Davis 24 HR Challenge 2010

2010 Journey to Davis CA.

To participate in the Davis 12/24 TT Challenge takes more than significant training for the Gapay family. Plans were made for the children to spend the weekend with their Nana and Papa in Issaquah, WA. We met Hugh’s Mom in Chehalis, WA at noon on Thursday before the race, returned home and fined tuned our bikes, packed supplies and got the dogs settled in with their care providers. Only the guinea pigs were left at home to be as lonely as an ultra cyclist in the middle of the night.

Cycling and race support enthusiast, Mike Olson, and his wife Carol arrived at our home at 5:00AM Friday to caravan to Davis. We drove through pouring rain and just south of Eugene passed Sandy Earl, who as part of her preparation for RAAM 2010 was also heading south for the race. We had breakfast in Roseberg and stopped again in Medford to pick up chains as the highways signs declared “CHAINS REQUIRED,” only to learn that the interstate was closed going over Siskyou Pass. By the time we acquired the specific chains required for the “runflat,” PAX tires on our new rig, the highway was open. We joined the caterpillar of traffic and morphed into a snow going machine with the necessary traction devices. No sooner had we got them on and and it was time to take them off. Mike quickly noted that we had just spent $30 per mile. There was however a wind advisory in affect. I almost needed my sunglasses because of the glare. And the temp was rising to 36 degrees at 3:00PM. Actually we continued to drive through a snowstorm until we got south of Shasta Dam, but things were starting to look up and the weather appeared to be clearing.

The RACE

Saturday Monring

There was no rain or wind to discourage us as we drove from Davis to Winters at 5:00 AM. Arriving nice and early we pumped the tires up one more time, and I had time to convince Hugh to wear leg warmers in addition to his arm warmers. Good thing as it was cool (36-39 degrees)and very humid a good part of the day. It did finally get up to 43 degrees by 10:30 and hovered aroud 44 most of the day. By the time the clouds cleared and we got out of the fog and humdity we noted 50 degrees.

Mike and I waited for the local coffee shop to open before we headed out to meet up with Hugh 20 miles into the race. When did catch up to him we find him riding with Northwestern and RAAM registered Ross Muecke. Though this is a strict time trial event Hugh rode close to Ross for several miles allowing them more time to visit then ever before. Within the next hour they spread out with Ross pulling ahead and Hugh following up. Someone else whose name I never learned was in the mix as well.

Mike the mechanic was put into service to address a squeaky, bird tweet noise Hugh noticed every time he stood to pedal. Eventually we figured out that the bottom bracket cups were untorched. Mike got the squeak out and got us back on the road. By this time we had a chance to encourage many of the riders/racers. Mike and I busied ourselves with bike swaps for the ascents and descents. Interesting how the race goes by so much faster while following Hugh than when racing myself. Struggling with some cramps, Hugh was up and over Coob MT in less than 1 hour, almost too fast for us to really enjoy it. Making the turn toward Clearlake, Hugh asked us not to be too far away, not only is that stretch busy with trucks and traffic, he had a flat just after his support vehicle passed him there last year. The temperature got up to 49 degrees as we came upon Cache Creek and it seemed the humidity diminished.

I noted that we hadn't seen Ross in over an hour. He seemed to have completed his warm up and taken on his RAAM pace. Meanwhile Hugh continued to ride consistently well and comfortably as he climbed Resurrection pass.

Hugh averaged 17 mph for the fist 6.5 hours and said he was feeling all right. I have a suspicion that the cold temperatures intensified by the humidity earlier in the day, were more taxing on Hugh’s core energy then he realized. Cruising west on highway 16 along the Cache Creek was pleasant. There was no tailwind, headwinds or crosswinds to speak of in the early afternoon. We did come upon a fellow walking with his bike and caring a broken chain. Hugh slowed down to direct us to help him, as if we were not already on it. It happened that the man was commuting to Sacramento to see his girlfriend. Mike repaired his chain and off he went. I noted a mild headwind just before 3:00 PM.

After passing through checkpoint #3 we came upon the two racers, Ross and the unkown guy on a Steve Rex bike who had had pulled away from Hugh coming off of Coob MT. We eventually caught up with Hugh after helping out at the 4th sag/checkpoint for a bit. He was looking good, riding steady and focussed. We finished the day loop in just over 9 hours. While Hugh would have liked to finish it sooner, it all went by quickly for Mike and me. He pulled into the 5^th checkpoint before we could get a fresh water bottle out for him.

He started the night loop 1 hour behind the leader, Adam Bickett and 30 minutes behind a young man, Des, 24 yrs, who earlier in the day had me thinking stomach issues might be in his future because of his seriously fast pace. Later I learned he was not so new to ultra racing, but had done some mountain bike 24-hour races. That was enough to give me confidence that Des Wilder would be able to go the distance. He stayed on task behind the race leader by 30-45 minutes and went 425 or so miles. He made me think of Hugh back when he was 24 years-old. Back then he weighed 120 lb and won the Cannonball 300 wearing clipless pedals, eating salami, drinking coke and fixing his own flats. 21 years later, stronger, smarter and with a whole lot more going on I watched my husband do 1 hour 1 minute laps.

Pleased with Hugh's progress I was also impressed by the amazing things others were doing. We did not see the race leader, Adam Bicket, 26 yrs, until we finished the day loop and he was on his 2^nd night loop. He kept a 1-hour pace throughout the night and exceeded his goal going 435 miles. We met Adam, or rather his parents, the year before when they supported him in his 1^st 24-hour TT. There were other people racing whose names I never learned and others I had met last year or years before. Sandy showed her readiness for Race Across America with a cool 370 miles. Joan Deitchman started with a saddle sore and put in 333 miles, unsupported. She made it in from each lap sooner than I expected and got out smoothly. I am proud to know these women and inspired by their ever-increasing ability to ride far and fast. And for the first time this did not seem like a predominately old guys sport with many women racing 24 hours solo or in teams as well as with the young men going the distance without so many of the seasoned pros around to set the pace.

Hugh was able to do several night laps before needing to be outfitted for night riding. He was steady with 1hour 1-minute laps, fueling well and happy. Around 10 PM he decided it was time to change jerseys, add a jacket and booties. He ate PBnJ and some chicken soup and was off. After the next lap he was up for more soup and cookies. I kicked him out of the pit and sent him on his way. As far as I could tell he was god to go for the night. Around 11pm I went off to the Abby House to sleep next to Mike’s wife, Carol, and he took over night support. Ain’t Hugh lucky!? Little did I know his knee was hurting. Sometime during the night his neck starting hurting a bit, but we had been extremely conservative in giving him Ibuprofen. He told me took an hour off the bike and got another dose of antiinflammatory medicine into his system and went out for another lap. When I came back at 6 AM I found Hugh sleeping on the linoleum floor of the community center. Wondering what the heck was up quickly followed worry; Hugh sleeping before his time was up was not something I had anticipated. As I loaded everything up Hugh explained about his neck pain around 1 AM and how it returned around 3 but what was more bothersome was some knee pain that had become quite sever. With his goal achieved, learning if his neck would allow him to ultra race again or not, Hugh decided to transform his recovering period into quitting time.

It was great to join Mike in supporting Hugh, together we were able to set up for extremely rapid bike swaps and I could take pictures while Mike kept us on task. Like I said earlier, Hugh had never looked more efficient on his bike and now we can look forward to more ultra races with confidence. My personal plan is to stay up through the night to keep Hugh riding lap after lap until the timer dings, after I get in my 12 hours and many miles.

Before heading home, we showered back at Mike and Carol’s room and had a good breakfast with great coffee. Chains were not required, but somewhat necessary going over MT Shasta. Back home and it barely seems like spring. When Hugh’s knee pain resolves he will be pursuing a bike fit for his newest S-Works and I’m going to work on getting more, faster and comfortable miles on mine.

See you all at the Lewis and Clark Ultra May 29.