Tuesday, July 3, 2007

The 24 Hours of Grand Targhee

Sept 15th, 2007, I will line up for my first 24 hour solo race. At about this time last year I had just completed the Endurance 100 12 Hour race and I swore that I had no desire to do a 24 hour race. But then my 12 hour race at Steamboat this year got me thinking more about doing a 24 hour race and when Grand Targhee announced their inaugural 24 hour race for this September I got fired up thinking about it. The fact that the race is 15 minutes from my home is a bonus.

I have always thought that the current trails up at the Ghee would be perfect for a lap race of some kind. First off, they are fun! There is plenty of double track climbing for passing, lots of twisty singletrack though aspen groves, and the course is just long enough to not get boring over the course of a race. Each lap will be about 7 miles with 950’ of climbing per lap in the form of two short but steep climbs. The climbs will definitely hurt after about 6 laps!

There are two fun but very competitive local races this week. Tomorrow is the WYDAHO MTB Race up at the Ghee and then on Sunday we have the new, longer version of the Targhee Hill Climb road time trial. Time for a new all-time high HR! Happy 4th everyone!

2 comments:

Geoff said...

sounds like a fun 24. the length and amount of climbing sounds about like the 24 i just rode last week. 950 feet of climbing isn't a lot to do once or twice but once you've done it 5 or 6 times you sure are going to feel it. at any rate, i bet you'll rock it out.
have you spoken with jay yet? he must be pretty damn proud of what he did.

Dave said...

Jay sounds amazingly good. I have spoken to him a couple of times and he is being his usual modest self about it. It will be good to see him tomorrow at the WYDAHO race where he will be rooting for his wife Tracey who is racing.