Saturday, June 10, 2000 - Sunday, June 11, 2000 -- Snowshoe, WV
The Big Picture, 24 Hours with Matt Marcus
Story by Matt Marcus with photos by Matt Marcus & Dave McKain

At 24 hour events, it is all about teamwork... and attitude

The Zen of 24-hour racing on a team is about balancing the expectations of the teammates between incentive and stress, balancing the emotions between all the adrenaline, elation, fear, pain and distress. Obviously preparation, training, teamwork and luck all play a role, but equally important is the psychological makeup of the team. Knowing and trusting your teammates is important but so is forgiving them. Way too much energy can be wasted worrying about a lost baton. After all, it's only a five-minute penalty.

The LeMans style start of the 2000 Toyota 24 Hours of Snowshoe was electric. The crowds were reminiscent of mountain stages in the Giro or the Tour. On both the start of the run and immediately after the racers jumped on the bikes, the crazed tifosi lined both sides of the initial ski-slope climb, screaming deliriously at the runners and riders. Those lucky enough to ride the first lap were treated to a huge crazed crowd that only pros are ever likely to see.

The mud pit, right after the heinous steep downhill on the start prologue loop, was also an excellent spectator spot. It kept the oohing and ahhing spectators glued to the racecourse for the first fifteen or twenty minutes of the race. The Outdoor Life Network (OLN) crews were there to grab up a bunch of great footage.

It helps the pros like Trek/VW to get a little special treatment between laps

Race organizers had never run 500 teams over a virgin course before and didn't know exactly what to expect. They did know that the course would, as always, evolve over the next 25 hours of riding. Evolve it did from dry and almost totally ridable to a dew slicked, stripped root nightmare 12 hours later. Then as the wind picked up in the pre-dawn, the course was revealed to the new day as more and more ridable and wider with more new lines. Also revealed were the new elevated heights of roots and rocks from the displacement of soil from the trail.

After all the dust settled on the racecourse, 463 teams and solo riders had finished the first 24 Hours of Snowshoe. After all the pre-race hype about the course there were only 37 DNF's. Sure the course was absurd at night with most of the singletrack unridable around 3 AM. But, if you can remember the first year at Timberline, the downhill seemed to be absurdly difficult as well. However, the entire course seemed to get easier and faster every year afterward.

The Snowshoe Mountain course could be maintained to be less difficult, faster, longer and maybe more fun for less experienced riders. The course was originally planned to be approximately 11.3 miles but by the start of the race it ended up closer to 9.0 miles. Bits and pieces of singletrack were cut from the original layout because of the time restraints required by the 24-hour race format. The record lap this year was 1:07 by Cane Creek's Swiss coed pro am rider Roger Schultz. That's not too far off the 1999 fastest time at Timberline of 0:59 by Cane Creek's Paul Bell.

Trek/VW remains in a familiar position

Once again a team comprised of two men and two women has defeated all of the four man teams. Once again they finished a lap up on everyone else. What is their secret? Experience, preparation, focus, luck and trust. The only secret they really had was just how fast they really were. All the statistics aren't out yet, but smart money has it that they definitely had the two fastest women and the fastest man, maybe the two fastest men overall. How could they lose their class? Team manager Roger Bird says that this is the first time a pro team has lapped all the other pros and made it stick.

A look at the overall finish results reveals more. The Trek/VW East Coast Team was the only team with 18 laps, seven teams had 17 laps, thirteen teams had 16 laps and twenty-nine teams had 15 laps for a total of fifty teams with 15 or more laps.

A check up of the seven teams with 17 laps gives a diagnosis of a serious case of HCA (Home Course Advantage). Shenandoah Mountain Touring, first place men's expert, second place overall and the only team not completely lapped by Trek/VW, are from just over the line in Virginia and are excellent racers and bike handlers well aquainted with West Virginia singletrack. First place men's veteran, sixth overall, Brooks Brothers are no strangers to technical racing in this area along with seventh overall, first place juniors, Speedgoat hailing from WV, VA and PA.

Everyone who races can come away with special rewards

Maybe the most suprising stat found looking through the top ten percent of finishers is the twenty-seventh place overall of Cane Creek Duo, first place duo pro. Fifteen laps at 12:30:31 with only two guys!?! In addition, two other duo pro teams finished with fifteen laps and in the top fifty overall.

The word at the race was that the duo pro was really the most difficult class because of the team dynamics versus a solo rider. A solo rider can slow down or quit without the repercussions of having a teammate. The strategy is also more complex in the duo pro class than any other class with endless riding rotation possibilities and little or no communication between teammates during the event.

The big winners here had to be Snowshoe Mountain. Unfortunately, with every winner there must be a loser. Canaan Valley misses hosting a 24-hour event. It is a shame that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has refused to follow their own Refuge Station Management Plan denying the people of Tucker County their civil rights (but that is another story). Hopefully Canaan Valley will not be forgotten in the post-race buzz of Snowshoe, and hopefully Snowshoe Mountain will help to continue the tradition of world-class 24 hour racing in West Virginia.

Matt Marcus is no stanger to WV mountain biking

For more 2000 Toyota 24 Hours of Snowshoe coverage, check iPlayOutside's huge picture archives and stop on over to GrannyGear.com.