Photo courtesy Granny Gear Productions, Inc.

Last fall I rode 24 Hours of Moab as my first mountain bike race ever. Seeing a tent city pop up in the middle of the desert, riding a fairly technical course at speeds I didn’t think I had in me, and doing it again in the dark while hanging around the start/finish area with my teammates eating food and watching the other racers was collectively the highlight of my mountain biking experience last year.

As a former participant, I am now on their mailing list and I just received a rather disturbing email from Lance Knight, the race director.

After 16 Years, This Year May Be The Last 24 Hours of Moab
In recent years there’s been a trend towards teams signing up later and later. Distressing as this has been, taxing our ability to anticipate and plan for the size of the event, we’ve been gratified to see late registrations consistently pour in, and “save the day.”

This year, going into the last two weeks before the race, our pre-registrations were only slightly down from previous years. That was a little un-nerving but not alarming, given the trend we’ve observed. In previous years we’ve seen 40-60 teams sign up two weeks before the event and fully 75-85 teams sign-up in the final week leading up to the race.

This last week we have seen only 10 additional teams sign up. Now that’s alarming. It does not bode well. While in recent years we have seen fields of well over 350 teams, at the rate things are going, even 300 teams would appear to be an optimistic expectation.

There is no doubt that the economy plays a huge part in how we spend our recreational dollars. For my part, I am purchasing a new bike and taking the family on a much needed vacation. With gas still over $3 a gallon, plus registration and camping fees, 24 Hours of Moab is just not feasible for me this year. “I’ll go next year,” I told myself, and apparently I am not alone. But unless something changes, next year may not happen.

24 Hours of Moab is a tradition among mountain bike endurance races and to see its demise would be tragic. With the race occurring this weekend, it is very short notice for teams to pull together an entry, but there are some things you can do if you’d like to help:

What can you do about it?
a) If at all possible, sign up and field a team in this year’s race.
b) If you can’t race this year, put a shoulder into making 2012 happen
c) If you’d like to make a contribution on behalf of your team, register a “phantom” team.
The Men’s or Women’s Solo Singlespeed class is the lowest entry fee ($162 total).
An inordinately large “turn-out” for the solo singlespeed class would certainly send a clear message about the support for the continuation of the event. (Even if you don’t show up, we’ll mail you this year’s T-shirt!)

Let’s see what we can do to save this iconic mountain bike race. If you’ve ridden it in the past and loved it, if you plan to do it “someday,” or if you just hate to see traditions die, please consider helping out.

You can read the race director’s complete message here.

And you can register for the race here.

Rebecca Rusch wins the 2009 Leadville 100

Back in September I got a chance to chat with 2009 Leadville winner and 2-time 24 Hour Solo World Champion Rebecca Rusch about racing, training, and mountain bike trails. Meeting Rusch for the first time I was instantly struck by how friendly she comes across despite being such a fierce competitor on the racecourse. A cool confidence seems to underlie everything she says and her enthusiasm for mountain biking is seriously contagious.

Rusch tells me she got into mountain biking through adventure racing several years ago, though MTB wasn’t exactly her favorite part of racing. After winning a qualifying race for the Australian Eco-challenge in 2001, Rusch quit her job and decided to go pro. In the beginning she says she wasn’t great at mountain biking (hard to believe) but ended up doing well at 24 Hours of Moab so she stuck with it.  At age 40 she’s in top mountain bike racing shape and in her first Leadville 100 appearance she proved it, coming in a full 25 minutes ahead of the second place woman. For those who got a chance to watch “Race Across the Sky” last month, you’ll remember Rusch saying she had no idea how she was doing during the race so she just pretended every rider in front of her was a woman she needed to catch. Talk about determination.

As a 24 Hour Solo champion, 100-mile race winner, and MTB stage racer I asked Rusch if she thought the trend toward longer, more extreme mountain bike races would continue.

“Limits are where we put them,” she replied, as naturally as if I’d asked her favorite color. Races like Leadville and stage racing are becoming more accessible to amateur competitors, allowing anyone to push their limits and Rusch sees that trend continuing for the next several years.

Of course to be competitive in mountain biking it’s super important to use the most effective training tools available. I asked Rusch how she was using technology to boost performance and she surprised me by saying she only recently started tracking cycling power data this year. More important than geeking out with measurements and computers, she says training is all about listening to your body and enjoying the ride. If only it were that easy for the rest of us…

I asked Rebecca to tell me about her favorite mountain bike trails and she says her favorites are the ones that combine plenty of pedaling with interesting terrain. The McKenzie River Trail in Oregon tops her list along with the Alpine Trail, also in Oregon. Rusch lives in Ketchum, Idaho so many of her training rides take her through Sun Valley, ID where the singletrack is scenic and never ending.

As a Specialized Team rider, Rebecca has access to the latest and greatest mountain bikes and she tells me her primary rig is an Era FSR Marathon with 4” of rear travel. Rusch has been experimenting recently with a 29er hardtail for competition and after alternating between her FS and 29er bikes during a 24 Hour race she decided to rock the 29er HT at Leadville. Apparently the decision paid off for her, despite the fact that none of the top 5 male finishers rode 29ers at Leadville this year.

Last month Rusch competed in the women’s duo class at 24 Hours of Moab and took first with teammate Gretchen Reeves. She was also on hand at the premier of Race Across the Sky in NYC on October 22 and even hung out with fans at the after party. This month she’ll be competing in Vuelta al Cotopaxi, a 2-day MTB stage race in Ecuador.

Rebecca Rusch is truly an amazing competitor and an inspiration to anyone who likes to ride fast and long. Keep up with her (if you can!) on her blog @ rebeccarusch.wordpress.com.

Believe it or not there are things happening in the MTB world that have nothing to do with Interbike this week.

Chris Eatough is retiring. Yep, the man who won six straight 24 Hour Solo championships will call it quits after racing 24 Hours of Moab this month. Eatough has been a professional racer for 10 years and his retirement plans call for working for sponsor Trek doing product testing while offering coaching services on the side. The highly recommended movie 24 Solo features Eatough and his attempt at a 7th straight 24 Hour Solo title that takes place at the 1996 Olympic MTB course outside Atlanta. We’ll miss you Chris!

Trek working on Chicago Olympic bid. President Obama isn’t the only heavy hitter working to bring the Olympics to the Windy City in 2016 – Trek Bikes is doing a little lobbying and planning of its own. Chi-town’s Olympic plans call for cycling events to take place in and around Madison, WI including MTB events at the Tyrol Basin ski area which Trek officials helped scout for the committee. We’ll keep our fingers crossed!

10 day MTB stage race in the Himalaya. The Hercules Mountain Biking Himachal claims to be the third toughest mountain bike race in the world after Trans Alps and Trans Rockies but I’m not sure how official that claim is. Everything is tougher in a third world country where access to simple things like clean drinking water can be a challenge and the fact that only 12 of the 70 competitors are from outside India tells you something about the difficulty of this race.

The route is quite tough and passes through trails on lofty mountains and gurgling streams. The expedition will not only enable the participants to test their skill, strength and spirit but also enable them to enjoy the countryside beauty of the state.

Plus, any race that also bills itself as an “expedition” has gotta be a real challenge