...a nasty, muddy box of chocolates that smells a little bit like poop..
Sunday afternoon, under a beautiful blue sky, I was talking to Rusty Bernard (captain of the 1st place team, "Buckwheat"). We laughed over the fact that there has never been a mediocre 24 Hours of Clear Springs. Every race leaves you with a "Remember when..." story.
Remember when in 2007 it got down to 35 degrees Saturday night?
Remember when in '08 the difference between 1st and 2nd place teams was 7 minutes at the end of 24 laps?
Remember when in 2004 a tornado came through during the race?
Remember when in 2009 it got so bad they had to cut the race short?Sometime around the end of September I started calling this year's 24HOCS, "The race that doesn't want itself to happen". All the logistical stuff that goes on behind the scenes was falling apart. Checkpoint volunteers that had committed in July started backing out. I slowly began to realize that sticking with the time-change weekend, therefore Halloween night, was not going to work as I'd hoped. We couldn't get 7 days in a row without any rain. A monster tree took out the most important bridge on the race course, seven days before the race. Every 24HOCS is a challenge, this one was proving to be no exception.
As the race day got closer Charlotte graciously offered to be at one of the Checkpoints and a Scout leader in Ponotoc thought it'd be fun to drive all the way down to Clear Springs to hang out in the woods at another Checkpoint. The Forest Service agreed on a reroute to mitigate the broken bridge. The "commemorative glassware" aka "24HOCS Mugs" arrived in Jackson on the Thursday before the race; the morning I had planed to leave for Clear Springs to start setting stuff up. I met the shipping truck in a Lowe's parking lot on the way out of town
I did 4 hours of trail work Thursday and I immediately knew it was going to be a muddy race. There had been less than a half inch of rain Tuesday night, and by Thursday the trails hadn't dried out a bit. The real problem wasn't the rain falling in the days before race, it was the rain that fell all through September and October. The water table had gotten so high that water was seeping out of the hillsides (they don't call it 'Clear Springs' for nuthin'). The trails couldn't dry out because the water wouldn't stop. My hope was that with no rain during the 24 hours of the race, the trails would reach a medium level of sloppy and not get any worse.
...that didn't happen.
At about 5 hours in to the race (when the sun was going down), the trail conditions started to get bad, quickly. I had informed everyone that I'd make a decision about cutting the race short by 6pm that evening. I was out hiking the course at 5:30 trying to figure out what I was going to do. I desperately wanted the race to go the whole 24 hours, but every foot of trail I walked on was telling me to pull the plug. I talked to 4 people on the course. All of them had no problems stopping for a chat since their progress was so slow. Steve Reagan (solo) told me in the time he had spent off the course, it had changed dramatically. Stuff he was able to ride just the lap before was impossible now. Robert Hester told me that one of his teammates went over the bars 4 times in one lap. Paul Kelly barely kept his bike under control on a slight little downhill. As much as I didn't want to, I knew the race wasn't going to last 24 hours. I sent a text message to my buddy Cliff who was working the laptop at transition.
Welcome to the 13 Hours of Clear Springs everyone!
The wigs were brought out. The goofiness knob was turned to 11.
The teams that weren't in the running for podium spots wisely stopped. Allison had her accident and we had to fetch her from Checkpoint 3. Talking with her on the way back further convinced me I'd made the right decision. I am completely impressed with Allison. She was cheerful and joking all the time. Looks like she got a couple dozen stitches and a black eye as her prize for best catastrophic wreck. Allison, if you read this, I've got a full-face helmet that is probably the perfect size for you
1st/2nd/3rd teams had their riders off the course by 12:30am. 1st place solo, Kevin Conerly, had a whole lap up on the competition, had done the math, and realized he could safely stop right there with no worries. Two solos were left. One fighting to get 2nd place, the other fighting for 3rd. Mike Favaloro came in a little after 1am to tie down 2nd. Toshun Campbell wins the most determined award for leaving on his last lap 2 minutes before the time cutoff and coming in at 1:59 in the morning.
Put a fork in us ma, we're done..
Awards ceremony at 8'ish the next morning. I enjoy giving money to people. Next year I want to get those big checks like they have for lottery winners. By around noon almost everyone was gone. I spent the next few hours BS'ing with the stragglers then hiking around the course to take down signs and tape. Got home before 7. Was in bed before 10. Slept for 13 hours straight
I'll end with this. Cutting a race short is a hard decision for a race director. Being at the Mudcrusher, hearing about Clear Creek, almost having Butt's Park and Ridgeland turn nasty, all of this has given me a much needed change in perspective. In 2004, the trail was in worse shape than this year but I stubbornly continued the race because I had race organizer's blinders on. Looking back, that was not just a stupid decision, but a dangerous one...
Remember when in 2009 Brian learned how to take a step back and make the right decision?
I always screw up at the Awards ceremony and forget to mention everyone I want to. I'll try to make up for that here..
First, I'm so grateful to all the riders who support the race year after year. Teams like "Buckwheat" and "Easy Riders" and solos like Charley Rome and Toshun Campbell have been coming to the race for 5 years or more. I can't express how much that means to me.
Jeremy and Paula at Revolution...as always, your support is awesome.
Scott Hanson at Tripp's Western Auto in Natchez, this year's race wouldn't have happened without you.
Cliff Agnew is the only other person on the planet that knows how the lap times spreadsheet works
Mike Lew, thanks for taking care of someone on the trail when they needed it the most.
Fo and Josh. Thanks for helping do the literal dirty work and get the trail in some sort of shape to race on.
Now I can take my race director's hat off, put on my helmet and go ride a bike in the woods!
Brian
). Glad everyone got thru mostly unscathed.