Dear Light & Motion,

World Solo Championships in Whistler, B.C.

As I travel to and from this event each year, I inevitably get into conversations with other travelers along the way on the planes, in lines, and elsewhere. Their reactions are always the same as I try to explain the nature of my trip. "He rides his bike for how long?" they ask, with incredulous looks on their faces. "How long does he stop for?"
"He doesn't stop," I reply, "it's a race the whole time. He eats, drinks, and does everything on the go."
This is often met with a shake of the head, as if they don't believe somebody could or would actually do this voluntarily. Well folks, he's done it again. For the sixth year running, Chris Eatough has won the World Solo Championships.

The event could easily have been called the 24 hours of heavy precipitation this year. A steady, drenching rain fell from the time the pre-race instructions were given on Saturday morning pretty much non stop all the way through the finish at noon on Sunday. No joke, it rained for 23 of the 24 hours. Chris opened up with some blistering 52-55 minute laps and opened a gap early with some other elite riders, and he never looked back. As the daylight waned on Saturday, he did stop for a bit more clothing, but otherwise he just kept turning lap after lap with a steady rhythm.

His wife Allison had meals ready for him each lap that had been meticulously planned. After his bout with hyponatrenia in Spokane this past May, Chris left nothing to chance with his diet. He has been working with a nutrition specialist at Carmichael Training Systems, and he had over a dozen small meals mapped out for himself at about 350-450 calories each. This or that drink mixture, some potato chips, fig bars, ham sandwiches, pancakes with syrup, and warm rice pudding, along with the usual staple race foods of powerbars and powergels, kept him going strong. Over the course of the race he took in nearly 10,000 calories, slightly more then the average recommended 2,500 a day for adults.
Although Tinker wasn't among the competitors this year, Chris did have his work cut out for him. Pushing him were Subaru/Fisher rider Nat Ross, European 24 hour solo champ Thomas Hodlmoser from Austria, 24 hour strongman and tattooed freak (but a very nice fellow) Mark Hendershot, and a relatively new elite 24 hour racer named Ernesto Marenchin from Ohio. Chris's gap fluctuated from about 25 to 40 minutes through the night hours as he contended with wave after wave of cold rain. His Light & Motion lighting systems performed flawlessly all night long, blazing a path through the thick British Columbia forest trails.

Chris's pit crew this year were Allison, on food and drink duties, Steve Borkoski, on bike duties, his dad Mike, who drove down the mountain nearly every lap to meet Chris part way around his lap, and myself, managing lighting, pit stops, and logistics. It's always amazing how people hold up under the stress of a bike race, especially when you throw in the added element of working a 30 hour shift with no breaks, but I have to say there couldn't have been a finer crew assembled, and Mike, Allison and Steve all went at it with the same energy and thoroughness on lap 1 as lap 21, even if their eyes looked a little glazed and droopy by the end. We had expected to have our webcam up again, but were unable to get internet access due to a local server crash. We still tried to get a few updates to the website, and were surprised to see that over 2000 people had checked the site anyway, hoping to catch glimpses of the race in progress. Thanks go out to the one hundred plus friends and family who posted well wishes and comments.

Things got pretty exciting in the morning, as Ernie Marenchin and Chris each made stops at different times to put on clothing and regroup for the morning laps and the closing hours of the race. Ernie made a serious attack and over the course of one lap actually took 14 minutes out of Chris's lead (it was the lap when Chris stopped for clothing, but it's still shocking to see a gap shrink by that much in one go around) We got the splits to Chris as we had every lap, and it was positively awe inspiring to see him knuckle down and find the energy to answer with two back to back 1:09 laps between 8:30 and 10:50 in the morning. This stretched the gap back over the 30 minute mark and Chris was able to ride his last lap at a less insane pace. He finished the race at a few minutes after noon with a final winning margin of 35 minutes and change. It might have been me, but I think I saw Chris more emotional at the end of this race then I remember seeing him in years past - I was nearly in tears myself - due to the mental effort it took to keep himself going under such unimaginably adverse conditions. Most of us would peek out our window in the morning and scrap plans for a one hour ride if we saw weather like this, but Chris raced his bike for over 24 hours in constant cold rain and mud, on a course that got worse and worse every lap.

I have to thank Steve Borkoski for his Herculean efforts wrenching for the whole race. He occasionally asked for a hand doing this or that, but he single-handedly performed about 20 bike overhauls during the race, changing cables, adjusting drivetrains and brake calipers, and keeping both of Chris's OCLV Top Fuels running like they were brand new. Allison Eatough also didn't take a single break. She had Chris so well dialed that she would often anticipate what he would ask for to eat or drink before we'd hear it from Chris, and she'd have it ready every time. Thanks to Mike Eatough for all his help during the race too. Mike always, and I mean always, comes up with some gem of innovation and ingenuity that makes things easier on everyone, and this year his "awesome awning" kept the rain off our heads during the pit stops. Thank you also to Stuart Dorland and his crack staff of race personnel. If we are formula one in Chris's pit, Stuart and his crew are formula one at race promotion, looking after every little detail for every single racer there, solo or team, and providing a fantastic post race banquet and reception, and putting together an amazingly well edited race video shown only hours after the finish ceremonies. Stuart, keep on doing what you're doing man, it's top notch. Thank you also to every other competitor and pit crew member there. The feeling of camaraderie and commitment from so many people from so many walks of life is indescribable. People's family members pitting for their sons, dads, brothers, mothers, friends, etc is a beautiful thing. People racing this event to raise money for charities is a beautiful thing. Mechanics and other pit crew members' being able to walk to any other tent in the pit area to ask for something they need is a feature that is unusual in the world of sports competition, and it speaks volumes about what kind of folks do events like this. This race is always a highlight of my year and this year wasn't any different. Lastly, thank you Chris, for laying your entire heart and soul out to bare in your effort over the course of the race. It is always a privilege and an honor to be part of your crew for this event, and of course winning makes it that much sweeter. Nobody does it like you do.

And finally, thank you of course to all our team sponsors who made this sixth world championship title possible. Trek Bicycles, especially all you guys and gals who rushed the new carbon Fuel EX out to us along with countless other goodies, Volkswagen, Rockshox, Shimano, JBL, Nike, Bontrager, Zeal Optics, Swany America, Cytomax, Light & Motion, Cane Creek, IMBA, Pedros, Genuine Innovations and Wrench Force, THANK YOU!

Heading for bed,

Jonathan Posner
Trek/VW Professional MTB Team Manager