With the 1999 WSC event in Canmore now completed we could finally look at what was accomplished and what was required for the 2000 WSC. We knew the event provided solo athletes with a stage to compete at the highest level of competition but what could we do for the year 2000?

The 24 Hours of Adrenalin series had now grown to 11 events across North America and with our Hurkey Creek Park (Idyllwild, CA) event scheduled for the end of September we thought the WSC might fit in perfectly with a longer ramp up period into a southern California location. I convinced NORBA that a National title for 24 Hour racing would be a great thing to support, however, NORBA felt that solo riders didn't fit into their agenda and thus a NORBA Team Championship was added.

The WSC event took place with 43 participants, as an organization the low WSC turnout was a disappointment, but we had 650 team riders and the solo racers who showed up made for a very competitive solo field fighting for a prize purse of $15,000.00. In fact the top 20 riders were so competitive that if you had a mechanical and lost 10 minutes you would drop 6 - 7 places in the overall standings. The event took place without the men's 1999 winner Rishi Grewal who had retired after the 1999 season. World Champion Cholé Lanthier was on hand to defend her women's title and men's 3rd place John Stamstad (a recent Mountain Bike Hall of Fame inductee) was looking to step up a couple of places in the overall standings from his 3rd place in 1999. Once again we produced a television show that was underwritten by our sponsors (Kokanee & GM), the show focused in on the efforts of a top Canadian - Jason Vince and Brett Wolfe. Other notables included Nat Ross, Christina Begy and Katie Lindquist (a RAAM veteran), Solo RAAM winner Wolfgang Fasching of Austria took part as well. Ryan Draper and Roman Urbina were back but without the need for a pink toque for Roman.

The event provided a challenging location with a course set in the San Bernardino National Forest at 4,200 feet. Daytime and nighttime temperatures were at extreme ends of the scale and started with a noon temperature of 100+ degrees, which challenged all riders' abilities to deal with the conditions. In the end British rider Chris Eatough, a relatively unknown racer, handled the conditions best and won his first World Solo 24 Hour Championship title, with Nick Morin of Kalamazoo - USA 2nd and John Stamstad - 3rd, Nat Ross - USA finishing 4th and Michael Madden - USA in 5th. On the Women's side RAAM vet Katie Lindquest - USA beat out Monica Nelson - Canada with Christina Begy - USA finishing 3rd.

If you have a good story to tell, please email it to: worldchampionships@twenty4sports.com


Stuart

I like to wear my favorite socks whenever I'm training or racing, they make me... happy...  yeah, that's right, I just said 'happy'.

How are bike socks making me happy?

I've been using the same three pair of Swiftwick socks for over two years now, when I bought them I had no idea how much I would like them. Along the way they've faced a really wide range of environmental and race course conditions and never let me down. I've done loads of hard racing and training in them and they are almost like new, as an added bonus they are the most comfortable socks I own. I've used them enough that I know they always perform well. I trust these socks in really long races, just like I trust my favorite saddle, my favorite shoes, my favorite grips. Things that work well make me happy.

Pulling the socks on this morning automatically put me in the right frame of mind to get on the bike. I'm a bit like Pavlov's dog, having done the same thing so many times and understanding what the outcome will be, I'm conditioned to a certain response. Bike socks = bike mode and bike mode = good.

Let's face it, anyone who's raced hard against the 24hr clock knows that there are going to be times where things get tough and 24hr tough is sometimes freakishly tough. You have to be in solid bike mode to manage that stuff. The 1440 minute time period stretching out in front of the start line is a huge unpainted race canvas waiting to be covered by the highs and lows, the mud and sweat, the drama and humbling moments. With such a huge canvas these moments aren't just one time affairs, you get to experience multiple dramas, multiple humbling moments and of course multiple occasions to sweat. Knowing what I know about 24's makes me want to set things up in my favor as much as possible so the freakishly tough becomes just a little bit easier. If my race socks help me pound out 24's just a little bit easier, well... I'm OK with that.

With seven months left until race day, I hope everyone is starting to get some decent saddle time in. For those of you who aren't on the bike as much as you would like, feel free to drop me a line, maybe I can lend you a pair of my happy socks. ;-)

That's all for now, see you in three weeks...

Shaun