Since 2007, I have been writing a blog at http://jamesmcgillis.com. In order to reach more readers, I have selected the best of my blog articles and published them here. I hope that you enjoy...
In October 2010, I attended the sixteenth annual “24 Hours of Moab” off-road bicycle race, held at Behind the Rocks,
a few miles south of Moab, Utah. As usual, it was an exciting affair,
with thousands in attendance. By Moab standards, the wind was calm and
the cloudless sky promised a warm afternoon and a cool night ahead.
For the two previous years, I had covered Dax Massey
in his quest to win his class at the Moab race. This year, I found Dax
in the Scoring Tent, checking in only fifteen minutes before the 12:00
PM start time. Competing in the Men’s Duo Championship this year, Dax
wore #89 and rode for the Honey Stinger/Trek team.
After leaving the Scoring Tent, I positioned myself
to see Dax complete his Le Mans style, running start. As I watched, Dax
made a quick getaway on his first lap. He and his partner, Nate Bird
would complete nineteen laps during the following twenty-four hours.
In the 2010 race, Dax and Nate came in a close
second to the Hammer Duo team of Ben Parsons and Clint Muhlfeld.
Regardless of their placement, Dax Massey and his exciting style of off-road bike racing were a pleasure to see. In order to see for yourself, watch the accompanying video.
On October 10 and 11, 2009 we were Behind the Rocks near Moab, Utah covering the fifteenth annual 24 Hours of Moab off-road bicycle race. In 2008, we had written about Dax Massey of Boulder, Colorado and his teammate Dean Miller
of Littleton, CO. Among the eighteen Duo Pro teams in that contest, Dax
and Dean had pedaled the farthest and fastest, thus assuring their
class victory.
In order to allow an injured kidney to heal, Dean
Miller has sidelined himself for the 2009 season. Dean’s temporary
retirement required Dax Massey to create a new team or go solo in Moab.
In a lucky break for all, veteran rider Rebecca Tomaszewski joined Dax, forming the #86, Niner - Ergon - Bach Builders team for the 2009 24 Hours of Moab.
From experience, we knew to arrive at the racing
venue about two hours before the start. This allowed us to speak with
Rebecca and Dax before they entered their race-mode. When the two posed
for a picture with Kava, the bear-like dog, we could see immediately
that the pair made a natural team. They were comfortable with themselves
and accepting of the arduous task that lay before them.
With Suzuki’s departure this year as a sponsor, the
lack of a huge stage structure made the racing venue appear smaller and
more intimate. After the “24 Hours of Dust” event last year, we were
pleased to see Knut & Sons water truck liberally dispensing its
liquid organic dust control agent.
Carrie joined me at the race this year, and
thoroughly enjoyed both days of the event. We watched the Le Mans start,
and then drove back towards U.S. Highway 191. We had invited friends to the Moab Rim RV Campark
for dinner that evening. Our comfort while sharing food and wine with
friends stood in stark contrast to Rebecca and Dax’s evening pedaling
into the darkness on a high desert plateau.
Before we departed the venue on Saturday afternoon,
we stopped where the racecourse crossed a sandy dry wash. As second-lap
riders started their own first lap of the day, they soon approached a
dry wash, cut into the mesa. After a brisk ride across the mesa,
riders faced a steep cut, dropping about fifteen feet to the bottom of
the wash. As ever more riders arrived at this point, they poured over
the precipice. This continual flow of humans and bicycles reminded us of
an old movie, showing hundreds of lemmings dropping off cliffs and into
the sea.
As the intensity of race activity increased, bicycle
brakes were useless on the slope. One either rolled out on to the mat
at the bottom of the hill, or went head first over the handlebars.
Already, at this early stage of the race, the non-woven
mat intended as a viaduct across the sand was out of place. Riders
either bulled their way across the sand with main strength or dismounted
and ran across the arroyo beside their bikes.
Later, we heard that the accident rate at this
year’s race exceeded that of all fourteen previous 24 Hours of Moab
races. Although most accidents happened in darkness, paramedics and
emergency medical technicians were often busy stabilizing injured riders
and transporting them to Allen Memorial Hospital in Moab.
With all of our technology and expertise, why should accidents and injuries at the
race reach an all-time high? We believe that the continued
deterioration of the course is the main problem. In order not to destroy
any more of the desert than the existing racecourse already has, only
minor course changes occur from year to year. With evermore loose soil
and erosion throughout the course, tire traction fails and spills become
commonplace.
If organizers change the course to a new track, that
will create yet another scar on the land. Yet, the longer the race runs
on the old course, the more dangerous it will become. Is there a
logical and cost-effective solution to both the environmental and safety
issues that now exist? Yes, but it will take a paradigm shift for race organizers and environmentalists alike.
Granny Gear Productions is proud that after each
race, they leave the venue in as close to a natural state as they found
it before setup. Previously used for cattle grazing, the area is far
from pristine. Still, the lack of barriers along the entry road invites
campers to create new entrances into the campground at will. On the
racecourse, temporary ramps and rubberized viaducts shift easily, but
staking down the mats would create an additional hazard for riders.
After fifteen consecutive years, the 24 Hours of
Moab is a tradition that appears to have staying power.
Environmentalists can lament the long, slow process of deterioration at
Behind the Rocks, or they can get involved and help create solutions. In
and around Moab, there is more trail rehabilitation expertise than
almost anywhere in the country. With as many jeep trails, bicycle tracks
and social roads that exist in the area, trail restoration has become
the non-profit cottage industry of choice.
Organizations such as Red Rock Forests, Plateau Restoration,
National Public Lands Day and others have local experience in such
matters. If they were to collaborate with Granny Gear Productions and
the Bureau of Land Management, a working restoration and maintenance plan for the entire venue could easily arise.
To leave the plateau in its current state of
mismanagement, invites further destruction of the local environment. If
the environmental and bicycle racing communities do nothing, the plateau
will become a vortex for dust storms even larger than the one that hit
on race day 2008. Directly downwind of Behind the Rocks are the La Sal Range. Already in 2009, the La Sal snowpack received two major dust storms from as far south as Monument Valley, Arizona. The more dust that falls on the snowpack, the quicker the snowmelt and the less water there will be available to irrigate the Spanish Valley and Moab.
As we returned to the venue on Sunday morning, the
air was clear and bright. Rebecca had finished her eighth and final
14.9-mile lap of the race. She admitted to us that at around 4:00 AM,
her resolve and composure had vanished in the night. Somehow, she had
retained enough energy to finish that lap without incident. As the new
day dawned, she went on to complete two more circuits of the course.
As we arrived, Dax was out on the course, completing
his final lap of the race. With only two minutes remaining before the
gun sounded, Dax completed his team’s final lap. Throughout the previous
twenty-four hours, his lap times had never varied by more than fourteen
minutes. As Dax rode into the scoring tent, the intensity of the moment
was apparent on his face. Until he logged in with the scorers for the
final time, there was no letdown in his intensity.
As we had hoped, Rebecca Tomaszewski and Dax Massey
not only won their class, they placed thirtieth overall in a starting
field of 365 teams. Of the twenty-five teams that completed seventeen
laps, Rebecca and Dax were the fastest. Although the course was
challenging and they had stretched their physical and emotional
endurance to the limits, Rebecca and Dax graciously accepted their
award. When it was over, their convincing victory at the 2009 24 Hours
of Moab thrilled their many fans, including Carrie and me.
As we know, the Anasazi, Pre-Puebloans or The Ancients, depending on which name you wish to apply, vacated “The Far Country” now known as Moab, Utah
by 1350 CE. Between 650 BC and the time of their departure, they took
the time to leave visual messages for us to find and enjoy. Whether
their art took the form of pictographs or petroglyphs is not important. What is important to us in our current time is that they were both visually and artistically oriented.
The term “starving artist” simply could not apply in
their environment. Only after sufficient hunting and gathering to see
them through the winter, did they have time to create their
painstakingly incised rockart. Experts estimate that each pictograph
may have taken several weeks and several separate processes to complete.
From 1350 CE until now (2008), is 658 years.
Although the exact number of years is not important, it is important to
see how we, the new stewards of Mother Earth are treating both Gaia and
ourselves.
Not five miles from my first visit to the unique and previously undocumented rockart of Johnsons On Top mesa, lies the 24 Hours
of Moab off-road bike race. After viewing the first hour and the last
hour of this unique and unparalleled bicycle race, I came away with
enough memories to fill a lifetime. In fact, the unusual and intense
24-hour racing format lends itself to new energies and activities. If
you read my previous article, you know that I was on a mission to track down Dax Massey and Dean Miller, the two and only members of the Bach Builders Shake & Bake Duo Pro mountain bike racing team.
Having checked the race website for live race results both late last night and "early
this morning, I knew that Dax and Dean were well on their way to a
category win in the 24 Hours of Moab and an overall category win for
their five-race season. Whether by design or by circumstances, these
men are elusive. Not only had I missed them on the racecourse
yesterday, but again today. Just after the race ended at Noon, I
enquired about them at the scoring table. The gentleman there told me
that they came in before Noon and did not need to go out for one more
grueling fifteen-mile lap.
Determined
to see them and congratulate them on their win, I waited the two and
one half hours until the awards ceremonies began. Since there was
nothing else to do while waiting for the ceremony, I mounted the four
flights of stairs that ended at an observation deck almost thirty feet
in the air. There, Suzuki Motors, the corporate sponsor of the 24 Hours
of Moab provided an unparalleled view of the Behind The Rocks area and the La Sal Mountains.
The only furniture on the deck was six massaging lounge chairs. What
better way to relax and meet new friends than when everyone is "relaxing
to a near-professional level massage in the great outdoors? Thank you to Suzuki Motors for supporting the 24 Hours of Moab in such a great way.
When they came to unplug the massage chairs, I made my way downstairs to the
awards ceremony. Around 3:00 PM, Dean and Dax came to the podium to
accept their Moab and series championship trophies on behalf of their
sponsor, Bach Builders. Engrossed in capturing the scene on my Sony
MiniDV video camera, I had time to take only one still shot.
"When they exited the stage, I took off after them. Just as I visually
located Dean, I remembered that I had left my gloves on a folding chair,
back at the awards ceremony. By the time I retrieved my gloves, both
Dax and Dean had disappeared.
Six hundred and fifty-eight years after the Anasazi
vacated Moab area without a trace, so too did Dean and Dax. The Anasazi
left us with enduring artwork for all to enjoy. Dean and Dax added to
their reputation as the best single-speed, Duo Pro mountain bike racers
in the country, if not the world. Congratulations to Dean and Dax. With luck, I will catch up with you again, at the 2009 24 Hours of Moab.
Dax & Dean of "Shake & Bake" Team Pedal Towards Victory
Every year, thousands gather to watch
the most exciting off-road bicycle race in the world. Join us, as we
review the excitement of the 2008 24 Hours of Moab.
After midnight in Moab, it is 39 f degrees outside,
but the wind chill on exposed human flesh feels like 34 f degrees. To
the north, in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, a major winter snowstorm
rages. Although no precipitation has fallen here in the past five days,
the storm to the north is acting like an atmospheric vacuum cleaner,
pulling in strong winds from the south.
At Noon Saturday, the thirteenth annual Suzuki “24 Hours of Moab” mountain bike race began at its traditional course “Behind the Rocks”,
ten miles south of Moab. For those who do not know, the “24 Hours of
Moab” is the premier endurance race of its kind. For all of those
years, Laird Knight and his Granny Gear Productions has been the driver
behind this event.
As the huge regional storm was building to the north
on Friday night, thousands of mountain bike racers and race fans made
camp on a former cattle-grazing land near the Start/Finish line. As
they spent the night in tents near the course, I slept in my heated
travel trailer, at the full-service Moab Rim Campark,
ten miles away. Even in my sheltered spot, I awakened several times
overnight, fearful that my trailer might blow over in the wind. I can
only imagine how little sleep the racers and fans may have gotten in
their campground that night.
On Saturday morning, I drove to the race site,
intent upon finding the two-man Bach Builders Team, also known as “Team
Shake & Bake”, comprised of Dax Massey of Boulder
and Dean Miller of Littleton, Colorado. Having met both men in the
parking lot of a Moab supermarket the previous day, I wanted to
photograph and interview them before the start of their 24-hour race.
Upon my arrival at the camp and racecourse, the thousands of tents,
bikes and racers made me realize that finding Dax and Dean was unlikely.
As the minutes counted down to race time, the winds
built in equal measure. Sweeping winds alternated with vortices of
super-fine red dust. Almost immediately, the actuator on my digital
camera developed a gritty feel. Looking like bandits or bank robbers,
many fans around me wore bandanas over their noses and mouths. After
realizing that the western bandana is really an early type of filtration
device, I lamented the fact that I had left mine at home.
The race includes an exciting “LeMans Start”,
patterned after the classic sports car race of old. Rather than running
to their sports cars, our bike racers first ran one hundred yards out,
then one hundred yards back, before jumping on their bikes and pedaling
away.
With the strong wind and the loud public address
system whipping up the crowd, the race start was pure pandemonium.
Crowd control broke down, with fans, photographers and racers
intermingling like Native Americans stampeding a herd of American Bison
toward at cliff.
I would like to say that after the race started that the dust cleared, but it did
not. After the racers pedaled furiously away, the PA announcer told us
that we would not see the leaders return from their fifteen-mile loop
for about an hour. Being a long distance bike-racing fan is like
working for the CIA. There is endless boredom, punctuated by occasional
action, when the riders return. If the race itself is a test of
endurance, for fans it is a test of dedication.
Since I am a math whiz, I realized that at the pace
of one lap per hour, I would see each of my favorite team riders not
more than twelve times over the 24-hour period. After eating more dust
than ever before in my life, I decided to leave the scene, planning to
return for the final hour of racing, late Sunday morning.
Why would so many people brave such hardships to
participate in or watch a 24-hour bike race on a remote, windswept
mesa? The roots of off-road bicycle racing go back to the late 1960s,
when a few intrepid souls raced up (or was it down) Mount Tamalpais, in
Marin County, California. Not to be outdone, young men and women
throughout the Rocky Mountain region took up the sport in the 1980s and
1990s. Now that it is a mature, if niche sport, off-road bicycle
endurance racing appears to attract participants in their late twenties
to their early forties. There are younger and older participants, but
the core group has “Generation X” (for extreme?) written all over them.
As I complete and post this article, the high, cold
mesa is still a beehive of activity, with racers, volunteers and support
staff monitoring the ongoing race. As I prepare to retire, it reminds
me that Dax and Dean will have little rest again tonight. Only when one
passes their team baton to the other, can the first rider rest for an
hour or two, depending on their riding schedule.
I forgot to mention that when I met Dean on Friday
afternoon, an injury to his right hand and wrist prevented him from
offering me a traditional handshake. Undaunted, Dax and Dean planned to
come in first in their self-supported Duo-Pro class. If they finish at
all, they will be my heroes. As I write this article, time wears on.
According to current race results provided by promoter Granny Gear, Bach
Builders/Team Shake & Bake is currently in thirteenth place overall
and they are first in the Duo-Pro category. While they clocked early
laps at one hour, eleven minutes, their after-midnight lap times have
fallen to one hour and thirty-one minutes. Go Dax and Dean. I shall
cheer your anticipated victory at the finish line on Sunday at Noon.
Email James McGillis
did
not. After the racers pedaled furiously away, the PA announcer told us
that we would not see the leaders return from their fifteen-mile loop
for about an hour. Being a long distance bike-racing fan is like
working for the CIA. There is endless boredom, punctuated by occasional
action, when the riders return. If the race itself is a test of
endurance, for fans it is a test of dedication. 
