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Rebecca goes Back-2-Back!

posted by id* at 05:40 PM on July 30, 2008

By Rebecca:

Hello Everyone!
So last weekend, 24 Hour Solo World Championships was a complete success. The training and pre-race logistics were perfect. My crew and equipment were dialed, and the race unfolded better than I could have imagined. I had been gearing up for this race as my main goal for the 2008 season and everything came together like clockwork. I’m not saying it was easy in any way, but all the pieces did fall in place on the right day in the right fashion. We all worked really hard and were rewarded with my 2nd 24 hour solo world championship win!

The competition was much more stout than last year. The course was brutally hard and the severe thunderstorms added a whole dimension of difficulty. The weather turned the course into part hike-a-bike and part treacherous, high speed mud surfing. I did suffer a pretty serious crash in the middle of the night. I hit a high speed mud rut and launched myself and my bike into the air and down an embankment. I landed like a lawn dart straight on the top of my head, but came away with just a very stiff neck. I did crush my helmet, but not my head, so it did the job well. Despite being in the lead for most of the race, I dug really deep and kept the pressure on. There are so many things that can happen in a 24 hour race, so I did not want to leave any room for error. By the finish, I was completely empty, elated and could barely speak. I will say that my muscles and brain were completely spent from the effort, but the usual pain in my wrists, back and joints was noticeably absent. I have to attribute that to the new 2009 Specialize Era that I was able to ride in this race. This was by far the hardest 24 hour solo course I have ridden that bike is by far the lightest, fastest, most comfortable ride I can ever imagine.

I ended up covering 176 miles and 32,000 ft of climbing over the course of the day. I finished about an hour and a half in front of the next female. The feeling of crossing the finish line after over a year of focusing on this one day was one that I will not forget. Pictures are worth 1000 words, so have a peek at the attached video clip. The 2nd half is an interview with me right after the finish of the race.

http://24adrenalinlive.blogspot.com/2008/07/24hoa-james-rebecca-2008-elite-world.html

Thanks for tuning in. As always I have to thank my crew, Jason, Charles, Donna and Heather. They were so dialed and we had multiple people commenting on how slick our pits were. Thanks also to Red Bull, Specialized, Suunto and all of my sponsors for the amazing support.

Next up is 24 Hour Nationals this coming weekend. I am racing on a women’s team with my training partners and friends from Idaho. We are team Ketchum If You Can /Specialized and this time I will be sharing the load with 3 other people. My hope is that my three teammates will do most of the riding and I can do most of the cheering. I am really looking forward to just riding for a few hours instead of 24 in a row!

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