At the Red Bull Burner in Angel Fire I had the best 12 hour race ever. I managed 31 laps, one more lap than last year, two laps behind the lead Pro Solo Man Ryan Sutton where last year I was three laps behind. The race was a little rough in the beginning due to the cold and my hands were frozen for a couple laps. Once my hands warmed up I was able to put down about 5 or 6 runs before I got a front flat and rode more than half the course with the flat. No problem though, since I did have a lap or 2 on the 2nd place girl by then. After my flat and with all the great help from my friends Waylon Smith, Allie Mott, Kristi Mott and my awesome husband Dante Harmony I was able to do run after run without stopping. Everyone provided me with water and food which was the biggest help of all and the main reason I was able to be so alert by my 31st run. Mike Taylor, the Red Bull event organizer, did an awesome job putting on the event and was even able to get in about four runs on the course throughout the day. Mike was not alone putting this event together and all the Red Bull girls did a fantastic job registering everyone, handing out Red Bull to all the riders and being a great cheering crowd also. My Shocker was a trooper throughout the whole race feeling like a champ and getting me through each lap with ease.
Speaking of my Shocker being a trooper, it has been through three 12 hour races in the past month. The first 12 hour was in Winter Park Colorado and was the first Red Bull event of the two part series. I rode the Boulevard trail for most of the laps with about four on the Trestle Downhill course and was able to get in 35 laps and had so much fun railing turns and hauling butt down the course. I believe that this was the easiest of all three 12 hour races and was not so brutal on my body. Telluride on the other hand was the hardest to even finish. The Telluride 12 hour was the weekend after Winter Park and it was brutal. The gondola ride was about six minutes and the trail was about three minutes. There was no time to rest and my body could definitely feel it half way through the day. By the time it was dark and I had to use my lights, my hands were killing me. My light wasn’t setup properly causing me to use my brakes a lot on a couple runs. At this point in the day using my brakes a lot caused my hands and arms to fail me. I opted out on the last hour and half and ended up with 61 runs. By far Telluride is the hardest 12 hour on your body and bike. Through three 12 hour races and a total of 127 laps my Manitou Dorado, Elka shock, Atomlab wheels and Schwalbe tires never failed me and worked flawlessly.
Thanks to all my sponsors who kept me racing on my bike for a total of 36 hours in one month.
Cheers,
Jacqueline Harmony