There were five men in the 24h solo upright-bike category (
results, if anyone's curious). This is in line with previous editions of the event.
- Bike and other equipment didn't give me much trouble.
- I've got Speedplay pedals, and I think they were squeaking a tiny bit, so they were probably past due for a grease injection.
- No flats. I've got 28-mm Conti 5000TL tires and they have been great
- Kind of an obscure problem, but my rain jacket is closely fitted and inelastic, and it bound my shoulders so I couldn't get comfortable on the aero bars with it on.
- This was the longest I've ridden in the dark, and I had to repeatedly re-target the headlight—it's a kLite that mounts to a GoPro adapter. I couldn't tighten the GoPro knob any more, but the light would drift down slowly. Not a huge problem. It threw plenty of light—I had more confidence on descents than anyone else, I suspect (I was the only person there with a dynohub).
I wish we had milder weather—not just because the cold was miserable, but also because it would have been a better test of my ability. If I had been able to ride at my finishing pace for the five hours that I took off, I would have been right around 300 miles. I was one of two racers (including 6/12/24-hour team and solo events) who didn't have a car to warm up in, and I'm sure that made a difference.