2009 24 Hours of Moab

24 Hours of Moab, endurance racing, mountain biking, Utah | UltraRob | Friday, October 9th, 2009 at 6:33 am

Update: 2009 24 Hours of Moab Day 1 Photos

This weekend is the 15th annual 24 Hours of Moab. This year it is the USA Cycling 24 Hour National Championships. This should bring out a lot of the top riders both in the solo and team categories. Chris Eatough will be there but has announced he is retiring after this last race.

I’ve always done better and longer races but the 24 Hours of Moab in 1997 was my first ultra endurance bike race. I showed up and had never intentionally ridden at night except commuting on the bike path in college. The only bike light I had was barely bright enough to avoid sticks and junk on the bike path.

Fortunately Schwinn loaned me a set of good lights for my first 24 hour race. I was in 3rd after 12 hours. I had been sick earlier in the week and was still congested.

Soon after midnight it started snowing. With the cold, I got even more congested and had to stop riding for 7 hours. I was so congested I had to stay sitting up to breathe. Even then I’d start choking if I feel asleep. Once it warmed up, I went out and rode another 2 laps to finish 8th.

Since then I’ve raced the 24 Hours of Moab 3 more times solo. Like last year, I’ll be back this year but shooting photos instead of racing. Depending on the internet access I can get out in the desert, I’ll be posting updates here and/or to twitter.

– UltraRob

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