Karen's Race Report on MudFest 2009: aka Coolest 24-Hour Mountain Bike Race in Northern California, May 2-3

Ideal Race Conditions? You decide:
* Pounding rain, nearly non-stop, for 3 days solid while we raced mountain bikes day and night
* Getting drenched setting up and breaking down camp
* Slipping and sliding through puddles to soggy tents and portapotties
* Pedaling through mud thick as peanut butter, clay-like slop clogging our gears, sticking to our bike frames, clothes and faces
* Conditions so extreme that the 24-hour mountain bike race was cut short by organizers - ending at 10 a.m. instead of noon on Sunday. Whew!
* 18 of us plus two big dogs huddled under two pop-up tents with plastic walls and roof threatening to cave in due to water weight
* A chaotic jumble of muddy bikes, wet shoes, cooking gear, trash and chairs squished around us
* Did I mention no showers were available onsite?

Scroll down for my friend's photo links.
My pictures are now posted here:
http://www.pbase.com/karenkefauver/coolest_24_hours_2009

Though nearly blinded by mud spattering my contact lenses, I am still smiling because I actually like mud! This photo was snapped after I completed one lap of the looping course, which was about 12 miles long with 1700-feet of climbing. (A lot of uphill!)
Photo credit: Dan Abernethy.

Go Go Go Girls Spirit x 2 Prevailed

Despite the wicked weather and grueling physical conditions of the race, our Girl Power spirit shined beneath the dark skies: wonderful costumes, camp decorations and yummy food of the Go Go Go Girls brightened our moods.

Who were the 18 people at our campsite?
For starters, we fielded two teams, 4-women each: 8 gals
Go Go Go Girls
Karen, Henri, Tracy and Jen
Go Go Go Girlz
Rita, Kate, Lindsey and Jill

Results:
* Victory! We came in first and second place in our division! Girlz won! And yes, there were only two teams in our division!

In Cleaner Times
My 3 teammates for the Coolest 24 are pictured here with me at New Year's Party, 2009.
From left: Jen Lucia of Santa Cruz, Henri Stern of Pacific Grove, (Winona Hubbard of Santa Cruz; the founder of the Go Go Go Girls team did not race due to injury), me and Tracy Moyle of Monterey.

Other Racers at our Camp
We were also lucky to share camp with 24-hour soloist rider Melanie Dominguez, as well as Erik Thunstrom, 8-hour soloist, and his son, Derek Thunstrom, all of Santa Cruz.

Support Crew from Heaven
What really kept us racers going was the amazing support crew of Dan Abernethy of Santa Cruz and Pat Schott. I had invited them and thankfully, they traveled to the race solely to support us women! Pat drove 12 hours from Ketchum, Idaho, for the weekend. We also had many helping hands from Alex, (Winona's hubby who raced 8-hour solo); Tom, (Henri's hubby) and Erik (raced 8 hour solo) and Derek. Lindsey's friend Kate also pitched in.

Coolest Support Crew: Dan Abernethy, left, of Santa Cruz, and Pat Schott, right, in red, of Ketchum, Idaho, came solely as support for the G-Girls. Thanks, guys! Erik, center, also helped out when he was not busy winning his 8-hour solo race divsion - and a prize of a track bike!
Photo Credit: Karen Kefauver.

As I write this on Tuesday, I am still recovering from the weekend here in Sacramento at my friend Hank's house in Citrus Heights. Luckily, my job is portable and Hank is very generous.

The view from the back after my first lap of the race - I rode just two laps total (24 very hilly miles in the mud was plenty!) Photo credit: Dan Abernethy.

Keep reading for PHOTO LINKS from friends, below.

About the G Girls
For the past two years, I have been part of a women's mountain bike relay race called Go Go Go Girls, which was founded by my friend Winona, a talented cyclist with great enthusiasm and charisma. We have competed at 24 Hours of Adrenalin at Laguna Seca in Monterey, California, (about an hour south of Santa Cruz). Both years ('07 and '08), our team of 5 women placed third in our relay division (team members varied year to year). This spring, we decided to try a new event in Northern California - The Coolest 24-Hour Race, which raises funds for cancer. We doubled our forces by forming two teams, then caravaned 4 hours north to a mountain town called, Cool, which is east of Sacramento. What a wild adventure it turned out to be!

COMING SOON: The scoop on my 24-mile race report (2 laps), lost car key chaos and other major mishaps - on my next blog post!

Henrietta is still beaming after her first lap in the mud at the Cool Race.

Photo Credit: Karen Kefauver.

Photo links from Coolest 24 Hour Race:
1. Check out these Extreme Mud photos!
Santa Cruz friends Winona took these pictures and her husband, Alex who raced solo at the 8-hour event, posted them on Picasa.

2. Alex, a trail pal from the Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz, pointed out the thread of comments about the Cool race on the MTBR forum. He raced the 8-hour solo event.

3. My pics: http://www.pbase.com/karenkefauver/coolest_24_hours_2009

Alex Anderson is barely recognizable after his first lap!

Favorite Quotes about the Race
I read through the comments on the MTBR website forum and excerpted my favorite quotes:

"Suffer-fest."
"The people who did race are bad-asses."
"Absolute mudfest."
"Hard-core."
"My bike is not talking to me right now."
"It was the worst of times and the best of times," Keith Bontrager, Santa Cruz resident and mountain bike legend
"Amen to single speeds and liquor."
"What. A. Mess."
"I did one lap then changed my strategy to drink enough not to be able to do another lap."

And finally:

"Holy cow! What a mess, we all have the swine flu for sure now. I only did 2 laps and was so cold and miserable, glasses were useless - eyes were destroyed and bike was making very odd sounds. Decided to pull the plug and get a beer. Best decision of my life."

24 Hours of Adrenalin + Hula Hooping!

Saturday, June 9 - Sunday, June 10 Laguna Seca Raceway, Monterey, CA—

At 10:15 p.m. I set off on my first night lap—I had not done any night mountain bike riding since the 2006 24 Hours race. I was nervous, but also excited to ride under the stars. As part of a 5-woman relay team, Go Go Go Girls, I had been designated the last rider in our rotation. I had only completed one lap before this night time lap and did not know the course well. My daytime lap had gone okay —although only 10 minutes into that ride, I lost the left lens of my sunglasses. It bounced out of the frames and vanished in the tall grass along a steep rutted section. That section of the race course would return to haunt me at night.

My Crash

I was feeling confident and strong for the first 15 minutes of my first night lap. Then I smashed face-first onto the dirt trail. I flipped over the handlebars and BOOM—breath knocked out of me, my face in the dirt, the grit coating my lips and teeth. I lay moaning, terrified. Upon impact pain had shot up my jaw and neck. I slowly picked myself up and moved to the side of the steep trail - the same spot where I had lost my sunglasses lens. I stood there debating whether to call it quits. I could easily walk back to the start line. I looked down and saw blood streaming from my right knee.

I looked like a massive dust-powdered doughnut with some cherry filling leaking out. Grit filled my gloves and shoes. A kind rider stopped to see how I was. He stuck with me and eventually took off. I stood still, shaken. Another rider went by and called out: "Are you ok?" at the top of the descent. "Yes, I am ok," I assured him with more confidence than I felt. I turned to watch this considerate cyclist navigate the steep section skillfully. In the dim light of my headlamp, I was amazed to recognize the red helmet and Team Santa Cruz jersey: It was my fiance Norman riding by! "Norman, it's me!" I shouted as he flew downhill. No reply. Only the sound of his bouncing chain. My heart sunk.

Pivotal Moment
I really wanted to cry, but I latched onto a more powerful desire: to win the Midnight Hula Hoop Contest! The race organizers were hosting the first-ever 2007 24 Hours of Adrenalin midnight Hula Hoop contest. Despite my bloody and swollen knees, dusty face and shattered confidence, I walked and rode back to the start/finish area as fast I could, determined to get to that contest to prove myself. Many of you know, I can hoop with the best of them! On the long ride back to camp, Santa Cruz solo rider Sean Sullivan insisted on stopping to make sure I did not have a concussion.

I rode hard to get back to camp by 11:50 p.m. I passed Norman's tent, which was on the race course. Miraculously, he was there and not out on the race course. "Norman, that was me!" I said, "The one who crashed." He was going so fast and did not hear me when I called his name. His heart was breaking when he saw me covered in dirt. I told him that he had been very kind to offer to help a "stranger" in the night during his grueling solo effort and that all was ok. We briefly rode our bikes hand and hand before we parted. He continued racing and I had handed the baton to my teammate, Rita. Then I went to the Hula Contest.

So You Think You Can Hula?

"Whoa! What happened to you?" the race announcer and hula hoop contest emcee asked. "I did a faceplant on the trail," I said. "Wow!" he said, eyeballing my dust covered body and face.

I downed two pieces of hot corn, helped round up a few other hula contestants and we were underway! The ground rules were declared: he/she who hoops the longest is the winner! I knew I could hula hoop til dawn if need be. Soon enough, I out hooped the others, even showing my special John Travolta disco moves while hooping. I felt victorious!

My moment of triumph at the 24 Hours of Adrenaline mountain bike race had arrived in the unlikely form of being the Hula Hoop Winner. My prize? A pair of fleece shorts, donated by Cowboy, the owner of Fuzzy Duds. I chose the most outrageous multi colored paisley shorts I could find.

Then I sought medical attention for my wounds. A big thanks to Marc, the famous brewer and Mel's fiance, for generously volunteering to take a midnight stroll and look all over for the nearly-impossible-to-find first aid tent.

Grand Finale
I hobbled back to camp well after midnight and woke up Michiko for her lap. The pain was setting in and I went to clean off my wounds in the light of the nearby bathroom. I was horrified to see that both my knees were grotesquely swollen. My left in particular looked like it had sprouted a lemon on top of the knee cap. I knew my race was over when I saw that. I got ice packs out, left the Go Go Go Girls team a note that I would touch base in the morning but it looked doubtful I would ride again that day. I went to sleep about 2 a.m. and slept soundly til 5:30 a.m.

I got up then to find Rita preparing to go out on a lap. That was one of the lowest points of the race for me—I was physically unable to go, or more precisely, I could have gone, but the outcome for my knee could have been serious. It was a big risk. Nevertheless, by taking care of myself, I felt like I was letting the team down. I felt sad, which fatigue and injury can heighten. Rita assured me it was fine that she ride in my place, but I was disappointed—for the team and for myself—the dawn lap is a glorious time to be on the trail while the rest of the world sleeps on a Sunday morning...

Our team captain Henri was unwavering that this was the 100 percent right decision for me not to race with my bashed knees. I felt better and she was thrilled by my hula hoop contest story and goofy shorts. I shifted moods and dedicated myself to being our team photographer for the remaining few laps.

I also had a better chance to monitor Norman's incredible progress in his solo 24 hour race. He had ridden steadily through the night, no sleep, supported by a great crew at camp that included Mark, Evan, Eric and Darik, who were also assisting Melanie Dominguez. I am happy to report that both Norman and Melanie had stunning finishes in their respective solo categories: Norman, 3rd place in the men's solo division, Melanie, 3rd place in the women's. Incredible results against steep competition! Bravo! It was also exciting to see Team Cloud Nine, consisting of dear friends Cory and John Caletti, and their teammates Dan'O, Eric and James win 2nd place in their tough 5-person co-ed category.

Awards Ceremony
I offer a final salute to my fantastic teammates: Henrietta, our Team Captain, from Pacific Grove, Rita Leon of Team Santa Cruz, Michiko of Berkeley, Yvette of NorCal! You guys were super fine Go Go Go Girls. To Barbara, our team volunteer, we could not have done it without you. It was a pleasure to have our moment of fame as Third Place winners in the 5-woman category!

For full event photos, visit: http://www.pbase.com/karenkefauver