Chambers Had Something to Prove at 24 Hours of Moab

24 Hours of Moab, endurance racing, Moab, mountain biking, Utah | guest | Tuesday, October 26th, 2010 at 8:33 am

This is a guest post by Tim Bergsten from Pikes Peak Sports. Pikes Peak Sports is a site for the outdoor community in the Pikes Peak Region. If you’re interested in guest posting on UltraRob, please contact me.

Cameron Chambers entered the 24 Hours of Moab mountain bike race with something to prove to himself. He won a 24-hour national title in 2005, but admits he hasn’t ridden well since then.

Chambers removed all doubt when he captured the Men’s Solo Singlespeed title and the Stars and Stripes jersey of the national champion that goes with it.

Chambers, 29, has raced mountain bikes for 18 years. He moved to Colorado Springs six months ago from Kansas City. He works at Carmichael Training Systems. His other big finishes include a win in the 2004 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo, fourth place at the 2004 24-Hour World Championships and a second-place ride in the 2010 Singlespeed XC National Championships.

PikesPeakSports.us caught up with Chambers. He was kind enough to reflect on the win. He also provided photos and video.

You are the 24 Hours of Moab Men’s Solo Singlespeed Champion and the national champion. Twenty-four hours seems like a long time to ride one gear. How did you come to enter the solo singlespeed division?
I got my first singlespeed mountain bike when I was in high school. Immediately I just fell in love with the sensation of riding a bike with one gear. Always the idea of doing long rides with only one gear appealed to me as a fun challenge. Something about not shifting just makes me satisfied with where I am at right at the moment during a bike ride. It seems like when I ride or race bikes with gears I just want to push on faster and faster and am trying to get it over with instead of just enjoying my time riding a bike, I am hurrying to be done. I had been riding a one-speed bike all season long and having fun and some success racing them, so when I decided to do 24 Hours of Moab, it just wasn’t even a question if I was going to ride one speed or not. Last season I was on a team that traveled around a did all three Granny Gear 24 hour races. We won the series and that entitled us to a free race this year. None of my old teammates were that interested in racing so I just did it solo.

What was the biggest challenge for you in this race?
I honestly felt really good throughout the race, all things considered. Around about 3 a.m. my head was starting to get really foggy and I was yawning a lot, but my legs kept feeling like they had some pop in them. It got quite cold about that time as well and I was to stubborn to stop and add any substantial amount of clothes so I was shivering pretty bad on the downhills. But I have suffered really bad in these races before and it was nothing like that, so I really didn’t think it was that uncomfortable ever. One time at a 24-hour race in Conyers, Georgia, I was off my bike throwing up and both hamstrings cramped while I was heaving and I fell over into vomit. That was a pretty low point, so it takes a lot to stack up with that.

Tell us about your support crew and what part did it play in your victory?
My support crew performed like absolute Rock Stars during the race. They helped me keep my pit stops extremely short, which is a huge key to success in this type of racing. Patrick Cross of Ascent Cycling was out there with me all night long taking care of whatever I needed. My wife, Amber, who also works at Ascent was up with me and she is a veteran 24-hour pit crew’er and knows how to keep me happy and fast. My dad was racing on a team out at the race and so his crew was helping me a ton, and my mom was there as well. We are a well-oiled pit crew and move very efficiently.

It has to be exhausting with lack of sleep, competitive energy and so many miles in the saddle at one time, what was it like mentally?
It is tough mentally when you have ridden well over 100 miles, it is dark outside and you have well over 100 miles still to ride. Never do I let that thought enter my head while I am racing. I just focus on where I am at right at the moment and riding the terrain ahead of me as efficiently as possible. And there are times when you just have to be tough. For me it is always a hard time right when the sun comes up, and you are ecstatic that you made it through the night, but then you realize that you have five hours yet to ride. I just tell myself to dig in and remind myself that the reward is worth the effort. No matter how long it is, the finish line will eventually come.

What moment will you always remember about this race?
My last lap I was really struggling up the opening climb and I just felt totally empty. I kind of zoned out and just slowly moved forward. I got up to the top of the climb and just felt this huge sweeping sense of relief and was so happy and knew I was going to win the race. I started crying dropping into the descent and the emotional charge kind of re-booted my system. I started chatting with other racers on course and I enjoyed the heck out of the final 10 miles. I will also always remember swiping my RFID card the final time and my wife and parents being there to celebrate with me. It was good stuff for sure.

So you finish, you’ve won a the Stars and Stripes jersey, tell us about that feeling.
This is the second national championship I’ve won, and it is really meaningful to me because I have had some rough times between the two wins. I needed to prove to myself that I was still tough enough to compete and win in this sport and to get the validation of a Stars and Stripes jersey feels really, really good. I did not walk away with the race either. Shawn Gregory put up a heck of a battle and finished on the same lap as I did (which was a singlespeed course record) so that really made it feel all the better. To be able to say right now I am the best in the country at what I do is a pretty awesome feeling.

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