Boggs Mountain 8-Hour MTB Race - EPIC Day!

We had another EPIC weekend of racing, with the Boggs Mountain 8-hour Race on Saturday. It was the longest race most of us had done (with the exception of one dad, who's done the Leadville 100 (a 100-mile mountain bike race).

We had 8 racers total (9 if you include Isaiah, who raced for his East Bay team), with the Team AC racers comprised of 4 teams, totaling 5 Junior racers (Bob, Alex, Spence, Skyler, and Jack), and three Masters (me, Jeff and Ken).

The race course was a fast cross-country mountain course, not too technical with about 70% single-track, 30% fire roads, about 1150 feet of climbing per lap, and laps of about 9 miles. Total time out was between 8 and 9 hours (it started at 8:30, so total time was depending on if you made it in before the 4:30 PM "last rider out" cutoff - last rider in by 5:30 PM).

It was a long day, as we left Mill Valley at 5 AM, and got to our house a bit after 10 PM. Everyone was pretty tired, but overall it was impressive how well everyone fared for such a high level of effort sustained over a long time.

This was a great demonstration of the importance of the nutrition and hydration (thanks for the tips, Jeff!) over this kind of event. We were very fortunate with the weather, as it was in the high 40's at the start and high 60's during mid day - just perfect conditions on the trails - nice and tacky, and very little mud!

Since it was pretty hectic, with 4 riders out on the course at all times, and four racers "resting" in the popup during each lap, we really didn't get any pictures of note. However, there are some pretty amazing statistics for the overall race:

Total laps ridden: 35 laps

Total miles ridden: 315 miles

Total elevation: 40,640 feet

Fastest lap: 46 minutes (I think)

Youngest team age: 26 years (Skyler and Jack)

Oldest team age: 102 years (Ken and Rich)

Most laps/Master: Jeff (6 laps, 54 miles, 6936 ft climbing)

Most laps/Junior: Bob (5 laps, 45 miles, 5780 ft climbing)

Most laps/team Jeff/Spence - 10 laps, 90 miles, 11,560 ft climbing

Finish order out of the field of 49 two-man teams (my best recollection) was:

11th Place - Jeff and Spence
19th Place - Bob and Alex
32nd Place - Skyler and Jack
39th Place - Rich and Ken

Here is a GPS recording of the race (my slow laps, but you get the idea):
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/7890339

Everyone was generally pleased with their results, and we had no injuries of note, no flat tires, and no disabling mechanical failures over the entire 315 miles of racing. It really helped that we were very well organized, and everyone was very careful the week before to have their bike sorted out, and not make any last-minute changes.

Thanks to Jeff for organizing this great event, and I'm really looking forward to the next race - Napa Valley Dirt Classic this weekend - register today to get the free T-shirt.