I push on and come into the pit area around 2am after I don't know how many laps. I take a long look at my North Face two-meter dome tent, the "Himalayan Hotel." Boy, I could get comfortable quick in there. Then I look just past the tent and see Pat Irwin (Airborne Direct) taking off on another lap. Pat is riding a single speed bicycle in a 24-hour race. I remember when eight speed cassettes came out and I was still on a seven speed, I thought I was at a huge disadvantage. Here he is on ONE gear! Not only that but he was riding a rigid fork...no suspension at all.

I look at my plush White Brothers suspension fork, and the 27 speed drivetrain on my Airborne, and suddenly I don't feel sorry for myself. I hop on my bike and ride in circles for the rest of the night. Daylight finally arrives after almost 12 hours of darkness. My lap times speed up but so do those of the two guys in front of me. Actually, I don't think the standings have changed since the nine-hour mark. We could have ended the race then and saved a lot of suffering. Speaking of suffering, Brett Wolfe beat one third of this elite field, by riding 12 laps. This is truly significant because Brett has only one leg. And let me tell you from personal experience, pedaling a bicycle over dirt and rocks with two legs is one of the hardest ways to spend 24 hours. Doing it with only one requires a supreme physical and emotional effort.