This was our home away from home for the 2009 Burn 24 hours held in Wilkesboro, NC. The course was the same as last year...a little climbing on the front side & lots of fun, fast, bermed turns, downhills on the back side.
350 riders were signed up. Roanoke Cycling sent 2 teams of 4 riders each down for the event.
Our team did a rotation of 1 lap each, then Skippy pulled doubles. I felt good on my first couple of daytime laps. As we progressed into the nightime hours we decided we'd all pull double laps. When it came to be around 1:30 or so, I was hanging out waiting for my turn when the skies opened up & dropped some nice rain showers upon the riders. I decided to head back to the tent & get my jacket. I ventured back out on course and had a really rough time. The roots were slick, I was overheated, & I had a rock in my shoe. At one point I sat down off of the trail to get rid of the rock when Dave (he was on the other RCO team) came by & asked if I was ok....I said I was, just having a rough lap. The following lap was much better as the rain had subsided & I could lose the jacket. I headed back to the RV to sleep until my next daytime lap. I don't really know if I slept all that well...I never sleep well in new enviroments and this would be true for this race. I headed back out for my 7:00 am. lap. This was probably my fastest lap. I felt great..legs were strong I was flying. I should have pulled a double when I got back & my teammate was having mechanical issues...We got him fixed up & off he went. We debated about sending a last rider out before the cutoff, but we realized it would only move us up one place in the standings & it had started to rain again..so it wasn't worth risking injury.
Overall we had a great time. Our team came in 9th while the other RCO team came in 4th. Dave pulled the fastest lap of all of the RCO gang...something like 38 minutes...That's moving!
I can't wait to do another one...(as soon as I get over the crud I caught from riding in the rain all night...yuk)
