by Kyle “Kyle’s Bikes” Robinson
Kyle Robinson and Dave Hammer competed in the National 24-Hour Challenge,
one of the nation’s premiere cycling events, June 15–16, 2013 in
Middleville, Michigan. Kyle is owner of Kyle’s Bikes in Ankeny, Iowa,
and Dave is his long-time friend.
READ the ORIGINAL BLOG POST (more photos)
On
the 8-hour drive to Michigan with our wives, Dave and I discussed our
strategies and goals, AKA, our game plan. First thing we did when we
pulled in town was find the race venue and set up our screened in tent
for our home base. Next we found the hotel about 35 minutes away. The
Hammers grew up and started their married life in Grand Rapids so we
strolled down memory lane a bit. We ended up at Cindy’s (Dave’s wife)
mom’s for a quick visit, and then off to dinner.
This town is on the very edge of the Eastern Time Zone, so it’s still
light at10:00 p.m. It got late on us and we still wanted to get
supplies at the grocery store. Finally back at the hotel room, we
decided on a 5:45 a.m. wake-up time so we can eat breakfast in the very
nice cafe area in our hotel. That gave us almost 5 1/2 hours to sleep,
which went well.
The alarm goes off and we both sprint down to
the cafe ready to start the day. Not open till 7:00 on the weekends.
Argh!! So Dave goes back to the room and eats cold leftovers from the
room fridge. I take on a banana, a Powerbar, and coffee. We both quick
shower and put on our kits.
By this time it’s about 7:00. We wake up the girls to drop us off at
the venue. Now is when I found out about “Hammer time.” In the shop van
at 7:15, we remember it’s a 35-minute drive, and we have just 45 minutes
till “go” time. Road crews are out working already and they have our
road closed.
Ready to Go (Almost)
We get to the race with 5 minutes till start—tandem still in the van
with the front wheel not on. Not quite ready for our first loop of 120
miles, the announcer for the race is doing a countdown as we are putting
shoes on.
The wholeNational 24-Hour Challengefield of 300 starts. Then Dave
and I throw a leg over our tandem for the 3rd time ever. With about 30
miles total on a bike together, we are still learning about each other’s
riding style. We are about to become a team: Captain position is Dave
and stoker position is Kyle.
Tandems Go Fast
We
start passing other riders and we hear comments like “overachievers,”
“it’s a long day,” etc., ‘cause we are flying! Before we know it, we are
toward the front of the masses. The terrain is rolling, winds still,
pavement smooth, and everything prime for our setup. I look down at my
speedo and I’m seeing 30 a lot, so I say to Dave, “I’m just checking,
but I’m not working like the speeds we are going. Are you?” He says,
“I’m just soft pedaling.” We hit the 2nd checkpoint at mile 70-ish and
our average speed is around 22. We still feel great but are getting
hungry.
About 10 miles after that checkpoint, the course takes us through a
small town with a grocery store. Time for lunch! I said to Dave, “In the
rush to get started, I forgot some money!” He says, “I think I have a
ten,” so we’re set! Ham and cheese on a white bun with some verysalty
chips and a soda hit the spot. Wow, that refuel helped. We carried on to
finish the first 120 mile loop back to our camp headquarters in 6 hours
4 minutes. Feeling good about our teamwork, we make the decision to not
switch spots on the tandem.
The
next loop is pretty uneventful. It’s around 30 miles—rolling hills,
tree cover, and a bit of a lakefront resort area where it was flat and
scenic. We finished this twice. We’re about to start a third lap, but we
are told that, due toNational 24-Hour Challenge rules, if we start
another lap and don’t finish by the 7:00 p.m. cut-off time for this part
of the course, the miles don’t count. So, no brainer, we take a break!
We eat a bit, put our feet up with no shoes, and pretty much chill for
about 20 minutes.
The
third loop of this race is mostly flat with probably the steepest hill
of the day. It’s only about a quarter mile of up, but it requires a
shift to the middle chainring. We learn this loop well, as it is only 7
miles long. We rode it the first time and couldn’t remember what time we
started. It would be nice to know how long it’s taking, so we do it
again and watch the time: 22 minutes. Not bad considering we are close
to a double century mark. We start out on our third time and I say to
Dave that this will be my first 200 miles ever.
The sun’s going down, the winds are swirling, and the weather is
getting crazy. We finish the third lap of this loop and the checkpoint
folks tell us a storm is coming (no kidding).
The Storm
We made the decision to shower and put on new kits while the storm
blew over. While in the shower room, we ran into the other men’s tandem
team. We compared notes and figured out they were slightly ahead of us,
maybe 10 to 15 miles. The sole reason they were here is to hit a
unresolved goal from last year of 300 miles.
In clean dry kits we went back to our screen tent to chill for a
while, and the storm started raging. Did I mention we were in a screen
tent? I mention to Dave, “Let’s take our gravity reclining chairs in the
school and not get soaking wet while we rest,” so we did. The storm was
so bad that the course was shut down for approximately 3 1/2 hours. We
relaxed while the rest of the racers milled around us talking of battle
wounds and miles finished.
It was evident to us we were In the midst of some very, very, special
athletes who love to ride a bike with absolutely no reservations for
pain and no giving up attitudes at all. True inspiring stories in each
of their individual lives.
It’s kind of weird that because of that downtime we had a chance to
learn what’s in the minds of these special endurance-type folks. All had
goals that were getting smashed, all had done this before, all didn’t
want this break at all, all were bent and breaking but wanted to be
broken so they could say they left it all on the course with no
limitations or excuses at all.
Completing the National 24-Hour Challenge
The storm clears and the race director re-opens the course after they
got the flooded spots safe for riders. Dave and I throw the legs back
over the tandem and realize our 300 mile goal is shot. Dave says the new
goal is 250. I’m in but it’s going to be close—not much time for any
more breaks! We are going by my computer as its been close all day, but
my miles are just a bit off (like 1.5 miles in that first 120 miles—so
close!!).
Clicking off these 7-mile loops is kind of fun and hurting just a bit
as we are riding strong for the miles behind us. Since we are able to
eek out 22–23 mph a few folks catch a draft off us, all of whom thanked
us for the pull. Turns out most of these drafters were front runners in
the mileage race and in a small way they thought we helped them with the
effort they earned themselves.
Last
lap we have exactly 30 minutes to finish this 7 mile loop—doable, but
we are feeling shot. Dave says to me, “Give it your all, we got this.”
So 25 minutes later we finish. My speedometer says 254 miles, 18.5 mph
average speed on the bike time.
Our girls were there at the finish to take our photo and cheer us in,
people had gotten to know as “team green machine,” so they chanted us
in the last few hundred yards. It felt good to be done.
Results
Next up we had to turn in our race number plates that we had worn on
our backs the whole time. Every checkpoint, they hole-punch a spot and
then add up your miles at the finish. So my computer said 254 miles, but
they officially said 247.5. OUCH, we got deflated.Then to add to our
disappointment, they give out mileage pins for each 50-mile interval. We
got a 200-mile pin—ARGH!! Oh well, we were here for fun, right? Still
proud of our effort and ability to stay friends. It was teamwork we will
never forget. Maybe next year??
Oh,
I didn’t mention, we finished as theNational 24-Hour ChallengeMen’s
Tandem #1 winner. The other guys didn’t go out after the storm because
it was impossible to hit their 300-mile goal.
See what I meant about a special kind of athletes!