Holidaze Marathon - Camp Eagle, December 6th 2008

Wow - what an event!

This is the furthest that I've ventured outside of Austin. Camp Eagle is located in a town called Rocksprings which is a little over three hours from home. (Rocksprings is about an hour and a half past Fredericksburg in the heart of Hill Country.) Camp Eagle is also a Christian-based adventure camp. The Holidaze Marathon is part of the TMBRA (Texas Mountain Bike Racing Association) Mountain Bike Marathon Championship Series. Camp Eagle hosts this event every year.

Well, I did not get a chance to ride out there before the race. If I had, then I may have considered setting my 29er up with a suspension fork. The course was relentless! It was very rocky and pretty technical in most sections. There were long, winding switchback climbs with fast descents. The full marathon (3 laps) covered a distance of 43 miles. Each lap had about 2000 ft of climbing. There were a lot of people that signed up for three laps and ended up quitting after two.

The dirt road out to Camp Eagle is eight miles long.



I spent Friday night in a screened cabin in the area above the main lodge. My R32 is pretty low to the ground, so I had to be careful getting up to the cabin. The AWD definitely helped though!



I felt at home once I saw my name on the door...



It got very cold on Friday night. Some people reported that the weather actually dropped into the 20's. I can verify this because the water that I had setup for coffee use was partially frozen when I woke up @ 6am!



It took my friend James and me just over six hours to finish the race. It honestly felt like my body had been rattled for six hours straight. We were glad when the race was over - and feel that it was quite an accomplishment. We ended up coming in 11/12th place out of 28 that were entered in our age group.

Part of the course ran parallel to a river that runs through the camp.





There are all sorts of adventure related activities along the river. I thought that my brother's kids and my daughter would have fun on this one when they are a little older. The water was crystal clear...



All in all it was a great time! I look forward to the next marathon event...and returning to Camp Eagle soon. (I was eating a PB&J in the 'feed zone' after the 1st lap in this picture...)

Going the Distance...

24 Hours of Dirt
Rocky Hill Ranch
Smithville, TX
October 18th & 19th (Noon 'til Noon)

This was my first 24-hour event...so I was entering into some unknown territory. I've always enjoyed endurance events on my mountain bike - but I typically like to ride hard and be done with it. This was going to be different...

The 24-hour concept first got my interest when my friend Joshua, (Pure Austin Spinning Instructor), asked me if I'd ever want to be on a team and compete in a race after class one day. At first I thought to myself - No. Then I thought - Well maybe... Then I thought - Why not!

Rocky Hill Ranch is a great place to ride a mountain bike. The park is located about an hour away from Austin heading west towards Houston. The area is called "Lost Pines" because of the rolling hills and abundant large standing pine trees.

The course was marked and made up of 10 miles of the ranch's favorite singletrack trails. The goal was to log as many laps as you could around the course within a 24 hour time period. We had 4 people on our team and we entered the 4-Person Senior Sport class as "Rapido y Facile." (Senior Sport = 35 and under average age...)

The race started with a "Le Mans" style start. The first racer had a mad dash out and around a pond before they could pick up their bike at the start riding. Fortunately, this part of the race was done by one of my teammates - Brandon.


Brandon had a quick start and got a great time on his first lap despite the chaotic beginning of the race.

Next up was Joshua. He's a speed demon and sure enough he finished his first lap (and most of the subsequent laps) in sub 1-hour pace.


My friend, teammate, and neighbor James did his part too. He cranked out lap after lap at a very fast pace. We knew we were doing well when when we realized that we were in first place going into the evening. Time to get the lights out and keep up the effort!


I put a lot of thought into what I was going to eat during this event. We were all pretty much on the same page. I drank a Mix1 after every lap I completed. Drinking a Mix1 is a great way to get vitamins and minerals back into your system quickly. When I had a short break between laps I ate one or two PB&J's and drank water - some of which had a Nuun tablet added to it. For the longer breaks - I was lucky that James brought cooked brown rice, tortillas, grilled chicken, and fresh salsa. This really hit the spot at 2am! Coffee was flowing - and chocolate covered espresso beans kept us alert. Of course, bananas and apples were on the menu too.


We kept up our pace all night. We figured that a race could be won or lost in the dark because most people slow down. My new Ay Up! lights helped me get through the night without any trouble at a great pace. The lights are incredible - very small, lightweight and extremely bright!

My last lap finished around 11:15am. It was the 22nd lap that was logged by the team. The timing enabled James to go out for another lap. They let you start a new lap before the 12 noon cut off and will count the lap if you finish it within 1.5 hours.

Later that afternoon during the award ceremony, we found out that we won!

We took first place in our class - and logged 23 laps in 24hrs:31min:42sec.

It was by far the most exhilarating event that I have ever participated in. The race preparation and then the test of strength, endurance, and mind over matter were very addicting. I can't wait for the next one!!