.bmp&contenttype= "\"WRAP YOUR CRANK!\" CRANKSKINS.com")
May 29, 2004
Chris Eatough and his crew managed to capture a second national title last weekend in Spokane Washington at the 24 hour NORBA National Championship event put on by Round and Round Productions. The event was a picture of perfect planning, and went more smoothly then any 24/solo race Eatough has done to date. I was lucky once again to be part of this national title effort, and as always it was an awesome time from start to finish.
The journey started just like each of our previous trips in pursuit of
24 hour solo titles, about 3 weeks before we were to depart, we began the
chore of compiling lists of supplies and equipment that we needed to either
take with us or arrange to secure when we got out there. We were headed
to Spokane, WA, and more specifically, to Riverside park, where there were
no bathrooms, no lights, no running water; nothing really, except an open
grassy field that happened to be along a 14.4 mile loop of trail. 
This
meant that in addition to all our tools and bike supplies, we would also
need lights, a way to generate power, and pretty much full camping gear,
minus sleeping bags of course. This was a 24 hour race after all.
Friday was setup day, when we headed over to the venue from our motel and pretty much ran through our entire pit area and set it up just as we would during the race, to try and find problems or snags before the race began on Saturday. Chris rode a lap or two to familiarize himself with the course as his dad Mike, his fiancé Alison, and I assembled all the bikes and went through our checklists and plans for the race. The weather was looking very promising with almost no rain, and temperatures were in the 70’s. We also spent a lot of time catching up with other racers and pit crews who we only get to see a few times a year. Later, Chris and Alison talked strategy in Chris’s office while Mike and I broke camp.
By the end of the day we were fully prepared, and we celebrated with burritos on the way back to the motel. There was a little bit of running around to do for last minute needs, we stopped by North Division Bicycle for a tent and supplies, and we followed that with an early bedtime to try and get ahead a bit on sleep.
Saturday morning Mike and I were up and out quickly, and headed straight
to the venue to set up and get ready for the race start. Chris and Alison
came over around 10:30 and things really started to get serious with the
countdown to noon. If you have never experienced a 24 hou
r
solo race at this level before, let me tell you, we do so much planning
and rehearsing, I might be able to do it with my eyes shut (for a few laps
at least) We know exactly what Chris wants to eat and drink for the first
ten laps or so, we know where each article of riding gear and cold weather
clothing is, each tool and spare part is carefully laid out, every bag
of stuff is in its place, it’s about the same as a formula 1 race
crew, just a slightly smaller budget. As the sun rose to its zenith, we
were ready to go in the pits.
Then, before we knew it, it was noon and the race was starting, LeMans style of course, in keeping with the tradition of 24 hour racing. Chris was the second runner off of the 1.1 mile circuit through the woods, then he was first out of the transition area on his bike! He turned the corner up the first climb and then the waiting began. About two thirds through the lap there was a road crossing that was only a short ride from the main venue. We had planned that I would meet Chris there each lap to find out if he had any needs for the next lap such as food/drink requests or bike issues, and I would give him splits to the chasers and other updates he might need. On this first lap Chris came through very fast in a group of five, and three of them were solo racers. With him were Nat Ross (Subaru/Gary Fisher), Chad Swanson (Vanilla bikes) and Ariel Lindsley (Maverick/Klein). All these guys had been podium finishers at 24 hr solo worlds in the past, so they were all threats. Their group stayed together for the first 3 or 4 laps, with Chad dropping off slightly after lap 2, then Ariel backing off his pace after lap 4. Chris and Nat were going head to head, and reports came back that they were actually attacking each other at hour four with twenty hours of racing still to go! CONTINUED>>>>>>>>
