2022 edition of 24 hours of Starvation Ridge October 29 & 30

[bluefxstc]

I will let the other riders speak for themselves, but I thought it was another great race this year. Course was longer this year at about 22 miles a lap. Our lap times were typically 1 hour to 1.5 hours depending on time of day and the rider. The course length did provide some problems for the more aggressive riders and we did have one team mate run his battery dead at mile 19 so some acceleration control was in order on following laps. For me, (think old and slower) this wasn't a problem and I typically ended each lap with about 1/3 of my battery remaining. All of us got in 4 laps, so about 80-90 miles and 4-5 hours of racing over 24 hours. I will admit that I am a little sore today (I must be getting old), but absolutely worth it.

Dirt was great. Just enough moisture to keep the dust down, but not really muddy except in a couple of places, Just enough mud to make the bike dirty so it looked like you actually did something. Virtually no rain, just a few drops here and there, but I did see an awesome rainbow as the sun was coming up on my last lap. Just enough distraction to divert my attention so some woops and rocks caught me off guard and made things real sporty for a few seconds.

Overall, a great event. No injuries to bikes or riders. I am really looking forward to next year, if there is a race next year. The race organizers are getting older and commented in the riders meeting that this may have been the last year, but I hope not. Only time will tell, ,but if there is a next year, I will be there.

 

[Redwolf]

Couldn't have said it better, had an awesome time, and look forward to next year! Hopefully Scott has the ambition to and/or assistance needed to put the event on for several more years.

 

[Jared]

Couldn't have said it better, had an awesome time, and look forward to next year! Hopefully Scott has the ambition to and/or assistance needed to put the event on for several more years.

I have noticed concern on some of the forums as to whether this race will happen next year, and riders are being encouraged to express appreciation to Scott and Debbie for what they and the volunteers do as well as to consider volunteering themselves if possible. The amount of time/work involved with putting it together is probably not realized by most participants. Just consider if you will, the hundreds of reflector stakes and thousands of course marker ribbons (hand-driven/tied that you passed while riding the course (probably 30 miles of it with the 13 bypass/go around options). And that’s just one of the many parts of putting it together. Scott takes pride in his events, and I noticed some things on the course that were not finished to his usual level, so they probably ran out of time getting ready. I was at my truck making breakfast and overheard one of the guys in the pit across the row bragging about how robustly he roosted one of the volunteer sweepers…it made me so mad I almost lost it! Anyhow, my son and I had a great time, and we hope many more races are put on by OTBG.

 

[Philip]

I had so much fun last weekend! Thank you so much to all who my 24 hours of Starvation Ridge team members: @bluefxstc, @Redwolf, @Jared and Silas!

Many thanks to Gary @bluefxstc for letting me park my van at his place. This made this whole transcontinental trip possible and enjoyable.

 

[Philip]

I have a few pictures to share. I wish I had take more!

Our pit area:

 

[Philip]

Bikes at the start of the race:

 

[Philip]

@Jared and his supermodified Alta with frame-mounted rally headlights and custom fabricated forged magnesium radiator shrouds!

 

[Philip]

There were at least a dozen of female racers at the race. Many were very-very fast! I got passed by a couple of them, both times at night.

Here is one of the women's teams - Team Boo Bees. They actually raced in these skirts and with the wings on their backs!

A third girl t-boned me when I changed my mind and slowed down to take a different split in the course. I didn't hear her coming from the back! This doesn't happen often when riding an electric! I crashed but she stayed up and kept going. I saw a very sad and sorry face when she looked back to check whether I was okay. I was okay, LOL.

 

[bluefxstc]

I wrote a thank you email to Scott and Debbie, the race organizers, and this is the response I received back.

Thanks Gary,

We love this race. We have lost so many helpers this last year, it was a real struggle to get everything done. We have a couple of clubs and several individuals that have offered to help next year so I think that we will be able to hold it again.

Thanks so much for your support. We dodged a bullet with the weather. It started raining yesterday and has continued raining today.

We will see you next year,

Debbie

Sounds like we may have a race next year. I will keep everyone informed. Maybe next year we will be able to have 2 or 3 teams. Maybe the fast team, faster team and the fastest team.

 

[Redwolf]

Awesome, thanks for sharing our appreciation with them. I sure hope they get the help needed to make another year happen. If one more body would help, I would be all ready to pitch in!

 

[Jared]

 

[Jared]

Results are in. So we finished 5th in our class. Philip clocked us off the course at 10:32am. 18 laps were counted (one lap was not counted and one rider elected to skip his turn).

 

[bluefxstc]

I think I divided this up correctly. It may be easier to read. You can find the raw data here.

PLACE	RIDER	LAPS	FINISH	DIFFERENCE	NAME	AVG SPD	CLASS
5	173C	18	10:32:40.90	0:27	RIDE THE LIGHTNING	8.24	CLUB C

97 / 42:07 / 0:10

43 / 45:08 / 0:08

65 / 75:49 / 0:30

83 / 94:30 / 1:36

88 /132:31 / 0:52

86 / 77:18 / 8:24

82 / 72:50 / 30:08

85 /117:39 / 13:31

82 / 68:27 / 8:46

80 / 75:29 / 0:30

77 / 80:40 / 8:13

76 / 74:58 / 14:27

76 /130:10 / 12:48

72 / 68:32 / 16:44

67 / 63:18 / 75:00

67 / 84:05 / 4:01

65 / 66:13 / 31:20

66 / 71:57 / 0:27

 

[Jared]

Yes, that does look right. The 132 minute lap is Philip and I’s laps combined because his bike battery died and thus did not go through the checkpoint (I took GoPro video of my run, so I do have my time for that lap). My worst lap time was the 75 minute night lap that I rode Silas’ supermini.

 

[Redwolf]

I can certainly tell which laps were mine!

 

[Philip]

Looks like after I switched to Map 1 and stopped using brakes, all my laps became exactly 68 minutes long, LOL! The last lap was 71 minutes because I waited three minutes for the checkered flag.

@bluefxstc must have been sandbagging after his first blazing hot 45-minute lap, LOL! We should have marked and used that secret shortcut for our entire team!

 

[F451]

Good job guys!

 

[bluefxstc]

Good job guys!

You should join us next year. We are probably going to loose @Jared's son next year to the youth team so we will have a couple of openings or we could have 2 teams if we get enough bikes and riders.

 

[bluefxstc]

@bluefxstc must have been sandbagging after his first blazing hot 45-minute lap, LOL!

I just didn't want you guys to feel bad when you looked at your lap times. I wanted to be a team player.

 

[Redwolf]

For anyone with an hour to waste, here's 3/4 of my first lap... Until my camera battery died.