The Worlds Solo 24 Hours of Adrenalin Championships, held September 22-23 was a heated race featuring the toughest solo mountain bike athletes! Forty-seven endurance racers, including 12 women competed for the prestigious off road, World Champion endurance title, and a cash prize. The race was held in the Southern Californian San Bernardino Mountains at Hurkey Creek Park near Idyllwild. The high desert race saw clear skies with temperatures during the day in excess of 100 degrees, while nighttime dipped into the low 30s.

This year's race proved to be epic with a world class field of racers including current 24-hour National Champion Tinker Juarez and 1999 World Champion Rishi Grewal challenging last year's winner Chris Eatough of Great Britain. In the women's field, World Cup racer Mary Grigson of Australia, this year's female 24-hour National Champion Cristina Begy and myself, defending World Champion, battled it out for this year's title. Both fields were joined by an international pack of proven endurance athletes, familiar with the "all night long" format.

The course started at an elevation of 4,393 feet. Climbing a technical two-mile ascent, riders gained 600 feet of vertical. The roller coaster course zipped riders along a couple of singletrack miles to the second major climb, summiting riders at 5,057 feet. Reaching the high point, riders began the technical descent requiring complete focus day and night. Low brush, sand and dusty air on the twisty, turny course demanded utmost attention as weary riders rode on. The rodeo-style third section of the course bucked racers along until we thought we were home clear, then, a hike-a-bike section of deep sand and steep vertical; a calf burner as the race wore on. Soon, checkpoint #3 staff could be heard cheering and you knew it was just a couple more sand pits and a twisty trail ahead 'til the end of another lap was reached. In all, the entire course covered 10 miles with about 1,370 feet of climbing.

Shocking to all, heat, pressure and exhaustion took the early leaders out of the men's race. Setting a NORBA pace with lap times of 45 minutes, the three leaders put a huge gap on the rest of the field. After his fourth lap, Juarez sat down in his pit, never to rise again. Grewal followed suit, two laps later. Eatough held strong, pacing Juarez and Grewal lap for lap through their demise. The men's field was wide open for talent to emerge. In the end Eatough, showed the world his endurance talent triumphing the heat, nausea, fatigue and the competition by winning the event with 22 laps. Jim Dover, California, hovered just behind in second, finishing a scant 10 minutes behind Eatough. In third was Marcel Knaus from Switzerland finishing 21 laps. Knaus had a secret weapon in his pit, Andrea Clavadetscher. Andy is the RAAM 2001 Champion. He was out there cheering us all on with his youthful enthusiasm!

The women's race started with a bang! Grigson showed us her world class talent storming the first four laps in less than four hours. Begy chased strongly long into the race. The rest of us settled into a pace right away, conserving energy for the long haul hoping the gazelles would slow. Not so for Grigson, who dominated the race to the end, completing 18 laps in all! Begy and Monique Nelson of Canada, rode strong behind Grigson until midnight, while I held fourth place. By midnight, positions had changed, Nelson faltered, dropping to fourth. Begy, riding strong in the dark held second by almost an hour over my third place position. By morning I had made up time on Begy and moved into second. Riding steadily, the final positions held. As defending champion, I was happy to finish second to Grigson, talent the likes of which I had never had opportunity to race against. Begy finished out the podium in third place proving perseverance pays!

Writers note: The high temperatures, dry air and dust left all finishers exhausted. The open desert offered no relief from the heat as the tallest vegetation was knee high, leaving us overheated, sapped of energy and drinking constantly. This race venue is truly a challenge of who can keep water in and calories down as many suffer ill effects of heat stroke. At the end of the race heat stroke overtook Eatough, Begy, Grigson and myself, making podium appearances shaky at best. I am still recovering from the event today!