Upcoming

Wow- September is going to be filled with a lot of miles on the bike. After a solid week of training this week I have the Faster Moustache 24 Hr race next week, the 12 hrs of Dausett the next, Beaufort Omnium the next, then cross season starts in TN with a double header in the MSG series, 12 hrs of Unicoi the following weekend, Granogue and Wissakickon UCI cross races, NC cross series opening weekend, then finally a weekend of no racing!
I'm really looking forward to the FM 24 Hr race in Atlanta. I've never heard of an urban 24 hr race. It will be really interesting to see how the city changes over a 24 hr period. This will be a good first 24 hr solo for me too. If it turns out that I'm terrible at riding my bike for more than 12 hrs ( I know I'm good for at least 12!), at least I won't be stuck out in the woods all blown to pieces. I know plenty of people in downtown ATL- I'll ride my bike to their house, knock on the door, grab a shower, and go to bed. So if you live in ATL- please leave a light on for me like Tom Bodett over at the Red Roof Inn- I may be stopping by.
All nonsense aside though- that will be a fun race and a good learning experience. I am planning on a big solo 24 hr next year and this will give me somewhat of an idea of what to expect. Looks like there will be 6 checkpoints/ aid stations on a 12 mile loop so it will be easier to break the race down into smaller segments to focus on. I'll focus on small chunks- like making it from the pulled pork checkpoint to the pizza checkpoint and so on.
I'm going to ride my road bike with double bar wrap, some 700 X 25c gatorskin tires, and possibly convert it to a single speed. I find it much better to do these long races on the single. All you need to concentrate on is pedaling ( and with one gear- the lap times are very consistent- harder to blow up). I don't know yet what saddle I will use- I suspect that will be an issue. I've never had saddle problems in 12 hr races but offroad I'm constantly changing my position on the saddle if not standing up a good bit of time. I'm kind of worried about the ammount of time seated in the saddle that I'm going to deal with being on the road. Maybe my Brooks? Never had a problem there!
Anyways- The weekend after this race I'll do 12 hrs of Dauset. I was planning on doing a 2 man team. However, my teammate Robert got hit by a car and is still feeling the effects of that. So..... I'll probably do it solo. No prob- I think that is actually easier than the 2 man format. We did that last year and won it but man it was tough to go all out for 2 laps, rest, then do it over. That was rougher on my body than doing a solo.
36 hrs of racing in 2 weekends. Not smart but I'm going to give it a go. Don't try this at home kids!
I'll let you know how it goes!
DH