Rocky Hill Ranch 24 Hour Race
Smithville, TX
10/20/2007
Joseph LaFico
"RINGER STYLE!"
Mr. Roberto Smith and I where heavily recruited to be apart of a uber-competitive Co-Ed team at this years 24hr race at Rocky Hill Ranch. I was a bit hesitant because I had not been on a mountain bike since July 2006, one day before seperating my shoulder in Colorado (on a road bike, by myself..duhh). Mr. Smith did a wonderful job of easing my nerves and getting me a MTB rig to ride during the event.
We got to RHR and the race started at 12noon...it ended at 12 noon the following day. There was a super stud Justin Burger who opted to take the first 2 laps as it consisted of a Lemonds style start. The Boy was fast!! I was a bit nervous, and as we figured out what order the rest of the folks were going to run I strongly requested my first lap be in the day. THANK YOU Mr. SMITH!!
So the bar was set pretty high with Justin busting a 51min first lap. his second was just as fast. Mr. Smith and company drilled it and most laps were an hour or below. Robert was even able to pull a sub hour after stopping 2-3 times and refilling his front tire as there was a slight mechanical with his STANS set up.
Then it was the PLAYA's turn...Went way to hard on the first hill. Settled, pushed the pace, and then just about cracked at the 26 min mark. Pushed on home and suprisingly ran a very acceptable time.
Dinner was cooked and the festivities began as our other teammates took turns blazing the trail. DUDE these MTB/Adventure racing promoters know how to throw an event. These guys had games all day long, food, drinks.....oh wait did I say drinks!?
Oh yeah baby, Bulleit Burbon. So being the first 24hr race I've done I decide to make it memorable. And I did. Bulleit Burbon Frontier Whiskey (whikey for you ole schoolers) was a sponsor and gave free drinks from 6-10pm!! Yes after a couple Burbon and Lemonades I knew this was going to be a memorible event. Oh yeah and I had a lap to run in a couple hours.
Turned out that the night laps were nearly the same time as our day laps. Mr. Smith and company sat back, checked out the pimped out lights at the NightRider Trailer and sipped some good ole Frontier Whikey (yes by that time it was Whikey...not Whiskey).
We continued to set a very steady pace while playing leapfrog with one of the other competitive teams (all mens team by the way...our chicks were super fast..including Patty who ran a 58 on her final lap and got the femal fastest lap award). That said, we did have one hickup along the way (well other than our 8th teammate not showing up, and another teammate running his first lap so slowly that he volunterred not to run another;), in that, what would have been ten mins from the finish Both of my lights died!! Thankfully there was an LED backup that got me home but it was at a very slow pace.....INCLUDING RAILING DOWN "THE WALL" WITH NO LIGHTS!!! Wow did I take a gamble. For those that dont know "the Wall" is a 25-30ft tree lined roller coster of a drop that shoots you straight down and back up the other side. I managed a 58min lap which had been well off my earlier marks.
Mr. Smith and I had to do 2 night laps each. I'd say that we were pretty happy with our times as the other team who was competitive was slowing down by several mins during the night. We knew that we could catch and pass them if we kept our laps consistant...and we did.
The moring came as Mr. Smith got done with his final lap and thumped me on my head through my tent to wake me from my 2 hour slumber. I let'er rip and nailed a 52 something lap. After my lap I was super stoked to find out that before i'd gone out we had passed our competition. Which was a good thing for me not to know because I went hunting for them in the woods at a blistering pace. The deed was done by a combination of a mechanical on their part and unreal lap time by Justin of 49mins the lap before!!
And so with one more lap for poops and giggles, Patty went out and drilled a 58min lap and scored her $50 for running the fastest of all the females.
We broke down and had a few beers as we waited to get our shwagg. It was a great time and I most certaily want to do another MTB race in with my peeps in the near future.