An epic 4 days of intense fun at Epic Rides 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo!
Possibly Epic Rides most popular race of the year. It sells out in less than 15 minutes. We had two 4-man teams riding thinkMTB colors, 2 team members riding on another team and a couple other riding solo, the most grueling challenge of all. This epic race takes place at a pop-up town, in the middle of the sonoran desert, 30 minutes from anywhere and affectionately coined - '24 Hour Town'.
Campers begin arriving up to 7 days ahead of the 24-hour race to get posted up and fully immersed into the party. Our team began staggering in on Wednesday with the last to arrive on Thursday night, when they promptly got their RV stuck in a deep rut on the rough dirt road that snakes through the town. Thankfully MTBrs are rad people and several 'no longer strangers' jumped to action and got them unstuck and posted up in no time directly across from the Goat Show. If you know, you know.
24 HOP starts at noon on Saturday and runs non-stop through noon on Sunday during which time 24 Hour Town truly earns its namesake. Riders navigate a 17 mile loop through gnarly cholla cactus infested single-track, rock gardens, past a whiskey tree where spectators beckon riders to stop for a whiskey shot and finally down a double black diamond rock drop at the end of the course. The fastest of riders clock laps around 50 minutes with more conservative or insanely fatigued riders logging lap times from 1.5 - 2.5 hours. No matter your speed, the riders that get the coldest, darkest, middle of the night laps are the unsung heroes.
This just may be the best 4 days of our year. Can't wait til the next one!
Big shout-out to our #1 sponsor Rock n Road Cyclery in SoCal. Without them this club wouldn't be what it is! Well, at the very least we wouldn't have rad shirts.
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