Fri, May 16, 2008
ez access
Subscriber services | Subscriptions
Custom clipper icon
A racer moves through the brush while nearing the completion of a lap in the Kona 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo mountain bike race. Participants raced around a 17-mile circuit near Oracle from noon Saturday to noon Sunday.
James Gregg / arizona daily star
More Photos (2):
slide show
(slide show) See more images from the race

Sports

24 hours in the old pueblo

Riders have fun going in circles

Cold, rocky course can't keep cyclists from enjoying race
By Sarah Trotto
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 02.18.2008
When Pua Sawicki crossed the finish line on her black mountain bike, she grinned, and her husband and teammate, Ron, knelt on the ground and snapped photos of her.
The Oahu, Hawaii, native rode five laps and 85 miles total at the Kona 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo mountain bike race Saturday through Sunday near Oracle. Overcoming low temperatures and a frost-covered, cactus-lined, rocky single-track course, she raced 17 miles more than any of her four male teammates.
"Slacker boys," she joked.
The five team members — the Sawickis, Dejay Birtch, 43-year-old Dave Wiens of Gunnison, Colo., and 30-year-old Jeff Kerkove of Fort Collins, Colo. — took turns tackling the laps and eventually capturing the coed team title with 21 laps.
Pua, 27, argued with Birtch about who would shoulder the burden of riding the final lap for Team Ergon in the ninth annual race.
About 1,600 riders competed in 16 categories from solo to teams. The group or riders that completed the most laps within a 24-hour period were deemed winners. Each lap was about 17 miles.
Both solo mountain bike winners are from the Phoenix area. Kimo Seymour, who rode 16 laps, won the men's race and Heidi Clayton took the women's title with 13 laps.
Pua Sawicki rode the first lap of the race for her team. She and the other participants were part of a LeMans start — dashing from a starting point to find their bikes on a rack before taking off.
"That's how we keep each other going, a friendly rivalry," Birtch joked.
Pua raised a finger to her lips to quiet Birtch and then laughed.
"The first lap, you have to run. None of the guys wanted to run, so I got stuck doing first lap," Pua said. "No one wanted to do the last lap. I just said forget it. I'll just go."
A small town of RVs, trucks and tents covered the desert landscape near the finish line. The 24-hour town was composed of about 3,600 people Thursday through Sunday. Team Ergon camped in a white RV and a brown tent and fed on peanut butter sandwiches, energy drinks and pasta. The Sawickis' white and tan terrier, Koa, guarded their camp.
Snow covered the course Friday, the first time in race history that had happened. It made the pre-race landscape a "winter wonderland," Pua said. The snow had melted by the noon start.
By Sunday morning, in time for Pua's sunrise ride, frost had coated the course and cacti.
"It was a bit cold for me," Pua said. "I really prefer the heat."
She wrapped herself in clothes and tried to sleep in the motor home. She snoozed for about 20 minutes as her mind raced and her teammates entered and exited the vehicle. Wiens caught a couple hours of sleep in the tent rather than the crowded RV.
"There's so much more than the racing going on," Wiens said. "They make a town in the middle of the desert and fill it up with crazy people and the place goes all night. The organization is fantastic and the weather has cooperated just right, barely."
Pua, who is a four-time national endurance biking champion and a former cross country runner at Chaminade University, has ridden in the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo race twice. Last year, she rode 2 1/2 laps as a solo rider before withdrawing because she was "sick as a dog."
"It was fun," Sawicki said. "It's definitely fast. With all the cactus, one wrong turn or move of your body and you're toast."
Wildcat newslettersARIZONA• sign up now for U of A basketball coverage
Save Money! Subscribe to the Arizona Daily Star.
Go Back