This race report has been brought to you through the collaboration of Mike Zajac and Mike O.

     Due to popular demand, here is the race report for the Monkey Chucker 24 hour race in Greenville, NC, March 22-23, 2003, hosted by the East Carolina University cycling team.

     Before going into all the particular details, big thanks is due to Chris Gandy, a non-biker resident of the bike house. He borrowed a friend's digital video camera and traveled down to tape the 24 hour mountain bike race ordeal for our benefit. At some point, the 8 hours he filmed will be cut down into an hour-long DVD. Thanks again Chris!!!

     Results:
          Drexel Team 1: 7th of 8 four person teams (14 total laps)
               Members: Justin Kline (2 laps, attempted 3---spastic bottom bracket)
                         Mike O. (3 laps)
                         Mike Z. (4 laps)
                         James Garske (5 laps)

          Drexel Team 2: 8th of 8 (12 total laps)
               Members: Dan H., Dan Skelton, Najeeb, and Steve Place

     Friday: The original plan was to leave in two groups. Chris Gandy, James Garske, Dan Heinemann, and Steve Place were to leave at 8 on Friday morning, cruise on down to NC, and set up camp at the race course. About 11:00 AM my phone rang. It was Gandy, saying they haven't even left Philly yet. Apparently they were waiting for Dan H., and couldn't reach him by phone. I never heard what the story was, but they set out about noon without him. The second group of people planned to set out about 6 pm Friday night. Due to traffic and other hang-ups, we ended up rolling out after 7 with Dan H. who showed up at some point. I was surprised that we fit all of our gear into Mike O's Mustang and Najeeb's Buick (you know the kind your grandmother drives) station wagon. The trip down was pretty smooth. The first stop we made was just north of Richmond, VA. Apparently Najeeb's station wagon was a little thirsty, and we ended up putting three (3) quarts of oil in the beast. We found out that the oil light worked in the process and that was a great lesson for Najeeb. (As an aside, that station wagon should only take about 5 to 6 quarts of oil total) The next stop was just off I-95 in NC to get gas and take a few pics. We ended up getting into a conversation with some locals, all of whom had the characteristic southern drawl. When we told them we were all traveling to compete in a 24 hour mountain bike race on our spring break, they were impressed to say the least. Unfortunately this silver lined journey hit its first snag at this point. It turns out that we missed Bubba "The Jail Breaker" Johnson's steel coffin back yard wrestling match at the bargain price of $7 to attend, or as the poster stated "Real Tennessee wrestling like you ain't never seen before!" However the poster is on display. (We borrowed it) At least that's how I remember it.... After the gas station we continued along some state routes. We stopped at a Wal Mart to buy some food, which included a little goofing around and drag racing through the parking lot. The Mustang is quite the stealth assassin with its light off at night. We then proceeded to make our way to the race course/camp area. About the only other notable event was the pickup truck we saw along the side of the road that had just collided with a telephone pole. Police & Fire Company were on the scene. Probably a drunk driver. When the ambulance passed it was traveling quite slowly and there was no siren. I'm sure this was not a good sign.

     Saturday: We pulled into the race course/camp area about 2:30 AM on Saturday morning. We were surprised to see only a couple campers and a few tents pitched in the field. Not exactly the turnout we had anticipated based on the email we had received from the race promoters, who said that 256 teams were coming. At first glance, it appeared to us that the Gandy/Garske/Place party had sold us out and went to the hotel instead of setting up camp as we had discussed earlier. We all reasoned that they had arrived in NC too late to set up camp, and that they decided to just go directly to the hotel instead. A phone call to the hotel room at about 3 AM proved that they had indeed set up camp, and that the groups of two tents in the field, right by Steve's truck, were ours. Personally I'm not sure why Justin didn't recognize his own tent, especially considering that this group of tents was the only group in the whole field. I guess we weren't sure, and we didn't want to wake up a total stranger. Regardless, we all felt pretty "stupid" (ha-ha wake up calls are fun!) for waking up Gandy, Place, and Garske in the middle of the night. After getting situated at the camp site, some of the Drexel racers tried to get some sleep, while others proceeded to enjoy a few drinks and a few jokes. (Blame the OJ it mixes so well) I guess about 4:30 AM we all fell asleep.

     About 8 AM we were all awaken by the sound of really annoying music, which could only be described as a mix of slow techno/hip hop. You know that crap that your roommate played counter strike to freshman year. It's not as enjoyable when it lacks the sound of gunshots, go figure. It was cool that they had a speaker system set up to make announcements and play music, but whoever chose the music had a weird taste. Even worse, the CD ended up being repeated two more times before it was changed to something different. This may not seem to be that bad; I mean we have all listened to the same loop of Y-100 hits at work day in and day out, but when it's crap that's repeated for 24hrs you can get the picture.

     After we registered, we tweaked our bikes on a pretty kick-ass bike stand that Steve built and had a little breakfast, while some Drexel riders tried to shake off their hangovers Zajac (or I) finally fixed the shifting woes that plagued Ondik's mountain biking season forcing him to ride C rather than A like we all know he could have. (OK I, Ondik, added this part- He couldn't resist) The organizers were all pretty impressed that we had come all the way from Philly to compete. As the start of the race approached, it was obvious that the 256 anticipated teams was a greatly exaggerated number. In all, only 39 racers were registered, which included all solo riders (three), all 2-person teams (two), and all 4-person teams (eight). Drexel was a quarter of the field. As luck would have it, the weather was excellent. Sunny and warm, with a temp of about 70 degrees in March-sign me up for down south living after school.

     The Race.... The race kicked off at noon, complete with a bottle rocket send-off. It quickly became obvious that the race organizers were firework junkies. They were setting something off every 15 minutes or so. Definitely an interesting touch. The first riders for Drexel were Justin Kline and Najeeb. Our teams rotated riders between laps. For our team, James Garske set out to do a lap after Justin finished his first lap. Then Mike Z. did a lap, followed by Mike O., who was so fired up after his first lap that he decided to jump right into another lap. Unfortunately his rush of adrenaline wouldn't last another 9 mile lap, and he bonked about 4 miles in. Throughout the afternoon and the evening, we rotated riders. Those who were not riding either sat around enjoying the beautiful weather, or loaded up on some liquid carobs. After completing a few laps, the whole crotch chaffing was really getting to us. Thankfully Dan H. had brought his cycling powder along with him, which saved us from more serious discomfort. I think one of the finniest moments of the weekend was when our co-president, Justin Kline, decided to take a handful of this powder and rub it all over his lower section. (Who knew you weren't supposed to put it there? I didn't!) 'Bout two minutes later he suddenly realized why it's best to just put a little bit of the powder in the crotch of your cycling shorts. He quickly grabbed a bottle of water and ducked behind a tarp to cleanse himself of the burning powder. Ironically a wind began to pick up, blowing the tarp all around. Witnessing this hilarious event from across the field was a young mother with a 4-year-old kid. She had a good laugh, and we did too of course. The child did not fair so well but they have special classes to remove those scars. For dinner, some pot-bellied farmer in overalls named Elmer pulled up in a white Ford pickup truck, pulling a trailer that had a roasted pig in it. OK, so maybe his name wasn't Elmer, but it would have been a fitting name. There was also like 50 pounds of slaw.

     The Course... Given the topography on the drive in, we had anticipated a pretty lame course. We were indeed correct. The course was all single-track, with no fire roads other than the 0.2 mile stretch adjacent to the campground and starting line. No serious climbs at all, just a couple 30' or so ascents. About half of the course was sand, while the other half was either hard packed soil or soft bark. I kept the chain in the middle chain ring the entire race. I'd have to say that the course was perfectly suited to a 24-hour bike race. It kind of reminded me of the Orchard Assault race up at Amhurst, Mass., from last fall since the course weaved back and forth a lot, over a relatively small area of ground. The dips were kind of fun and once you got past the discomfort of bottoming out on the seat you could have a good time.

     Night Riding... This was the first time most of us had ever done any mountain biking at night. It was definitely a different experience. Since we had 2 teams, we decided to pair up for the night portions. Although most of us agreed that it would have been a more worthwhile experience riding alone in the middle of the woods at night, it was definitely safer to pair up. Mike Z. and Najeeb completed the midnight to 1:30 AM stretch. At this point we were all pretty tired, and our organization (if you could call it that) sort of fell apart. For Team 1, Justin was asleep, Mike Z. had just finished a lap, Mike O. had done the previous lap, and James Garske was back at the hotel sleeping. This was slightly annoying, but we all decided to just crash for the night. The next morning, it was revealed that James Garske redeemed himself by coming back to the race at 3:30 AM or so, and doing two laps by himself. A job well done. His light burnt out on the second lap in the middle of the course, so he had to walk the rest of the lap.

     The Morning... The morning proceeded in much the same fashion as the previous afternoon. Justin and Dan S. set out to do the first daylight lap, but both experienced some mechanical problems. Justin was having problems with his drive train, while Dan S. decided to go off of a jump that wasn't part of the course, which subsequently resulted in a front wheel taco. Neither of them finished the lap. Mike Z. and Najeeb went out next. No major mechanical failures this time, just a broken chain for Mike Z. on one of the short climbs. Between laps we ate and bought MONKEY CHUCKER T-SHIRTS (that's right, get your official chunky monker.....I mean monkey chucker T-shirts!), which were reduced from $10 to $5. The final laps of the day would be completed by James Garske and Dan H. The race ended at Noon on Sunday.

     The closing... At the awards ceremony, every person that showed up got a prize, which was a nice touch. For placing 8th and 7th, we all got Oury handlebar grips. Also, we all were able to choose a prize from the table of donated prizes. Steve Place got some sweet bar ends, while Mike Z. grabbed what appeared to be a sweet pair of insulated riding socks. Upon closer inspection, they were intended for shoe sizes 4 through 8. The first place solo riders got plaques and roman candles (fireworks) as prizes. Definitely a nice touch. The fastest lap was something like 45 minutes from a non-Drexel team. This was insanely fast considering Mike Z. cranked out two 58 minute laps. But then there was Najeeb, who tried to convince us all that he did a 60 minute lap. Eventually, his little white lie was revealed it was a one hour and 11 minute lap which is still respectable considering the darkness. Afterwards, we packed up our camping gear and headed back to the hotel to shower. Some of us headed back to Philly, while some of us proceeded to the Outer Banks for three days of camping and goofing off. AKA one hour milk chug race.

     Remarks... Overall, the race was very organized. The guys from ECU did a fine job. They had everything set up, including water buffalos, port-a-johns, generators, and speakers. Also, the course was very well marked, with no ambiguous trail spurs to confuse riders. The ECU guys said several times that the race was not a professional race. However, this race was so organized and well planned that it could have been a professional race. It is unfortunate that the turnout was so poor. They probably lost a good bit of money on the event. Looking back, Team 1 could have been in contention to finish in the top 5, but our lack of organization and spring break attitude kind of put a damper on this. Regardless, it's not about how you finish, but how much fun you had. And both Drexel teams certainly had the most fun out of anyone there that weekend. That's what being involved in Drexel Cycling is all about! Maybe next year we'll bring more teams. Count me in!

     MDZ (just about all of it) & MFO (bits & pieces)