24 hours in the old pueblo Ice Crystals and Cactus Prickles by Dax Massey As the 2008 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo approached, it rained all Friday, the day before the race, so our time was spent drinking beers (carboloading) and keeping warm in our climate-controlled RV. The 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo venue, known as 24 Hour Town, is as much an RV test center as it is a bike race. These people roll in style with everything from snappy little pull-behinds and pop-ups to rockstar-style tour buses. Not to say that campers and purists who choose to rough it out in a tent aren’t part of the town’s culture. In fact, I was part of a four-man team that competed in 2006 without flush toilets, electricity, heat, satellite plasma TV, massage therapists or outside support—all sans RV. And we won the whole shebang. It can be done but this would have been a tough year to be a squatter in 24 Hour Town. It’s Tucson, and it’s not supposed to snow in Tucson, right? As the rain turned to snow after nightfall and Mother Nature callously plastered two inches of slushy wet snow over the high desert of Arizona, everyone retreated to their warm places and hoped for a warmer race day. It was just a little snow. In the morning, amidst muddy roads, collapsed tents and snow-covered bicycles, most everyone was in good spirits because the weather gods promised sunshine in the afternoon. The show went on as scheduled, and by start time things already looked better. As the snow melted, the desert came to life; streams flowed brilliantly in the usually dry arroyos, the cactus proudly displayed brightly colored flowers and everything, even the dirt, sparkled. By lap three, the course had soaked up all the moisture and it made for a very fast and tacky course. You could corner as hard as you wanted and do no wrong. By midnight, the wetness was history—business as usual in the southern Arizona desert—and the trail was littered with pieces of cacti that riders had knocked onto the trail, leaving a minefield for the next riders to navigate. As the race ended, competitors were happy to have the night behind them, especially my team, Shake & Bake. We raced on rigid singlespeeds and pulled off a win in the Duo category. Success is sweet. Kimo Seymour with 16 laps and Heidi Mark with 13 laps won the honorable solo contests in fine style. For complete results and more photos, go to www.epicrides.com.
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