The 24 Hours of Wausau

The 24 Hours of Wausau (the race formerly know as the 24 Hours of 9 Mile (or 24-9 for short) that Granny Gear ran into the ground) was held again this year at end of July at 9 Mile Forest in Wausau, WI. I did this race last year and for those of you who know me, I pledged that I would never do another 24 hour race again. Waking up at 3 in the morning and putting on a still wet jersey and shorts while temperatures dipped into the 50's and humidity remained high was not my idea of a good time.

Then a couple months ago, something strange happened. I started thinking about how much fun the race was last year and that I might like to do it again. I could hardly believe myself. Was I really volunteering to put myself through that again? What was I thinking? But when someone came calling that they needed a 4th for there 4 man team I jumped at the chance to do it again.

I decided if nothing else it would be a good test of the Airborne Goblin's ability to handle technical terrain over an extended period of time (or maybe more rightly put, my ability to ride a hardtail through very rocky and technical trails over and extended period of time). I brought my 26 inch full squish bike thinking that at some point my body would not be able to take the pounding any more.

It was decided that I would be the last rider in our rotation and after my first lap I actually had the fastest time which was a really positive start to the event. And then the rains came. While our 2nd rider was out a thunder storm rolled in and forced a 3 hour delay in the race because of lighting. And that is why it shows up as a 3 hour 50 minute lap. He's really not that slow. The clock just never stops. Not even for weather delays.

At this point we were very grateful that our team leader had the foresight to bring out the family camper so we could take shelter, get some rest and stay dry.

After the rain I was a little concerned about the course as I was running Kenda Small Block 8's which are by no means a tire that excels in mud. On my next lap the two most technical sections might as well have been ice as far as my tires were concerned. It was faster to just hike a bike through those sections at that time. By my 3rd lap however, the entire course was ridable again.

On my first night lap, I laid down the fastest night lap for the team and after a little more rain on my second night lap I improved on that time and FINALLY cleared the whole course (which I had never done before). And what was even more awesome was my body was feeling good. I thought for sure by this point I would have been on my full suspension bike. But the 29er just kept rolling over stuff.

Just when I thought I couldn't be more amazed. I put down my fastest lap of the race on my last lap. It certainly didn't feel fast while I was doing it, but the clock doesn't lie. I don't want to discount my hard work training and conditioning, but I think that definitely says something about the capabilities of the Airborne Goblin.

As a member of Airborne Flight Crew, I am fortunate to have the opportunity to continually try other types and genres of riding. Through these opportunities I find I am continually being amazed by all the variety of awesome experiences to be had with in bicycling. Now I can add racing a hardtail 29er in a 24 hour race to that list of amazing experiences. Being a 29er skeptic at first, I am slowly coming around. Stay tuned for more race results.