Thoughts ahead of the 2022 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo

The 2022 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo is just a few days away. This year will be my fourth 24 hour and the year I am probably most physically prepared.

My first experience into the world of 24 hour mountain bike races was in 2014, and while I was younger, I was definitely not in better shape because I simply didn't train as I should have. That year was also the year I experienced bonking for the first time. I learned a lot from that experience, and even though I wasn't prepared and I bonked, I still managed to crank out 4 laps. With times of: 1:33:45, 1:46:11, 3:55:53, 4:44:24, respectively.

You might be wondering how my last lap took 4+ hours when my first one only took an hour and a half. That is because the 24 hour starts timing the start of your lap when your teammate checks in to finish theirs. While I will admit, that 4th lap was a brutal bonk-ridden night lap, I did start after I had woken up because my teammate didn't wake me from my nap.

My second 24 hour experience wasn't much better, while I learned about bonking the first time around, I hadn't really figured out training all that well. Which resulted in me cranking out only two laps, with fairly abysmal times. The first lap was 2:13:00 and my second 2:15:49.

Then I got into road cycling, in addition to mountain biking, and my 3rd year of the 24 hour was the best yet. It was a great start to 2020 and had me feeling great, but then of course 2020 took a turn in a direction no one expected. I managed to get in 5 laps, most I've ever done, but I did only manage to do one night lap and then proceeded to sleep for the rest of the night because while I felt great, I didn't want to push my luck that year. My times that year were: 1:27:57, 1:39:14, 1:54:31, 11:04:22, 1:45:49. Once again, take that 11 hour lap time with a grain of salt since I came in from my night lap and proceeded to go to bed because it was freezing outside.

I had plans to participate in the 2021 24 hour, but unfortunately the pandemic was still very much a thing and it wasn't wise to hold an event where so many people pack in next to one another, even if it was all outside.

Now I find myself just a few days away from the 2022 24 hour, and I can say I feel the most prepared that I ever have. I've been riding regularly since the Tour de Tucson, and I even did a few running events this past year, including a half marathon. While I don't want to set too high of expectations for myself because anything can happen out there, I'm hoping this will be my best year yet. I'm not too concerned with breaking any lap time records, currently my best time stands at 1:27:57, and seeing as Lance Armstrong one year had lap times of around 1 hour, I would really have to hustle to improve upon my times.

I am however setting a goal of most laps completed. Currently my all time record stands at five laps completed, so I am shooting for 7 laps this time around. Which may not sound like a lot, but I am on a four person team and there's only 24 hours to finish a lap which is around 16 miles. Doing some math, if I averaged 1.5 hours per lap that would put me at 10.5 hours of total riding time and 112 miles total. That would require me to ride 43% of the total time, but I do have teammates that also need to ride. All of that to say, seven laps might be pushing it, but hey, what's a life worth living without some lofty goals!