Drew at 24 Worlds

7 06 2017

Drew was in Italy this past weekend at WEMBO 24 hour solo Worlds.  The competition was even more fierce than when he won the Championship in Weaverville, CA in 2015.  He was just behind the leader for over half the race, then the “vomit monster” hit at 230a, sidelining him for a couple hours.  But like the warrior poet that he is, Drew got back in the saddle and climbed back from the dead.  Words and photos:

Hi all,
In just about 13 hours I will start the 24 Hour world championships in Finale Ligire Italia. Start is 10 am – about 2 AM your time. I have an ace support team with more than 30, 24 hour races between them – 2 mechanics, 1 ⅓ therapist, 2 camp “moms”, 1 photographer – of course this is all  3 people; Toni, Wesley & Nick. We have the system dialed. Hopefully I put in the work over the past 6 months to ride well.
The event is huge – 400 solo riders. We are all on a 10 k course so things will be tight. Lots of “ciao”, “grazie”, “tranquillio (calm down). It will not be lonely out there.  I did well in the WEMBO worlds in 2015 in California but this is a whole different deal. We are in the heart of cycling here. No expectations for placing, just hope to ride well.
I think I have the live timing site:
The event site is here but they don’t update anything:
Wesley will send some updates to this mailing list. She will also post to my facebook.
Ciao,
Drew

They do it right in Italy. The race takes place during a 24 hour giant party with live music and topless women everywhere. I may have made up that last part. But the ride in front of the stage and live band is no joke. Here is Drew coming across on one of his early laps.

 

The riders are silhouetted against the backdrop of the stage while live music plays on through the night.

 

“Just finished the 2017 World Championships. I finished 3rd in the 55 year old age group. The winner, Peter, from Australia was 2nd behind me in the 2015 Weaverville worlds and he won the 3016 event in New Zealand. He was just too strong all 24 hours. He led from the start, I got close but never close enough. It was back and forth between the Belgium in 2nd and I and he prevailed. I rode really well on a tough course. Very, very twisty the entire course. Rocky, steep loose technical climbs. A bit too hot for my liking. I had some trouble eating enough and had to take a break at 2am – something that won’t work if you want to win. I recovered well and moved back up the field. Very fun race. This is a huge event with concerts and parties all going on while we raced. Our course goes across the stage. My crew was of course, perfect. Now a little down time on the Mediterranean coast of Italy. Drew”

As is typical of Drew, he vastly understates the shittiness when he says that he “had some trouble eating enough”.  Toni said he was tossing his cookies throughout the 21st lap.   He was pretty deep in the hurt locker, but as is typical of Drew, he got back in the race, and fought is way back onto the podium.  Atta boy.

Much more been going on.  Next post coming soon with more updates.

 

 

 


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