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This is why 24-hour mountain bike racing is the ultimate test of endurance
If mountain biking is an extreme sport, then 24-hour racing might be the ultimate extremity. We talk to three of the world's top competitors to find out how (and why) they do it.
Consisting of exactly what you’d expect, 24-hour mountain biking is an elite discipline that demands endurance athletes ride a cross-country loop for a full day, with any breaks for food, drinks or mechanical problems eating up valuable time that might just cost them the race.
The person with the most laps completed after the 24 hours have ended wins – and if you want to be the best in the world, sleep is strictly out the question.
Throughout the history of the sport, there have been cases of people vomiting during races, or even losing their sight because of a lack of nourishment and the hefty strains that are placed on the body during the course of the day.
Rebecca Rusch racing at the 2009 MTB 24Hr Championship
© john Gibson/Red Bull Content Pool
We caught up with three top 24-hour mountain bikers – 2018 World Solo 24-Hour Mountain Bike Champion Cory Wallace and the 2017 women's World Champion Gaia Ravaiolo, and European Champion Matti Tahkola – to talk us through the sport and we ask what exactly motivates someone to race a mountain bike for one day straight.
Getting started in endurance riding
You’d expect that anyone riding a one-day-long competitive mountain biking race would have to have been involved with the sport at a more accessible level their whole life, but sometimes it can actually be the pull of the challenge that draws new competitors in.
The 23-year-old Finnish rider Tahkola had only been on the bike a handful of years before he started competing in 24-hour races.
“I wanted to try something competitive rather than just riding around,” Tahkola says. “I think I needed something new. I wanted to try something that sounded impossible to me, and I wanted to know if I could do something like that. The first race, something just felt right.”
24hr races are surprisingly popular!
© Graeme Murray
Canada's Wallace had an accomplished CV even before racing 24 hours.
"Growing up in the Rocky Mountain town of Jasper, Alberta, there are trails everywhere," Wallace explains. "I seemed to fare a lot better at the longer events then the short sprint XCO races from a young age."
“After a break from racing for two years when I was 20, I wanted to get back into it and did a two-month bike tour from the southern tip of Chile to Peru to build up the riding fitness again. In the next couple of years, I had success at La Ruta de Conquistadors in Costa Rica and 24-hour races in Canada which lead to Kona signing me on their Endurance race team.”
What are the most commonly asked questions about the sport?
The FAQs of 24-hour mountain biking aren’t too hard to imagine: Ravaiolo, Wallace and Tahkola have all had similar experiences when telling people that they ride these races.
“When people find out I'm the world champion in 24-hour racing I think they're pretty confused,” Wallace says. “Usually the first question is: ‘how much do you sleep?’. When I tell them we only stop for 10-15 minutes total throughout the event they seem to have a tough time grasping the concept.”
Ravaiolo has found the same – though with a slightly more intimate question often thrown in afterwards for good measure.
“Usually they say: ‘24 hours without stopping? That's crazy!’,” she laughs. “And then they follow it up with ‘but how do you pee?' I don't know exactly why, but that's probably the most common question!”
So, why do people ride 24-hour mountain bike races?
It’s the most frequently asked question about the endurance sport because it’s probably the most obvious. Where do you get the motivation to ride a mountain bike for 24 hours straight?
For Tahkola it’s the unpredictability of the race. “There’s that unknown factor about it,” he says. “There’s always a new experience.”
Ravaiolo says it’s in the challenge: “It allows you to overrun and test your limits. It's a challenge with yourself.”
Wallace agrees, adding that for him it’s a mixture of pushing body limits and travelling to new places.
“I don't think there is a better way to see this world then by a bicycle," Wallace states. "It's a good motivation to get fitter so I can go farther to explore and meet more people. I also like testing the body's limits and it's been fun to try different tactics to push my body further every year.”
24 hours to get as many laps as possible in
© No Fuss Events/Sportograf
How many breaks do you take during a 24-hour mountain bike race?
The obvious answer is don't take any, but you can't do such races without stopping for one reason or other. If you want to win the race, don't stop as often!
“I'll try to roll through the pits in the first 6-8 hours,” Wallace says. “The two longest pit stops are to put on and take off the night lights.
“The first world 24-hour race in which I had a shot at winning was in Australia. In that race, the winner, Jason English, won by 45 minutes and in total his pit stops were five to 10 minutes, while mine were about an hour, and I finished in second. This opened my eyes to how important pit stops are.”
If you have to stop, use your time wisely and stretch out those muscles
© John Gibson/Red Bull Content Pool
Tahkola agrees: “You need to keep the breaks as short as possible and only stop when you really need.”
Ravaiolo adds: “I try to stop as little as I can, normally just for a change of clothes or for a pee. I’ll never stop for more than three or four minutes.”
What makes a good endurance mountain biker?
“You need a good deal of stamina of course,” says Ravaiolo. “But the focus on your body and the awareness of your own limits are most important thing. Self-management is the key.
“Then you need people around you who are prepared and who are able to instil you with confidence. Everything has to be prepared thoroughly, from spare parts to food, integration and also bike wear. You have to imagine every kind of situation.”
Matti Tahkola in action
© No Fuss Events / Sportograf
Tips from the best for getting started
If you’ve not yet been turned off the idea, then the tips from best in the world are pretty clear – train hard, both mentally and physically, prepare for the unpredictable, and most obscure of problems, and make sure through all of this that you’re still having fun doing it.
“During a race maybe the most important thing is that you have to feel it’s fun to ride,” says Tahkola. “You can’t do something you don’t like for that long and in those conditions.”
Ravaiolo recommends that you should try and imagine every kind of problem you could have in such a race and then make sure you have everything you need to solve it. She also suggests that you get your favourite food ready as a reward for the last hour of the race!
Wallace places emphasis on preparation and variety of riding leading to an event.
“It takes a lot of riding to build up the endurance, so I recommend mixing it up with bike touring, road riding and stage racing,” Wallace says. “Any time you can ride instead of taking the car or bus do it. It will make you stronger, it's efficient and it will help save the planet!
“I think you need to first build the mental toughness. Meditation is good for that, and it’s good for showing your mind that you can do a lot more than it thinks you can. Once you have that, it's just about putting in big miles on the bike.”
