Kona 24 hours in the Old Pueblo

The first race of the year is in the bank and it was a memorable one! The Kona 24hrs of Old Pueblo takes place near Tucson Arizona every year and is the largest 24 hr race in the USA. It was a busy weekend as our whole XC race team, most the higher ups from Kona, and 15 international media were here to have one stellar weekend and promo the new Kona 29’r lineup.

The show kickstarted on Friday as everyone went for a 6 hr ride out in the desert, with the exception of Spencer Paxon who is training for World Cups, and myself. I cant remember the last time I bailed on a ride, but with a 24hr race coming up on the weekend I took the lame option and curled up in my hotel room for the day. I got depressed but laying low was probably the right thing to do.

Saturday was race day. As we drove 10 miles down a dirt road to the race site in the middle of the desert we began to shutter as we saw all the cacti. They were everywhere, we couldn’t figure out how they managed to weeve a 16.5 mile race course through all the death weeds. The 24 hr race village out in the middle of the desert was pretty cool as well with over 3000 biker dudes and dudets on sight having BBQ’s, downing pops and riding bikes!

The first lap was 100% sketchy as over 500 of us took off at mock speeds ripping just inches away from becoming pin cushions. I was scared sh*tless and it probably cost some time as I came through 3 minutes behind the leader in the 70 person solo category.

Lap 2 I tried to cowboy up and accept the fact that at some point during the race I would be pulling cacti out of my skin as any crash, or any off course venture would lead to disaster.
2 minutes into my second lap Kona Super D pro Matt Slaven ripped by me and offered a hand in catching the leader. I hopped on his wheel and within 20 minutes we had caught him, I launched an attack and was soon out in front for good with Matt catching back up to me just before the lap ended. It was a solid show of Kona teamwork!

From then on it was sketchy mile after sketchy mile as I rode around and around the super fun singletrack dominated course. It was a pretty easy course technically but the consequences were huge if you made a mistake and the track required you to pedal for 95% of the lap which was going to lead to some sore legs by the end of 24 hrs.

Going into the night I opted not to change clothes and thus froze my as* off on the long decent to the bottom of the course as the temps dipped to around zero. Thankfully a couple rednecks had a warm bonfire going which myself and 10 other frigid racers huddled around till we got our core temps up enough to finish the lap. Finishing the lap I b-lined it to the Kona trailer for warmer clothes, by the time I got back on course found myself in 2nd.

Soo, i pedalled around and around the 16 mile course, got back in the lead, kept pedaling, got a sore achilles tendon, kept pedalling, and then it was meltdown time. Lap 15 the achilles tendon was getting really sore and my vision started getting cloudy. Not sure what was up with my eyes but for the last 30 minutes of the lap I couldnt see more then 10 ft down the trail, and even less when the sun was glaring off my contact lenses. Going down the 7 minute decent took close to 20 minutes with racer after racer blowing by me wondering if I was either super bonked or drunk. Some dude even passed me on a single speed rigid bike with a pannier on it. It was a low blow. At the end of the lap I took my contacts out, put on my eye glasses and headed back on the trail with still cloudy vision. Things improved quickly as oxygen was able to reach my eyeballs and thus my race continued for another 4 hrs until I finally hit the 24 hr mark, crossing the finish line with a 45 min lead over 2nd. ChaChing! First W of the Year!!!

I was a wreck and pretty zoned out for the rest of the day.

Our team of 4 (Barry Wicks, Spencer Paxson, Kris Sneddon, and Sean Babcock) raced hard and came in 2nd out of 140 teams in there division.

Thanks Dave Mcnaughton (Kona Team Mechanic) for the eye glass idea! You saved the race. Also a huge thanks to Damian for supporting me throughout the night. Having a guy who is use to supporting Tour de France teams and looking after every little detail was unreal. Staying up for the full 24hrs, making salt pills, talking smack, and keeping things positive all helped get the job done!

The next day the whole Kona/Media crew went for another 6 hr epic desert ride. I tried to go but it ended up being my shortest ride ever as the achilles tendon was angry and lasted just 4 minutes. As a result I had a designated rest day, it was just what the doctor probably ordered.

Overall our weekend down in Arizona was the perfect way to kickstart the year. Riding 2012 demo bikes for the race was sweet. I used the new King Kahuna 29’r Carbon HT for 16 of my 18 laps. What an unreal ride! The carbon frame is really stiff but absorbs all the little bumps and also softens the hard blows. It feels like the most efficient bike I have used and is pretty darn comfy as well. Can’t wait to get ripping on the Team edition in a couple more weeks!

The next big one is the Whisky 50 at the end of April which is put on by the same crew that organized this one. Head organizer Todd Sadow and his crew from Epic Rides really know how to throw down A+ events.