THE 24 HOUR EXPERIENCE

Photo by Phil Whisenant

by Kurt Lucas

Just a few short weeks after the FTR Hare Scramble season came to a close the boys and I headed up to the Perry Mountain 24 Hour Challenge in Plantersville, Alabama. I did my first 24 Hour in 2019 and it was a learning experience but a great time nonetheless. Unfortunately the event was canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19 which left me eager and ready to get back there in 2021. Tommy Hill, our team “leader” assembled an excellent team this year that included myself, Shawn Clark, Clay Lyons, Alex Mitz, Martin Cox and Tommy. Our team name was “Blue-Calf Factory Racing” (Tommy’s idea, ask him what it means) and we were hopeful we could compete in the Expert class and shooting for a top five overall finish.

Once the team was put together and the Facebook group chat was created, Shawn Clark began to dig deep on his 24 Hour Challenge research spending hundreds, if not thousands, of hours on YouTube studying course layout, soil conditions and lighting options. The group admired the dedication no doubt.

Justin Moraine started the race for “Team South Florida”

For those of you who are not familiar with the event think of it as a 24 hour team hare scramble that starts at 10 AM on Saturday and ends at 10 AM on Sunday. There are multiple classes for every rider skill level, six-rider, four-rider duo and solo classes as well. The lap was right around 11 miles long and featured fast flowy trails, some tight single track and even a motocross section.

After many weeks of anticipation the event was finally here as we left mid day Thursday and made the nine hour drive up to central Alabama. My dad, Paul Lucas, drove up Shawn Clark and I and I kid you not Shawn must have watched the official preview video 20 times, he had this track dialed. We arrived around 10 PM on Thursday night and met up with some of the other Florida based teams and set up camp. Friday morning rolls around and we wait in line to get our spot on pit row, we set up next to the “Blue-Calf Killers”, a Sportsman team consisting of Jon McCabe, Joey Medina, Paul Lucas, David Hill, Danny Hill and Cory Lukosavich. On the other side of us was “Team South Florida”, a 30+ team that consisted of Ricky Skaggs, Matt Lyons, Josh Lyons, Seth Robbins, Jeff Petrosky and Justin Moraine.

After setting up the pit my dad and I hopped on our eMTBs and went out for a nice trail ride to get our first look at the trail, there is no practice lap so this would be our only chance to see the trail before our sessions in the race. The trail was perfect, they received the perfect amount of rain it created the best conditions imaginable. Needless to say I was so stoked after that bike ride. The rest of the day was spent hanging out, signing up and setting up our lights and the entire team was pumped for what the next day had in store.

Ricky Skaggs looking clean at the beginning of the race We as a team decided Shawn Clark should go first due to his excellent starts and the fact that we weren’t sure if he would be able to wait any longer. Sure enough, Shawn got the holeshot and would quickly close in on the front line of the Elite teams. As they came around on the first lap we sat in second overall and second in class behind the “Law Tigers/Max Motorsports” team. After three laps Shawn’s session was over and we were sitting first overall. Next up was Alex Mitz who would run into trouble on his second lap and have to come in a lap early with some loose bars. Tommy Hill and Clay Lyons put in strong rides and I was up next.

During Clay’s session it began to rain so the track became super slick and rough making throttle control a key compenent in staying off the ground. I had a decent first lap after battling some arm pump and was starting to feel the flow when disaster struck. They had a downhill section that was very fast and in the middle of the section were two, three feet wide bridges over a creek. Well due to the slippery conditions I got super loose coming up to them, missed the main rut and sent myself into a creek. Luckily the water was only an inch or two high so I wasn’t completely soaked but I layed there wondering how in the world I was going to get my bike out, I could not believe it. After about ten minutes of pushing, pulling, flipping and kicking I was able to get my bike up the muddy ledge of the creek. I was spent, my gloves were muddy and my goggles were filled with water. I finished up the lap and came in to let Martin Cox start his session.

“BlueCalf Killers” finished up second in the Sportsmen class

Photo by Wendy Belcher

After one complete run through of our lineup we were sitting in fifth overall and third in our class. At this point it was beginning to get dark which always makes things interesting, Shawn went out and put down three fast laps as we began to cut back into the leaders time. Alex went out and did four laps to make up for his bike issue earlier in the day. Next up was Tommy and at this point we were ten hours into the race and about seven minutes behind the leader. Clay went out for his second session and unfortunately would only get two laps due to losing his rear brakes. This caught us off guard and it was a mad scramble to get my helmet on and get the wires for my helmet lights tucked into my hradration pack. Unfortunatley the panic lead to me not zipping up my hydration pack, causing the wires to get wrapped in my rear wheel and cutting out one of my helmet lights. After a brief stop to get the remaining wires squared away I began to feel the flow before my $30 amazon bike light decided to come loose. I did my best with one helmet light and finished up my three laps.

It was now nearing midnight and I was wore out, I headed back to the camper, ate some food took a shower and tried to get some sleep before my next session which would be around seven in the morning. About an hour into my nap I get a call from Tommy saying that Clay is sick and will not be able to ride his next session. This ends my nap as I then head back to the pits to get ready to go. With the 24 hour you have to be ready to roll once the person before you starts their ride incase they run into issues. This does not allow you to get much sleep if at all, one of the factors that makes this event so challenging.

Now I would leave for my last session just after five in the morning, which I was stoked about because the sunrise ride is the best ride. The sun coming up gives you a boost of energy and being able to see the trail without lights creates some confidence in your riding. At this point the team in the lead, Law Tigers/Max Motorspots, had resorted to doing two-lap sessions which allowed us to catch up a bit because they wasted more time in the pits. At the start of my ride we were nine minutes down and by the end of my three laps the gap had closed to one minute and twenty seconds. I felt awesome on the bike as some light rain continued to fall and keep the ground moist, the conditions were epic.

Closing in the gap gave the team some hope that we could actually win this damn thing. Martin went out and put down two heaters before the team made the deciosn to pull him off early and let Shawn and Alex put in their best efforts to try and win this race. The other team had their best riders out there and when Shawn went out for his first lap we were eight and a half minutes back at the 22 hour mark. Shawn put down four heater laps and came through the chicane at the exact same time as the Law Tigers/Max Motorsports team. The rain began to fall harder and harder causing the track to fall apart for the last two laps. Alex went out and crushed it and after 54 laps and 24 hours and 14 minutes later we were able to grab the win by just over a minute. We finished second overall out of 99 teams.

The 24 Hour Challenge is such a great event and you don’t really appreciate all the fun until you are loaded up and making your way home. The other FTR teams and riders did awesome as well. “Crazy’s From The South”, which consisted of Sebastian LeBlanc, Francisco LeBlanc, David Sietz, Travis Hulfish, Scott Moore and Landon Lynn, finished third in Expert and fifth overall. The “BlueCalf Killers” finished second in Sportsman and “Team South Florida” finished third in 30+. ‘”Anytime Fitness of Central Florida”, consisting of Brandon Brinkman, Matt Tucker, Glenn Peroni, Graham Kimble, Tom Kent and Eric Bruland, finished fifth in Sportsman, and Stan Blahacek finished seventh in Ironman 40+.

MATT LYONS