Mountain Hardwear Employee, Sean McDevitt in his Habitat 5.
24 Hours in the Old Pueblo from Vladimir Chaloupka on Vimeo.
24 Hours in the Old Pueblo
16 laps in 23 hours 38 minutes, 265 miles in the beautiful Sonoran Desert of Tucson, AZ
By Sean McDevitt, Mountain Hardwear Tent Designer
For the 5th year in a row, I found myself making an annual pilgrimage to the high desert of Tucson Arizona. The memory of ripping flowing single track and the drive to do better leads me back every year. This year I am fortunate to share a pit with fellow Northern California Racer Sean Allan. Our Pit is run by Global Biorhythm's race promoter Jim Northey and Sean's Wife Mary.
Sean McDevitt taking a look behing him during one of his loops.
Having recently taken up the additional habit of running ultra marathons, I found myself looking forward to the lemans style running start. The first lap at Old Pueblo, and most 24 hours races, is a bit nervous and fast as racers pass each other back and forth, sorting out the skill and fitness level. I finished my first lap in 1.12.18 , my fastest lap to date. I didn't think I was hammering, just trying to make my way through the overly optimistic. I soon took it down a notch as per my pitt's suggestion and settled into a rhythm and banged out a few laps. It was at this point I knew this was going to hurt, my cardio was great but my running habit wasn't going to help me on this course. Some 24 solo races just seem like such a struggle, this was one.
I was eating a Clif coated Mojo bar every lap; much unlike my pit mate Sean Alan, who was on a nearly liquid only diet. Sean is a beast of a racer, who on his best days, beats living legends like Tinker Juarez, on his worst days DNFs because of blood sugar issues. I heard he spent all winter doing 10 hour rides, trying to beat the diabetes out of himself.
About 5.30 pm, lights were put on and racers braced for a long night of soul searching. Around 6pm my front tire washed on a high speed entry to a right hander into single track. Bloodied, I rode within myself until about 2.30 am when something apparently snapped in me and I decided to ante-up. I don't remember having a plan, but I hammered out my 2 fastest night laps ever at OP, back to back, 1:34 and 1:35 plus about 10 minutes for pits. Having eaten an entire box of fig Newman's, might have something to do with it.
As dawn came around, I expected to feel better, but instead I felt horrible. I struggled my way through, trying to figure out what hurt more, my ass, or my bicep tendonitis/wrists from standing up. I am seasoned pro racer, with nine 24 solos under my belt, but this was excruciating. Maybe it was the faster pace, the shorter pits or the running, but this really hurt. I dug deeper and found a way to make it through.
I remember thinking I wasn't climbing as well as usual and compensating by railing the descents. I remember hitting things so hard descending; it changed songs on my iPod shuffle. I felt like I was flying; I might have just been high on endorphins...
So my Pit-mate Sean Allan, had willed himself through blood sugar issues into a solid second place while only being able to see out one eye by the closing laps. Through my mid-night mania, I had moved up into 5th place; my first podium in the open/pro category in a 24 solo. I was surprised, happily for both Sean Allan and myself. I think we did Nor Cal proud on Valentine's Day 2010.
Skip, Sean McDevitt, Sean Allan, Mary Allan
Sean McDevitt
Designer
Bike Racer
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