Right now, a shantytown/mountain bike refugee camp is forming in the desert northeast of Tucson, Ariz. It’s there for the Kona 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo mountain bike race (be sure to read “A Note on Kona” below). Even one week before the event, RVs were already starting to stake their claim. At that point, it was mostly locals from nearby Tucson, retirees and Trustafarians. If this is the first you’ve heard of such a thing, let me explain a few things. 1. In epic mountain bike racing, we don’t explain things. So if you don’t understand why someone wants to do this, I can’t explain it to you. 2. The race is open to a number of categories based on number of riders, gender, combined age and even whether your bike has more than one gear. And yes, there are solo and co-ed categories! 3. The idea is to do as many laps as possible from noon one day until noon the next. Now, let’s say you’re coming through the finish area at 11:55. You dawdle a bit, and the next team in your class whizzes by and sends a rider for another lap. Well, if you send another rider, you’ll have the same number of laps. Your rank will be determined by who gets back fastest. So pedal faster, or you’ll hear banjos! 4. Yes, some people stay awake the entire time in the solo class. And they’re still obscenely fast. See Tinker Juarez. And Tinker is [...]
