I spent the weekend with 600 of my closest friends in the mountains near Hazelton, W.Va at a 24-hour mountain bike race that truly is an epic adventure. A group called Granny Gear puts on a series of 24-hour races across the country. The one in W.Va. is the oldest of them all. They’ve been doing this for 17 years. This was my second year doing the race as part of a four man team. My teammates this year were Jay Miller, Drew Shoaff and Michael Harrison. I wouldn’t say we covered ourselves in glory, but we did get covered in mud and had a blast. The 12-mile loop was brutal, especially in the heat, but hanging around camp, swapping stories and commiserating over different aches and pains, all with an ice cold beverage in hand, made it worth it. Fellow Richmonder Jimmy McMillan did the race solo and came in fifth, an incredible result, especially considering the solo field was loaded with elite athletes.
Look for my column on the event this Friday.
The pic above gives you a sense of how many people showed up to compete. There were about 160 teams. We all camped in the abandoned airfield above, which stretches on close to a mile. Most of the teams came from the DC area and Pennsylvania. Considering how strong the MTB scene is in Richmond, I was surprised there weren’t more teams from the River City at the race. It’s definitely a race and event worth the 5-hour drive.
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