Big Bear. What a run it has been. I first hit this one in 1996 when it was the 24 Hours of Canaan. We stayed in a cabin, 10 minutes from the venue. I don’t even have a clear picture of what the venue looked like. I was on a 5 person open team, and we were beginners and we were slow. I think I turned 2 laps, maybe 3 at best in those days. We were there to finish, and we left feeling good as long as we had somebody come across the line after noon on Sunday. Sherry Z, thanks for getting me out there that first year. It was life altering experience.

We did that for a few years with random teammates coming and going. It wasn’t until 2000 that we missed a race. It had become the 24 Hours of Mud, er…I mean Snowshoe. There were enough teams registered for Snowshoe that we got wait-listed, like 50 deep. Madness. (Wouldn’t Laird love to see that again?) But in 2001 we made it. Still 5 person open, still relatively slow, and operating out of a nice condo at the top of the mountain.

Snowshoe took its toll on some of our team, and in 2002, we re-organized. Two of us old-timers joined up with two other SoMD guys and moved up to Men's Sport (I probably would have still raced beginner in those days). Finished up @ 60/166. 4 laps for me. 13 overall. A monumental feat. 2003. Same team. 28/77. 20 laps, 5 each...whoa. 2004. 11/71. 20 laps. Notice the shrinking field size? Where is everybody going?

2005. Another team reorganization. Two new riders. The birth of Huevos del Toro. A new venue. No more condos. First time camping for me in a long time, and I think I like it. The Big Bear course was well put together. It drained very well. I wasn't a fan of what I perceived to be a lot of climbing, but we had a fun time. 11/48. 15 laps.

In 2006, we lost JAM. He and I had been racing together for many years. Hopefully he'll be back in the saddle some day. Anyway, we drafted a new guy. He only brought one gear, and to our satisfaction, he rocked that one gear. Three 29ers and one holdout. We rolled consistent laps, and had only a handful of issues, if that. To our surprise we rocked the house. 1/49 in Mens Sport. 17 laps.

What to do now? We won sport. Can't go back and do that again. If you win once, people already call you sanbaggers (never mind that 11 teams finished 17 laps in Sport inside of 1 hour). Regardless, we weren't going back to Sport. So we were left with two options: Expert or SS/Rigid. Three of us had been riding SS off and

on for years. I had done some races rigid in the past, but rigid at Big Bear sounded plain nuts. The problem with Expert is that you never know who might show up and destroy you. Expert just didn't sound fun. Once our holdout got himself a Fisher Rig with a rigid Bonty Switchblade, it was settled. Rigid/SS, here we come.

So here we go. Two of us are fresh off a 1-2 finish at the 12 hours of Lodi, SSS, rigid. Feeling good. I'm also feeling like I may have run my course with this race. 11 years. Long time. After this year I will have competed in a class that I formerly believed was reserved for the lunatics (I guess that isn't too far off). Now that I live in Central VA, I have a plethora of local events to sample right out my back door. I also need to go camping with my kids.

We'll see how it goes...