24 Hours Of Summer Solstice

24 Hours Of Summer Solstice, Albion Hills , Ontario , Canada , June 23-24, 2007

By Chris Macfarlane

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When the dust settled, pre-race favourites Mark Hendershot of the Santa Cruz Syndicate and Danielle Musto of Slingshot Bikes added to their laurels with solo victories at the 24 Hours of Summer Solstice in Ontario , Canada on June 23-24, 2007 . Both faced stern challenges though, with Hendershot’s test coming in the form of a group of local heroes determined to keep the solo title in Canadian hands, and Musto who instead needed to escape from her own personal demons.

Celebrating its 10^th anniversary this year, Chico Racing’s flagship 24 hour event has grown from a modest start into North America ’s largest 24 hour event for several years running. Over 2,200 riders and several thousand more spectators descend each year on the rolling terrain and gentle breezes of the Albion Hills Conservation Area and its winding network of buffed singletrack. Despite the swelling participant numbers, brothers Adam and Sean Ruppel of Chico Racing have always prided themselves on maintaining the grassroots atmosphere of the event.

On paper the visiting U.S. duo each brought with them a race resume that squarely positioned them as solid favourites in their respective fields. Hendershot’s 2006 race results included a 4^th place finish at the world solo championships in Conyers, plus 2^nd spot at the U.S. nationals behind solo legend Chris Eatough. Musto’s star has been rising in the U.S. endurance racing scene of late, including a 2^nd place finish of her own at the very same 2006 U.S. nationals.

Despite carving out a solid lead from the first lap onwards, Musto’s efforts the previous week at the Lumberjack 100 started to wear on her heavily as the laps went by. The preferred lines on many corners deteriorated into loose sand, and combined with the relentless procession of short power climbs littering the course, a layout that seemed relatively easy at the beginning started to show some teeth. Musto recovered her wits soon enough to take a comprehensive victory over Jennifer Wright and Tanya Flemming.

On the men’s side, Mark Hendershot parlayed his typical strong first half into a full lap lead before the stroke of midnight , leaving the endurance juggernaut to simply cruise home to the win in both the Over 40 and overall categories. A more dramatic dogfight played out in the Under 40 solo division between several local riders. Tristan Smit from Bikesports marked Hendershot for the first few laps contesting the overall lead, but Hendershot’s pace proved to be too much for Smit who eventually suffered from several issues, and ultimately put him on the sidelines. Cyclissimo’s Ed Veal, a newcomer to the solo scene, waged a see-saw battle with 2005 overall champion Matt Klymson from the Cycle Solutions / Angry Johnny’s Racing squad throughout the night. Klymson maximized his time in the saddle forcing Veal to play catch up repeatedly. Veal played out his role gamely, until an untimely broken chain combined with fading physical resources dropped him from the lead around 8am . The chase was taken up by 2006 world solo championships 8^th place finisher Andrew Parry, who had been carefully lying in wait for a final push toward the front. Parry’s late surge gained back a few precious minutes, but Klymson measured out his remaining reserves of energy to hold most of his hard-earned gap intact, taking the Under 40 title and 2^nd overall with the same 23 laps as Hendershot to salvage some pride for the locals. Notably, Hendershot’s 23rd lap had been checked in over an hour earlier with the overall win already mathematically assured.

The title of fastest team also went to Cycle Solutions/Angry Johnny’s Racing capping a strong weekend for the local outfit, whose 5 man crew in the 100-149 age bracket racked up 30 consistent and clean laps.

Solo Men – Under 40

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1. Matt Klymson 23 laps

2. Andrew Parry 22 laps

3. Ed Veal 21 laps

Solo Men – Over 40

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1. Mark Hendershot 23 laps (overall winner)

2. John Mackillop 19 laps

3. Keith Evans 18 laps

Solo Women

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