If you were there, at the 2008 24 Hours of Moab, then you know what I speak of. I mean honestly folks, how many Q-Tips did it take to get all the sand out of your ears? How many showers did you have to take before all the Moab dust had been rinsed from your bod? How much sleep did you need to get caught up? For me it was three hard nights sleep. And all this just in time to fly to Providence, Rhode Island this weekend for the Interbike East Coast Outdoor Demo which should be huge for SQUIRT lube as we are just getting our feet down on the eastern sea board. Hope to see you there.
Below, pre-ride with Roan Exelby and Peter Kenyon. Two of these guys ended up on the podium, the other slouched all weekend.
Roan had a perfect race strategy for a first time racer in Moab, stick with Tinker and Eatough for several laps, learn their lines, then try to do something about it later in the race. Roan raced a brilliant race and considering we were up against the support machines of Tinker (Cannondale), Eatough (TREK) and Tostado, who all had multiple bikes and crew members, Roan was able to ride smart, stay on top of his food and drink, and ride one bike the entire race without so much as a few SQUIRT applications to his drive train over the 225 miles or so he rode during the race. Roan chasing Tinker down the Nose Dive 
ELGEE Pre-ride on an extremely sandy Moab course
Just a word ar two about the solo effort in Moab. It is monumental to say the very least. I could never diminish or take away from the efforts of the racers who show up to race as teams, I have a clear understanding of what it takes to compete on a 4 or 5 person team there, and it is indeed incredibly difficult to pull it off both physically and mentally. The experience of this weekend, supporting a solo rider at Moab, has given me an entire new perspective on endurance racing. It is not even close to possible to describe what these racers go through during the course of the race, it must be seen first hand to understand it, and as a support person I still can not understand what it takes to be a racer, at that level, busting ass for 24 hours on that course, barely getting through the night laps, begging for sleep, trying to find any reason to keep going. At the risk of sounding soft, it was brutally difficult for me to watch Roan slip further back of Tinker during the darkest of hours in Moab, but at the same time continue to encourage and get everything else right for the warrior I was behind. When I asked him for a faster lap because he was still in it, he some how found the effort and closed 10 minutes on one lap, only to lose it back on the next. Fuck the guy reached deep, deeper than any racer I've ever watched anywhere, it was an honor to be a part of it. The best thing of all of it is....I believe that at only age 30, and not even at his endurance prime, I believe Roan Exelby has the talent and the drive to be a World Champion, hell, the guy is already a champion in my book
ELGEE Pre-ride on an extremely sandy Moab course
Just a word ar two about the solo effort in Moab. It is monumental to say the very least. I could never diminish or take away from the efforts of the racers who show up to race as teams, I have a clear understanding of what it takes to compete on a 4 or 5 person team there, and it is indeed incredibly difficult to pull it off both physically and mentally. The experience of this weekend, supporting a solo rider at Moab, has given me an entire new perspective on endurance racing. It is not even close to possible to describe what these racers go through during the course of the race, it must be seen first hand to understand it, and as a support person I still can not understand what it takes to be a racer, at that level, busting ass for 24 hours on that course, barely getting through the night laps, begging for sleep, trying to find any reason to keep going. At the risk of sounding soft, it was brutally difficult for me to watch Roan slip further back of Tinker during the darkest of hours in Moab, but at the same time continue to encourage and get everything else right for the warrior I was behind. When I asked him for a faster lap because he was still in it, he some how found the effort and closed 10 minutes on one lap, only to lose it back on the next. Fuck the guy reached deep, deeper than any racer I've ever watched anywhere, it was an honor to be a part of it. The best thing of all of it is....I believe that at only age 30, and not even at his endurance prime, I believe Roan Exelby has the talent and the drive to be a World Champion, hell, the guy is already a champion in my book
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The X-Factor gets interviewed post race
The X-Factor gets interviewed post race
Our "rigged" home for the 24 hours after the wind demolished my tents.
What once was the SQUIRT tent, a symbol of the weekend, battered, but still standing at the end.
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