Exposure Lights Lit up the Night

It's been a month since the Canadian 24hr Solo Championships in Canmore and I've had time to reflect on what went well and what needs work leading up to the World's 46 days from now. I've concluded that my physical preparedness is always an easy one- it always can be worked upon. I think, like a lot of us 24hr racers, I'm never really satisfied. Perhaps that's why I seem eager to put myself through this again. I believe I can continue to grow and improve on last performances. That desire for improvement will likely only come to a halt when the day comes to hang up the bicycle and take up lawn darts.

I'm pretty happy to say that one of the things that worry me most about 24hr racing is something I have a little more control over- my equipment. It seems like it's something I can control a little more. I know there are unknowns and crashes and random mechanicals that appear to break the laws of physics, but I really believe that a good choice of equipment can make a huge difference. That's the reason I ride the bikes I do and the reason I wear the clothes I do and now I'm proud to say, run the lights I do.

The Canadian Championships was the first opportunity I had to race with Exposure Lights attached to the bike and my head and I must say, it was the least stressful night riding I've had to date. I was running the Maxx-D on the bike and Diablo on my head-in my mind, a perfect combination. There are a few points I'd like to stress about Exposure Lights. Firstly, the ease of operation. The self-contained units are simple- good tactile feedback on the on/off switches, ease of mounting with the quick release mount on the handlebars, solid yet moveable swivel on the helmet mount-everything a fatiguing rider can appreciate. Secondly, the obvious; they're really bright. The Maxx-D I ran on the medium setting of 700 Lumens while the Diablo's medium setting put out 400 lumens. I found the output smooth, diffuse in pattern and more than adequate to keep the pace high during the night hours. I never felt like I had to slow down for lack of illumination. That sensation was the lack of carbs being ingested at 2am...Finally and maybe most importantly, my pit crew didn't need to worry about the lights. Normally, the setups I've been running required battery change and re-charge of spares. With Exposure Lights, this isn't necessary. The 10hrs of the Maxx-D and Diablo (with the piggyback battery attached to the Diablo) gave us lots of time to get through the night. My crew only had to move the Maxx-D from bike to bike, and with the bomb-proof quick release bracket, that only took seconds.

With the most important race of the year just around the corner, I only want to worry about being physically prepared. Thanks to the folks at Exposure Lights, I'm one step closer to that goal.

One last point about the lights- they sure look a lot better than I do in most of the pictures from the race.

Shaun's 24hr Solo report

I moved this post directly over from my personal blog, hope it's worthy...



***Eye safety warning*** - the race was hot, like 30 degrees at the start line and a bunch of hard-hours-racing kind of hot, don't let my glaringly white chest blind you. End of eye safety warning.

I've taken a longer than normal amount of time to think about my recent failure at the 24hr Solo race I did just over two weeks ago. I use the term 'failure' because I only completed 19hrs of the event and of course that has irritated me... a lot. Basically I quit racing at 0730hrs in the morning, Doreen told me not to and that I would regret it, she's usually right about these kinds of things.

It took quite a few days after the race to put things into the right perspective post-event. As the days slipped by and the fatigue and injuries started to feel better, I eventually stopped seeing the result as a complete failure and managed to see it from a bigger picture perspective, a more positive view. As it turns out it was almost a 'need to happen' in order for me to learn a few more things about myself and this style of racing in general, and that will help me improve my game moving forward.



So what did I learn, or re-learn from this race...

I hope to answer that question by covering three different questions that Evan has asked me over the last week or so. For whatever reason, and I'm still scratching my head on where he comes up with this stuff, he asked me specifically about discipline, fear and toughness.

The first notable question early last week that made me sit back and think was "Dad, what's discipline?" I gave him a definition and then explained a few examples of what I have experienced in regards to discipline. Now, to be sure I'm not leading anyone astray, particularly Evan and Keegan when they come back to read this, here's Wiki's definition of self-discipline:

"Self-discipline refers to the training that one gives one's self to accomplish a certain task or to adopt a particular pattern of behavior, even though one would really rather be doing something else. For example, denying oneself of an extravagant pleasure in order to accomplish a more demanding charitable deed. Thus, self-discipline is the assertion of willpower over more base desires, and is usually understood to be a synonym of 'self control'. Self-discipline is to some extent a substitute for motivation, when one uses reason to determine a best course of action that opposes one's desires."



I learned real discipline during the 13yrs I spent in the military. From the time I joined as a young Infantry soldier until the time I departed as a Special Forces Warrant Officer, I was constantly aware of the demands to maintain high levels of personal discipline. The ramifications for not delivering on that character trait were often rapid and left no room for interpretation, lack of discipline usually had negative repercussions.

A simple but defining moment of discipline that stands out during those military years would occur on my Patrol Pathfinder Course... Back in the day when I was in 2 Commando I decided I was going to do the toughest course in the regular army. The Pathfinder course was 70 days of non-stop hardcore arse kicking, a 90+ percent failure rate, a real suffer-fest. A third of the way into the course and I had already redefined 'hard' several times and another moment of clarity was about to present itself on a particularly red-hot summer day. As I was in the pushup position while wearing an extremely heavy army backpack, watching my hands sink deeper and deeper into the boiling tarmac with every pushup, my thoughts ranged from 'this is outrageous' to 'my hands are sinking into the boiling tarmac from all this weight' and on to 'I wish the instructor would stop spitting on my face while he's screaming in my ear'. Then the moment of clarity snapped into focus 'You aren't going to break me, you'll have to kill me first' and with that I had my definition of discipline required for that moment. If you want something bad enough you simply won't break. A couple of guys quit on that red-hot day, I'm sure a few more of us got stronger from it. When we finally got to stand up I just stared at my hand prints in the parade square, as the sweat dripped off my nose, and I focused on the big picture of steeling up for the remainder of the program. Far harder things would occur on that course but that moment stands out in my mind as a 'make it or break it occasion' and luckily I didn't break. Less than 10 Pathfinders passed selection that year, I learned a lot from that selection.



A 24hr solo race is a bit like a Pathfinder course, you don't eat enough or sleep enough during those 24hrs, the pace is grueling and you have to be strong-willed, you have to be disciplined. I had taken that aspect of 24hr racing for granted, I didn't give it the respect it deserved, I wasn't disciplined and I paid the price. Admitting that to my boys after the race was a tough moment but a valuable lesson.

Evan's second question came a few days later "Dad, what are you scared of?" My stock answer to this is always "You guys getting hurt" but the truth is I'm scared of heights, though the boys don't know that yet. It's an irrational fear and I'm not sure why I'm scared of heights. I've faced my fair share of height related scenarios and never failed. I've parachuted out of planes or helicopters nearly 370 times, as part of spec-ops I've rappelled and fast-roped out of helicopters on to multi-storey rooftops countless times, I've hung upside down on the outside of multi-story buildings in order to blow the window for a room entry multiple times, I've climbed up and down elevator shafts in the pitch black, etc, etc, etc - I've faced my irrational fear of heights too many times and in too many different ways to count and each time I didn't like it but I got it done.



So what else am I scared of? Letting my boys down. They are getting to an age where they know the difference between trying your best and quitting. After the race I had to tell them I quit earlier than I should have. It doesn't matter if I had good reasons at the time, I didn't give it 100% at the time and I had to fess up to that. We have a saying in our house 'It doesn't matter if you win or lose as long as you try your best and you have fun', it might sound corny but we say that sentence a lot and we try to instill it in the boys. During that race I didn't practice what I preach, I didn't give it 100%, I didn't do my best, I've told my boys that won't happen again.



The last question Evan asked was just a couple of days ago, he said "Dad, what makes you so tough?", well that's not an easy question. Am I tough? What is tough? How do you explain 'tough' to a 6yr old, and where does he come up with these tough questions? I tried to answer it by talking about strength through adversity - facing really hard challenges and beating them, sometimes being beaten by them, but always getting tougher by facing those challenges.

I've got loads of stories to tell the boys about 'tough' when they are old enough to understand a bit better, but right now they are old enough to understand 24hr solo races are tough. So I talked about a few of my 24's and how tough they can be. So they asked questions about how tough this race was and why was it tough. I had to tell them it was one of my toughest races ever because I wasn't taking on enough calories, my injury was bugging me and eventually the race was tougher than I was. They know I faced a hard challenge and got beaten by it but that I learned a few things and I'm now tougher because of that.



2.5 weeks after the race and I'm feeling good on the bike again. My nagging injury has almost faded and I'm looking forward to the World Championships in Australia. My 24hr solo world is feeling a lot better than it was a couple of weeks ago.

It's funny what a 6yr old can teach you. Just a few simple questions led to a lot of introspection and I'm better for it.

Testing my self-discipline, facing adversity and wondering about my racing toughness were a few of the reasons I initially got into 24hr solo racing. Years later my 6yr old is reminding me of the things that started me down the solo rabbit hole and I'll keep that in mind when I stand on the next start line.

Before I sign off, here's the important stuff...

As always, thanks goes out to George for coming down to work my pit. Thanks goes out to Deadgoat Racing for the support. Thanks goes out to all the people who cheered me on. And of course the biggest thanks goes out to Doreen for doing what she does - love ya' honey.

Monilee's Candian 24hr Solo report

Summary:

Place: 2nd
Details of ride: ~275Km, 18,000 feet of climbing, and 18 hours on the bike

Details:
The drive up was amazing - great scenary and great company. I drove up thru Vancouver to pick up Kate - amazing friend and support crew extraordinare - and her roomate Lila. The drive flew by - we were catching up and just enjoying the great views along the way. Road trips with good friends always fly by ...

The weekend was relaxed .. Kate and I woundered around town, found some good food, did some shopping, and went up to the site to set up the pit and get in a ride. We found the course in pretty good shape - about 18km and 1450ft of climbing per lap. Loads of single-track but most of it was not really technical ...but super fun none the less. It wasn't a course that played to my skills but it was a fun and challenging course - worthy of Canadian Nationals. I love Canmore!!

Race day brought warm weather (about 30C) and blue skies ... so we got the ice scarfs going right away. The first few laps flew by ... stomach was holding together pretty well and eating was on track. Kate was giving me double feeds (2x per lap) so my drinks were always cool and I never ran out of liquids. Around lap 4 my stomach started to feel funny but i couldn't quite place it. Looking back eating Perpetuem in the heat was the wrong call ... later in the race we figured this out and I switched to a combination of Heed and Gu .. the perfect combination to get me to the finish line!
After 10 hours of racing I ws right behind the leader - about 8 min back. But my stomach felt funny so i decided i should take a quick break. After an hour i went back out and my first lap felt great. I think i ate too many salts though ... my second lap was painfull. I had to stop. Unfortunately I was sick for a few hours before Kate convinced me to shower and offered chicken broth which was amazing ... i was back in action after 4 hours off the bike.

I had some catching to do ... 2nd and 3rd were both ahead of me. I like to chase though so off I went ... my legs felt great and i ws turning out the laps. I passed 2nd and 3rd in my first lap out and continued to gain on them. 1st was too far ahead so i knew it was out of the question ... but i still pushed hard.

All in all it was a good race - a great effort despite the stomach.

Thanks again to Samammish Valley Cycle for keeping my awesome Norco's up and running - and of course, thanks to Kate for her amazing support!

Ready for World Solos in Australia

With 24 Hours of Adrenalin Canadian Nationals behind us we are now ready to move on to Australia. Congratulations to Cory Wallace and Carena Dean for well executed races and their 24 Hours of Adrenalin Canadian Championships. For me, Canmore was a great opportunity to log more training miles and get one last test of pit strategy before concentrating on the upcoming World Solo Championships.

Things went very well with my pit crew doing another fantastic job of feeding me, maintaining my bikes, and pushing me back out to do another lap. Thanks to my wife Colette for being the best pit boss I could ever ask for and to Craig, Stephanie, Tyler, and Dylan for helping out with all the little things that allow me to keep riding. Both of my Giant Anthems performed flawlessly all weekend thanks to the staff at Cyclepath Calgary. This race allowed me to try out our new Exposure lighting systems for the first time in race conditions and they were fantastic, no wires is a wonderful thing. The GU gels and chomps were a welcome addition to my race weekend diet as well.

Overall the event was a terrific weekend with all of the staff, volunteers, spectators, and other riders making it a wonderful experience. Everything from the setup of pit row and registration to the organization of all the volunteers and the finish was very well done. The new single track on the course was challenging and enjoyable, it will be nice to have a permanent course with such great trails. As usual, Crazy Larry kept everyone on their toes in the transition area and making it such a great feeling every time around. It is always nice to ride a 24 hour solo in Canmore thanks to great team riders, all night long the words of encouragement kept coming from everyone I met on the course.

Saturday morning we managed to get the five Team Canada in attendance together for a quick photo shoot with our new kits. It is a great group of guys to be heading over to Australia with and I am hearing that we may soon be joined by a couple of ladies as well. Let’s all go show the Aussies that even though the event isn’t in North America this year we can still give them a run for their money.

2010 Canadian 24hr Solo Championships

Looks like another 24 hr race has come and gone. This past weekend was the 2010 Exposure Lights 24 hour Canadian Solo Championships in Canmore Alberta. Firstly, it was another well organized event put on by Stuart and the Crew of 24 hrs of Adrenaline. Thanks to all the Crew. Canmore is such a fabulous venue and a highly recommended event to take part in. I think I may even do it again next year. From the stadium area, to the Rocky Mountains surrounding the venue, to the bears on the course, to some of the best singletrack trails in western Canada, what more could a person want?

This list of Canmore attributes seems obvious 2 days after I've dismounted my bike, but I have to say, they didn't cross my mind from noon on Saturday to noon on Sunday. This year's course was a tough one. A ton of technical singletrack, whether you were heading up (which seemed often) or rippin' it down. It was fairly unrelenting right from the start, as was the pace. There were at least ten guys out there with the hammer down including a couple of fellow Team Canada mates, Leighton and Shaun. They all had one thing on the mind I think- The jersey with the maple leaf on it. With less than 12 weeks to the World Solos, I think I gave this one a good go. I ended up a couple of places beyond were I was targeting, but at the end of the day, I came away with no injuries, no lasting aches and pains, some miles in the legs, but most importantly, some new friends- thanks Dennis, Steve, Leighton and Shaun.

It's hard writting about a 24 hr race, because what really happened? Well, I rode my bike, sometimes it was fast, sometimes it was slow, sometimes it was not at all. In the end though, 24 hour racing seems to answer the age old question about the nature of time and whether our perception of it is linear. You start, you pedal, time passes and you finish- sounds like a straight line to me. I think I'm glad about that as I sit on the couch with the PC on my lap. If it weren't true, I'd still be pedalling- ouch!

Members of Team Canada @ Canadian Solo Championships

We got out last night to pre-ride the course for this weekend's 24 Hours of Adrenalin in Canmore and found it to be fantastic. Magi Scallion and the Nordic Centre have created miles of new singletrack and the course is going to awesome. Great work.

We are all packed up and ready to head out to Canmore to setup and looking forward to another challenging event. I encourage everyone to come out to the Nordic Centre in Canmore to watch the event and cheer on your friends this weekend.

Cheers,
Solo Steve