptoms started to subside, his mom had been contacted multiple times and we knew Rico was out of the woods. I insisted on taking Kirk back to the hotel at about 2:30 a.m. After dropping him off In went back to the ER sit it out with the boys. Upon Rico's release at 3:45, we headed back to the hotel.
Good thing I'm well versed at sleep deprivation! At this point I was up to 8 total hours sleep over two nights. The worrisome one was Kirk, though, heading into a 24 hour race on about 4 hours of sleep. Not good. We left the boys sleeping at the hotel and drove out to 24 Hour Town near Oracle, AZ -- the race location. Kirk had gotten the RV nicely set up, and we were lucky enough to have scored the same parking spot as last year, a minute's walk from the transition tent on the race course. It simply couldn't be much handier than that. Unfortunately, the weather looked nasty, and the winds were blowing at a steady 25-35 mph, gusting up to 50 (we know that from the National Weather Service Wind Advisory). We put up a tent for the boys to sleep in (and much to my amazement it didn't blow over until about 3 or 4 pm). I drove back to Oro Valley to pick up Rico's prescriptions and retrieve the boys from the hotel, and although we tried we did not make it back in time for the start of the race.
This race starts Le Mans style. The riders have to run to their bikes, jump on. and start to ride. Kirk went first as his cyclocross experience of running in bike shoes was deemed an advantage. The riders have a roughly 2 inch piece of a thin dowel that is their baton This baton must be shown each time the rider enters the transition tent if turning out for another lap, or left for your teammate to retrieve at the beginning of their lap. Kirk came in after his first 16 mile loop which he road quickly in about one hour and 19 minutes, and David headed out on his first which he completed in about the same time. Their plan had been for Kirk to then ride three loops, David would ride three, then each would do two laps, twice. They'd total 16 laps in the 24 hours--if all went according to plan.
It did not.
Kirk headed out on lap 3 (his lap 2) around 4:45 and in good shape, but as I stood outside the transition tent waiting to hand off food, water, and extra layers of clothing, a blast of cold wind hit. It was like someone opened a huge freezer door-- but it never warmed back up. It must have been at ten to fifteen degree temperature drop. I've never experienced anything quite like it. The sky was brooding but as of yet no rain had fallen. Now it was just cold on top of being incredibly windy. Kirk came through, and obviously was feeling the lack of food and sleep. I got him to eat a quarter of a pb&j, and put leg warmers on, and we swapped out a fresh water bottle, but he was very single minded about getting back on the bike and heading off. Next time I'll be more insistent about more food, and resting a moment.
Shortly thereafter it began to mist. . .then drizzle, but with 25-35 mph winds. . . and by 6 it was windy sheets of freezing rain. At this point my sense of time gets pretty lousy. In order to prep them to do the transition support through the night, I had the boys join Janine and I outside the transition tent. Considering the shape Kirk started his last loop in, we'd decided that David would simply take over, and ride his three laps. He stood inside the transition tent, and the boys, Janine and I stood outside in the rain. And waited. And waited. And waited. Riders came and went, the announcer kept calling out bib numbers, and we kept listening for 283, but it didn't get called. Soon Kirk was 30 minutes late coming in. Then it was 45 minutes late, and David came out to tell us he was worried. We inquired about overdue riders and learned there was a communications tent in 24 Hour Town. I sent the boys back to the RV to dry off and warm up, and Janine and I raced over to the communications tent to report 283 as being very late getting in and needed to be looked for out on the course. We went back to the transition tent, and stood inside to be out of the rain. At this point I was so soaked I was shaking. Next I know, the boys pull up on bikes and report that Kirk had called in, was inside "a warming hut" and was okay, just getting some warmth and recovery before finishing the course. He had totally bonked with lack of food, the cold, wet, wind, and lack of sleep. He'd meet back at the RV when he was able to finish the lap. He'd called at the moment David got back to the RV, so David was able to remind him not to leave until he felt it was safe for him to make it back.
In the meantime, at the "warming hut" (which actually turned out to be a communications trailer, one of 4 or 5 set up around the course, Kirk was hanging out with one of the volunteers, a ham radio operator who was nearly deaf and had turned down the radio because of the static. He'd lit up a propane heater for Kirk and offered him any of the snacks on hand (all of which were riddled with nuts) and chatted with Kirk as he dried off and warmed up. While sitting there, someone stuck their head in, said "I see a red bike outside with number 283 on it, and they've been radioing out for 30 minutes looking for this guy; is he in here?" Yes, 283 was there.
What a relief to see Kirk ride up. However, it took about 30 minutes just to get him warmed enough and normalized enough that I could get some real food into him. We stripped him of his wet clothes, covered him in layers of towels and sleeping bags, put a hat on him, and got him to sip some soup, chamomile tea, and eventually nibble some honey pretzels. Eventually a bowl of pad thai was eaten, and he was put to bed.
Around ten or so the wind died and rain stopped, and David--being as much an adventurer as Kirk (or is that a glutton for punishment??) decided to head out for a lap or two. Through the rain and incredible wind we had continued to see riders go past with head lights and front bike lights glowing heading out to do a lap. . .so we knew he wouldn't be out there alone in case of trouble. After getting everyone set and fed, I called it a day and joined Kirk in some real sleep. Kirk slept nine hours (!), woke a little before seven, and headed out for a lap feeling refreshed and energetic. He had a great, fast lap, and came in for french toast and fried eggs while David went out and did one. Both were feeling good but a little weary, so Kirk headed out for the last lap, timing it to that he came in after the 12 noon cut-off (had he come in before 12, one more lap would be required to officially finish). We quickly packed everything up, stashed bikes and hit the road headed home as the winds picked back up and drops started to fall. After a quick lunch at In and Out Burger -- another new experience for the boys -- we were on our way home.
Thankfully the drive home was uneventful, the wind helped out (for a change) by pushing, and only hindered a bit once we turned north. The boys were deposited with their vehicle to drive home, Janine and David were shuttled to their house two blocks from ours, and this year's adventure came to a successful and satisfying conclusion.
In spite of sleep deprivation, extreme weather conditions, and it being such a new experience for David, Team SpinDoc placed 44th out of 81 duos. Congrats to both riders.
Plans for changing tactics, meal ideas, and much mulling over have already started in preparation for next year's event. . .
Enjoy the reprieve of weather, get out and ride, and get those bikes in to SpinDoc for spring cleaning. Your local bike shop is here to serve you.
Information will follow shortly about the 26th annual Santa Fe Century, some spin class training for the Century, and a fundraiser we'll be organizing for World Relief Bicycle Fund who is currently sponsoring an epic fundraiser race in Africa to raise funds to build 12 schools there.
Upcoming races include a 12-hour race Kirk is riding as a duo with cyclocross king John Delios, and Sea Otter Classic near Santa Cruz, California. For those of you who would like to try their hand at some fun, casual local mountain bike racing, you can use the next couple months to gear up for the La Tierra Torture. For information, visit their website at http://www.latierratorture.com/ or ask Kirk. Don't let the "Torture" part put you off.
Our best to all, keep the rubber side down and the smile on your face.
Kirk, Chandler and Ashleigh
