Moab – There is a school of science that says in order to truly know something you must be able to dream it first. Suffice it to say, Nat Ross knows 24-hour mountain bike racing.
Having competed in 34 24-hour mountain bike races since 1998, the greater challenge for Ross, 35, is separating himself from the surreal. He has encountered the demons of the night as a solo competitor for the past seven years, ridden through the hallucinations and suffering that only 250 miles overnight in the saddle can induce. But after winning the 2006 solo title for the inaugural 24-Hour National Points Series Championship by winning the 12th annual 24 Hours of Moab last weekend, Ross is clearly living his dream.
“I’m having a phenomenal time just traveling around and riding my bike,” said Ross, a long-time Vail resident who recently relocated to Golden. “Who would have thought? It’s unbelievable.”
While the notion of an athlete making a career of pushing pedals comes as little surprise in this day and age, it’s the manner in which Ross has gone about it that provides the biggest shock. Unbeknownst to the majority of his competitors, Ross has raced through the darkness for the past eight years legally blind in his left eye and night-blind in both eyes. After nine surgeries ranging from an in-ocular lens implant in his left eye to a recent Lasik procedure, the vision has improved to “about 20/80,” Ross said. He intends to follow up with Lasik surgery on his right eye in the near future.
The decision to focus his competitive drive in an arena in which he is handicapped for half the race might seem unusual, but Ross said he has no viable alternative. He’s not fast enough to compete with the world’s best on a traditional two-hour cross country race course, and off-road distance riding suits his style better than road racing. Besides, with three solo victories in the Granny Gear series this summer alone, the Team Subaru-Gary Fisher endurance expert has evidently figured out the secret to 24-hour success.
“Originally I did it for the challenge, then I found out that I’m quite good at it. I’m just a glutton for punishment, I guess,” said Ross, a 2006 Race Across America competitor who also operates a telemark skiing-oriented marketing and film company called Tough Guy Productions. “The key to success is experience, first and foremost, everything from nutrition to training, equipment and the support, of course. Good support goes a long way.”
As a result of his vision difficulties, Ross has developed a race tactic in which he forges a blistering pace during daylight hours in order to open up a lead that is destined to slip overnight. “I had to totally focus on the lines during the day, memorize them for the night and hope things wouldn’t change,” he said.
Of course, he always kept something in the well for a post-dawn push.
Dangerous conditions
At Moab, however, the strategy proved pointless. A torrential downpour induced flash flooding that washed out huge sections of the already technically challenging 15-mile course in the recreation area known as “Behind the Rocks.” It forced race officials to shorten the event after less than two hours of night riding. After setting the pace alongside Trek/VW team rider Nick Martin through the first five laps, Ross nearly lost the race – and potentially the overall series title – in his last pit stop before the event was stopped.
With the wet weather and cold night air conspiring to create hypothermic conditions, Ross changed into a warm, dry set of clothes, stocked up on food and allowed Josh Tostado to close a four-minute lead during the pit stop. In the confusion of the moment, the recharged Ross left the pit thinking he was in third place, behind Tostado and Martin, with a race postponement likely.
“It was crucial, that last pit. It was awesome,” said Mike Reed, Ross’ race manager. “Everybody was trying to figure out what was going on, watching each other. Then we thought Nick had left already, so we sent Nat out to chase him even though he wasn’t really there.”
Ross added, “Once Josh passed me I thought I was in third place, so I had some monsters come out on that last lap. I caught Josh and rode with him for a while, then thought, ‘OK, I came here to win, and so did he.’ So I passed him, then started chasing Nick’s ghost and wound up putting five minutes on him.”
Racing through flooded washes and waist-deep pools, Ross described the typically dusty, desert course as “by far the most dangerous” he’d ever seen. Race organizer Laird Knight agreed, postponing the race for the first time in 12 years from 8 p.m. Saturday to 9 a.m. Sunday for the estimated 1,500 competitors in the team division.
The race never resumed for the 50-plus registered solo riders, giving Ross the victory after only six laps (the course record is 18). Tostado placed second and Martin a close third. Combined with victories at the 24 Hours of Temecula and 24 Hours of Landahl, Ross was also awarded the $5,000 purse as the first overall series champion in 24-hour racing history.
Pushing the limits
While it wasn’t the way he imagined winning the series, the victory was no less satisfying.
“It was mayhem. But you have to be prepared to race in the gnarliest conditions and be prepared to readjust the game,” Ross said. “These races are never really that fun, to tell you the truth. That’s why people do it though. It’s weird that people would sign up for pain like that, but it’s more or less a mental challenge. How far can you push your limits, what are your limits, how tough can you dig?”
Evidently, one person’s nightmare is someone else’s dream.
Staff writer Scott Willoughby can be reached at 303-954-1993 or swilloughby@denverpost.com.
