Moab Racers are Ready to get Down and Dirty

By Laura Brennan

Walking through the seemingly endless rows of racer pits, there were times when the wind gusted so hard it was barely possible to see the crews working to get their racers’ bikes ready for the desert rumble.

All around was the sound of tents flapping and wrenches turning as the countdown to the 2008 Suzuki 24 Hours of Moab progressed.

I had the pleasure of talking with Zach Vestal , Chris Eatough’s manager.

Zach actually didn’t have much to say about the weather, but he did tell me that Eatough is ready to race. He said, "Eatough is a very self-focused racer. Much like me he is an introvert and goes about his preparation generally alone. He is also very considerate of his crew".

I asked Vestal how Eatough was feeling health-wise and his reply was "If he doesn’t feel good now, he has 24 hours to feel better."

Shortly after chatting with Zach I ran right in to vegan Rob Lichtenwalner (VisitPA.com) as he was mounting a Baby Stewie mojo on his bars, he quoted the Family Guy character, "victory will be mine!"

I asked Rob what he thought about the wind and the dirt. "I’m feeling wind-burned, last year it was sandy, this year it’s windy, and the year before last it was rainy. Out here you just have to expect Mother Nature to be a... not nice lady."

I asked Lichtenwalner how he thought the race would go, "I’m going to wear a gas mask the first lap, that’s all I know," said the tofu muncher.

With the stars of the sport all around, the scene felt like 24 Hour racing's answer to Hollywood Blvd. Liz Baumgardt-Kays (Ellsworth) was tuning her bike as I approached and seemed to be in good spirits. "If it was easy everyone would be doing it," she said with a smile.

Then we moved on to talk about Pua and the fact that she might not be racing due to the flu. Baumgardt-Kays said, "hands down Pua would have won the race for Solo Women. I never want to see any racer sick or having bike difficulties, but this is especially sad because her parents even flew in from Hawaii to watch her race. I would have also really liked to watch her beat the men’s times!"

A few tents down pits lane a crazy mop of curls were popping out from a hat under a Salomon canopy. It was the talented Coloradan novice, Eric Sullivan (Salomon, Scott)... aka "Fight Night."

Sully was looking strong and ready to race. "I’m feeling good, but I’m antsy and ready to get out there and ride. I really want to get out there and see how my legs feel."

Two weeks ago Sully took the series victory of the California Multisport Series, winning all three races.

This is the first 24 he has done since Montezuma’s Revenge in 2006, and it is his entry into the big league of mountain biking endurance events.

Like all the other athletes warming up and preparing their bikes, he knows that a good result will be contingent on many different factors - some controllable and some not - but the main thing will be, in the words of Kipling, to meet with Triumph and Disaster, and treat those two imposters just the same.

It's going to be a very long, very engaging, 24 hours.

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Eatough Managers Hints at Eatough Illness

The fitness of reigning world champion Chris Eatough for this race was put into question by his team manager, who hinted at some health issues that my hinder the champ's performance.

"If he doesn't feel good now, he has 24 hours to feel better," said Zach Vestal, Eatough's manager, shortly before the race began.

Pua Sawicki Out With Suspected 'Flu

One of the favorites for the Solo Women's title, Ellsworth/Infinit Nutrition rider Pua Sawicki, of Hawaii, was unable to attend the pre-race press conference on Friday. Sawicki’s husband, Ron Sawicki, attended in her place, and said it was not certain she would start on Saturday.

"She has been so excited about this race. We’ve heard so much about Laird. We’ve never raced his races, and all we’ve heard are great, great things," Ron Sawicki said. "Today she broke down crying because she’s sick. If she starts this race, because she’s so determined, there’s a chance we’ll have to pull her out if I don’t see her pull the kind of times she normally does."

Eatough Readies for the Tostado Express

With the popularity of the Solo category, the intensity of the competition has increased. What could once be seen as a tortoise and hare effort-slow and strong could win the race-now goes to the hares. "When I first started racing 24 Hour races I was able to win by big margins; a lot of times I could stop racing a couple of hours before the finish," Trek-VW solo racer Chris Eatough said. "My competitors were stopping to take breaks, they were stopping to sleep, I just did it without doing that, and I could win the race by default. That’s not happening anymore."

At this year’s hotly contest 24 Hours of Nine Mile, Eatough was barely able to keep ahead of competitor Josh Tostado, riding for Bach Builders. "Josh at Nine Mile was literally no stops, like not even putting his foot down in the pits. He was going right through and taking a bottle and some food on the fly, and really putting the pressure on. I expect that kind of challenge now," Eatough said.

Tostado promises that kind of challenge at today’s race. "It’s gonna be a battle right from the start," Tostado said, adding that he expects Eatough to keep the pressure on throughout. "You can never count him out. Even if I had a half-hour lead on him I’d be looking over my shoulder every ten seconds. I like having a guy like Chris at the race that I’m doing, because if you can’t beat the best, you can’t be the best."

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Pre-Race Press Conference Highlights
Laird Knight addresses the room

By Ron Georg

Granny Gear Productions promoter Laird Knight was expecting a low-key affair when he hosted a press conference at the Moab Arts and Recreation Center the night before the 24 Hours of Moab, but he had volunteers scrambling for chairs as attendees spilled out of the small room.

The draw was a table surrounded by some of the strongest endurance mountain bike racers in men’s and women’s solo classes world wide. Knight may have co-created the sport of 24 Hour racing, but he created a relay; he didn’t imagine anyone would want to go at it alone.

"The soloists have really come a long way from 1996 when John Stamsted finally convinced me to let him race solo by registering and paying for an entire team, all under different versions of his name," Knight said. "It’s surprised me, frankly, how popular it’s become. These guys, in a very real way, have stolen the thunder of the race. If there’s anything that can be categorized as superhuman, this is it."

With the popularity of the solo category, the intensity of the competition has increased. What could once be seen as a tortoise and hare effort-slow and strong could win the race-now goes to the hares. "When I first started racing 24 Hour races I was able to win by big margins; a lot of times I could stop racing a couple of hours before the finish," Trek-VW solo racer Chris Eatough said. "My competitors were stopping to take breaks, they were stopping to sleep, I just did it without doing that, and I could win the race by default. That’s not happening anymore."

At this year’s hotly contest 24 Hours of Nine Mile, Eatough was barely able to keep ahead of competitor Josh Tostado, riding for Bach Builders. "Josh at Nine Mile was literally no stops, like not even putting his foot down in the pits. He was going right through and taking a bottle and some food on the fly, and really putting the pressure on. I expect that kind of challenge now," Eatough said.

Tostado promises that kind of challenge at today’s race. "It’s gonna be a battle right from the start," Tostado said, adding that he expects Eatough to keep the pressure on throughout. "You can never count him out. Even if I had a half-hour lead on him I’d be looking over my shoulder every ten seconds. I like having a guy like Chris at the race that I’m doing, because if you can’t beat the best, you can’t be the best."

Even the Granny Gear points leader expects to be watching the battle between Eatough and Tostado. Rob Lichtenwalner has so many points already in the series that he won’t be caught by either rider. Even Tinker Juarez, who is holding some points in the series, can’t catch him.

That's left Lichtenwalner in high spirits. "I don’t have a strategy. I’ll just let these guys go out and do their thing, and hopefully somebody will pedal somebody else into the ground. I look forward to when these guys lap me, and I get to ride with them for a quarter lap or so."

While the men’s solo roster scrolls down off the screen, the women’s class is just nine racers long. Top contender Jari Kirkland hopes that sponsors and promoters can increase incentives-both with product support and prize money-to help people take women’s racing more seriously. That, she said, could help break stereotypes.

"Right off the bat, even as little kids, girls are hardly encouraged to go ride a bike," Kirkland said. "They’re encouraged to play with dolls. To get them involved when they’re in high school, get them interested at that age so when they’re in their 20s and 30s they can race well, is much more difficult."

Like Tostado, Kirkland hopes for tighter competition. "If we could have 20, 30 women it would be the best thing ever," she said, pointing to one way to foster that change. "You have guys who are vying for $4,000 in first place, while we’re vying for $1,000."

This year, Kirkland may be facing a little less competition. Pua Sawicki is her main rival (if that’s the right word-"I have a huge love for the women who do this sport, for sure," Kirkland said). Sawicki’s husband, Ron Sawicki, attended the press conference in her place.

"She has been so excited about this race. We’ve heard so much about Laird. We’ve never raced his races, and all we’ve heard are great, great things," Ron Sawicki said. "Today she broke down crying because she’s sick. If she starts this race, because she’s so determined, there’s a chance we’ll have to pull her out if I don’t see her pull the kind of times she normally does."

As in the men’s category, the women’s points race is a foregone conclusion, with Liz Baumgardt-Kays so far ahead, by virtue all the races and placing respectably, that the hares can’t touch her. That helps her keep individual races in perspective.

"At Nine Mile, Pua was so far out in front of everyone, that it’s like if you’re simply going to focus on the one person who’s going to win all the time, you’re going to be defeated right away," she said. "You’ve got to ride your own race."

That’s what over 1,300 riders will be doing this weekend. As Knight noted at the press conference, the solo racers stand out-but they’re not what made 24 Hour racing the community it’s become. 24 Hour racing, perhaps more than any other format, is about riding your own race.

All of those individual races will be reflected in the RealTime scoring on the race website. The numbers are all broken down in detail, and the race plays out in colorful patterns on the storyboard page. The Granny Gear webcast team will also be working to post regular updates to flesh out the statistics, and to present the full picture of the 24 Hours of Moab spectacle.

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