Mark Patten - 2001 24-Hour World Championship Story

	2001 24-Hour World Championship Story By Mark Patten 2001 UMCA Championships East Coast!- West Coast! Party over here, party over there, party in Iowa! The roads to Iowa came from both coast of America this year! A California pierced-out punk and a Floridain Chemist! Call it what you want, but this year Melanie Ashby from Florida and Mark Patten from California raced a tandem at this year's Championships for 449.18 miles to set a new tandem course record along with doing the most miles of the day for a solo bike. Melanie and I met in Florida while I was training there during the winter with Rob Kish two winters ago. She was on Gator Hell Week and I joined the group while they rode through the Daytona Beach area. This winter I rode with the Gator group again and noticed that Melanie had developed a good spin and was holding her own with the "boys". Melanie and I ended up eating at the same table for dinner that night and we talked a little bit about her riding style and racing. She told me that she had "never raced before" and that she "wasn't competitive". Now, I don't know if this is a standard response for women, but I knew by how she was riding earlier in the day, that she was and is competitive. I know there was no prizes at the end of the day's ride, but there was some racing going on! I asked her if she would like to do the Championships on a tandem that night and to my surprise she said that she was interested. "Yes! I had me another victim… I mean tandem partner." I explained to her that I would have to see how I felt after RAAM and that we should try to ride the tandem a couple of times during the year before racing for 24 hour together. The truth was, I was giving her and myself a chance to bail if either of us wanted. I personally have done this crazy thing before (race a tandem with a partner that I have never ridden with before) and done very well. We were never able to get our schedules to work in a training ride or two together. We were able to ride two separate days during the week leading up to the race, for a total of 75 miles of training together. "Oh, how much training do you need to go 450 miles in 24 hours on a tandem for your first race?" Well I guess the answer for us was that 75 miles, but I'll let you know that Melanie did a lot of training during the 8 months leading up to the race. She dropped a couple of pounds (which you wouldn't notice, because she is already thin) and worked on her spin some more. We would shoot for 454 miles and a new course record for tandems (those were was my goals) and Melanie would try to stay awake for the whole 24 hours. I had threatened her earlier with saying I would tape her on the bike if she fell asleep during the race :) No other tandems were signed up before hand so it looked good for us to win the tandem category. Surprise! George Thomas (captain of the previous tandem record) and Terri Gosh (woman winner of 2001 Race Across Oregon) were there at the sign-ups and are planning on doing RAAM on a tandem! Ok, it's one thing to race for 24 hours for the first time and not train together before the race, but to have to go against a tandem team that is training for RAAM etc. Please! We didn't have a chance. Our starting time was one minute after Superman Tom Buckley (Male Solo Champ) and one minute before Sandy Kenny (Female Solo Champ and female record holder) little did we know, but the three of us would end up winning our categories. If we would keep Tom in sight for the race I thought we had a chance to get that 454 miles, since Tom is good for around that number of miles every time he does a 24-hour race. We were able to keep Tom in sight, as a mater of fact, Tom and us rode near each other into the night. During one of the night loops Tom hit a bump in the road and had problems with his lights, that was the last time we saw him. We did the day loop without stopping once. Tom had a crew (Sue), but we were on our own for the race. We stopped at the van when we got into town and loaded up drinks etc., had a bathroom break, then cased after Tom. 2 night loops then stop at the van for supplies was our plan for the evening. It's hard knowing where you stand during a 24-hour race. We had no one to tell us where the other tandem was etc., and the fact that they started around 60 minutes after us didn't help our cause. During the night we passed Sandy Kenny a couple of times and I knew she wasn't having one of her best races. She was in "la-la land" and I didn't say anything to her until we were passed her in fear that I would scare her. One of the most inspiring things during the night was coming up onto the hand cyclist. The strength it must take to ride for 24-hours is beyond my comprehension and I've done RAAM 4 times. The temperatures stayed nice through the night and the winds were never that strong. The new night loop was hard to get a good rhythm on. We never did do a real good lap, at some point during the lap we would let our speed drop lower than it should have been. Our race could have ended after the first 2 miles, when we leaving town on the day loop a car almost pulled out in front of us. I would never had been able to stop the tandem in time if it had pulled out. All in all things were going good. The time off the bike wasn't bad and Melanie was doing a very good job staying steady throughout the whole race. Our goal was in reach and if it all worked out we would make it to the end without any problems. "Ping!" The sound that every tandem captain hates to hear, you know what it is before you even look. I asked Melanie to look at the rear wheel to see if it was bad. She said it looked "OK", besides, we only had time for 2 more laps anyway. I told her we should "ease-off" on the rollers so that the wheel would stay together. With 5 miles into our last lap the "ping" came from the wheel again, this time I didn't need to ask, I could feel it in the bike. We backed off even more and made it about 6 more miles when your time was out. Later I found out that the rear hub flange broke in 2 places. 449.18 miles was the distance Dave gave us. So close to my goals, but really , what was I thinking! Melanie did a GREAT JOB! Her first race ever! A 24-Hour race for her first race! On a Tandem! (believe me, it's harder on a tandem) I couldn't have asked for anything more from her and she did it! We ended up winning the tandem category and setting a new tandem course record! I wish the other tandem team well on RAAM, Melanie and I won't be there on a tandem :) This race took place only 4 days after "9-11" and I'm glad Dave Holmes went on with the race. He knew that some racers wouldn't be able to make it to Iowa, but that others had traveled a good distance to be there. I'm not saying the race is more important than that day, but that we need things in life that make it worth it's value. I value the time I got to race with Melanie and hope she continues with her "noncompetitive ways". Home Page Mark's Cycling Resume RAAM Photo Gallery 99, 00, 01, 02 Furnace Creek 508 Photo Gallery, 2001, 2002 Mississippi Valley 24 Photo Gallery Fun Photo Gallery Click here to join my list of sponsors. E-Mail Read stories I have written about my races: Do's and Don'ts of Ultra Team Racing - Team 508 '99 Have Legs Will Travel - UMCA 24-hr. Championships '97 & '99 What? Are you stupid! - BAM '96