When I heard a few month’s ago that a 24 hour race was being staged at our local resort I felt a rise of excitement. Over the past couple of years I have not really entered any races due to working, wedding planning, and other things that have come up. Now, with a 24 hour race in my backyard, I knew I could not pass up the opportunity. How could anyone? Ride your bike for 24 hours? Pretty standard stuff…

I have done one 24 hour race before and loved the format. I did it in 2003 on a 5 person-coed team in Boise (no more 24 hours of Boise now….sad). We had a blast. We actually won our category. Since then I have always wanted to do another. Therefore, as soon as the news spread I started thinking of who I would want as a team. The following criteria applied:

• Women’s ONLY team for sure.
• Super cool, fun, women only!
• Might need to drink a couple of beers!
• A 4 person team would be nice. You get plenty of riding in and not too much down time in between to tighten everything up. Of course this meant less sleep…but hey, what is 24 hours compared to a lifetime?
• Looking for women who ride hard, BUT who are not formally training (repeats, wind sprints, etc). I wanted to put together a team of women who simply love to ride…and maybe just a bit competitive in nature to go out and ride hard during the race.

Three friends names immediately came to mind when going through these criteria….Kate, Sue & Gale. This would be the team that we called Womenspecific.com on Trambars. Two women run companies supporting a women’s 24 hour team…perfect!

After a long, hot summer we all were able to log in some good hours on the bike. Again, we did not have a formal training regiment other than riding our bikes and living our lives. A resume of “lives” for this group of ladies includes working too much, playing too much, raising a child, owning businesses, being wives, being a pro-downhiller, drinking too much coffee, eating too many Trambars, reviewing too many products, and maybe occasionally drinking one too many Snake River Brewing OB-1’s. Might not be the resume of a pro, but we sure had fun training.

When we all came together this past weekend to race we were actually more excited about spending 24 hours together than we were of racing. The crazy summer did not afford much “hang” time for the 4 of us.

This was the first 24 hour race to be held at Grand Targhee Resort. The showing was amazing. I believe there were 32 teams that varied from solos, duo’s, 4-person teams and more. The majority of racers were local so it had a real festival feel. We started out at noon on Saturday and raced through the night until noon on Sunday. If you are not familiar with a 24 hour race format, the winners in each category are decided by how many laps they do in 24 hours. This course was a 7 mile loop averaging approx. 1,000 ft elevation gain. Mostly single track led to a very fun course!

Personally, I loved the night laps best. It is so quiet and peaceful out on the trail. Yes, the thoughts of mountain lions, and bears lurking around the next dark corner would creep me out occasionally, but luckily there was another set of lights not too far behind or ahead. I loved it! Princeton Tec sent our team some light systems to review during the race. We tested out the Switchback 2 light system. Please click “here” to read the reviews. We want to to thank them for getting us the lights in a timely fashion and keeping us going through the night…bear attack free!

Having a great team in an event like this makes all the difference in the world. There was no part of me that wanted to get out of my warm sleeping bag in the middle of the night to ride a lap, but when I peaked out of my tent and saw one or two of my teammates, it brought a smile to my face and motivated me to get up and give it my all. -Gale Dahlager

Week of the race…. 1 to 2 hour rides…I felt really tired that week until the day before the race when I felt like a superstar. Before that week I am certain that my 4-6 hour rides (usually one every week or every 2 weeks) helped condition me a little. My throat was raw during the race from breathing so hard as well…AND my legs DID burn. Other than that, yes, 3 jobs also, new man (sleep deprivation?), and Mom in town til the Thursday prior.
My food! CORN CHIPS….2 bags??!!?? Yum. 5 bananas. 1 Apple, Dates, Hot chocolate, tea, EmergenC, a little FISH soup, crystalized ginger, GO FAST (2-3?), CLIF bloksand lots of SPORT Legs as well. Only one CAZ.Bar!!!
I’ll eat lots of CORN CHIPS next time as well, Sport Legs, bananas, and GO FAST.
My lungs have benefited! They feel much stronger and bigger this week from breathing so hard during the race, and my legs maybe a little too.
It was a bit of a blur, but a fun blur. Eat, rest, get up, ride, trade lights, eat, rest, ride, laugh, laugh, rest, eat, change clothes, change clothes. Thanks you gals! I love our team!!! -Kate Shade

As a result of all of our REALLY HARD training and dedication, Womenspecific.com on Trambars finished first in our category (4 person women’s team). We did 30 laps in 24 hours and the girls were all rock stars. Like I had hoped, we all rode as hard as we could….but most of all, we enjoyed each other and our fellow racers surrounding us.

Please click on the following links to read more about the 24 hours of Grand Targhee:
Grand Targhee Resort
Dave Byers, Cycling Junkie