25 Hours for PKU

Brian and his kids

Brian Oliver celebrates his victory in the Pierre's Hole 50 mile Single-Speed Mountain Bike Race with his three children, two of whom have PKU.

Brian Oliver will be cruising through the desert of Southern Utah on his pink one speed bike on the first Saturday in November to raise awareness for PKU and support research. Brian will be competing in the 25 Hour Frog Hollow mountain bike race. Frog Hollow is the longest one day endurance mountain bike event because it happens to coincide with the fall-back of Daylight Savings.

Brian is a life-long mountain biker. He's competed on and off for years, most recently winning a 50-mile mountain bike race on his single speed, but he has never competed in a race as grueling as Frog Hollow. Brian explains that while he bikes, two things happen: "One, I always experience a "crisis" point where I feel terrible and question why I race bikes. And two, I always have a period of time where I feel really fast and strong. Ironically, the crisis comes before the strong period most of the time". Brian's ability to pull though a challenge will come in handy at 2:00 am when he has been riding for 16 hours. He claims the long hours are going to be the greatest challenge, but hopes his years of residency will help

Brian's motivation to compete in Frog Hollow not only comes from his love of biking; he is also a father of three children, two of whom have PKU. Brian hopes his efforts help other families who deal with PKU. He believes, "Too many families struggle to provide for their loved ones with PKU and I'd like to see the day come soon when they would no longer have to worry about PKU". Brian's goal is to raise $2500-$3000, all of which will be donated to the National PKU Alliance's Research Fund.

25 hour Race Report

November 8th, 2011

Is it possible to underestimate a 25 hour race? Believe me, I severely underestimated it. It is Monday night and I still can’t feel my pinky finger on my left hand. I wish I knew a doctor. :)

First, the thank you’s. I could not have done this without the support crew, including my wife, her sister and husband, my parents, and of course my 3 kids who were extremely motivating, especially the two year old who was really cute in his puffy coat with the hood on yelling “go daya”. I also could not have done this without the motivation given to me by all those who donated.

Next, the highlights. The spectators, organizers, and other racers were awesome and very positive. I enjoyed all the motivational “good job” and “nice riding” comments from the team riders as they would whizz past me in the middle of the night. This race was extremely hard. I never really thought about abandoning (even when I was hypothermic, see below), but I definitely questioned my own sanity. The course is very cool and I suggest anyone vacationing in the area ride the JEM trail near Hurricane, Utah. The weather only made this more epic. What fun would it have been without snow on the course and a mach 5 wind for the first 6 hours?

Next, the numbers. I rode 16 laps. At 12.8 miles per lap, that’s just shy of 205 miles. The low temperature at 6 am was 34 degrees (that’s almost zero on our celsius-only motorhome thermostat). Here are my lap times.

16 laps, total ride time 24:44:10
Lap # Lap Time
1 01:03:50
2 01:04:55
3 01:09:01
4 01:11:00
5 01:23:22
6 01:20:48
7 01:15:30
8 01:56:59
9 01:22:57
10 01:47:13
11 01:28:33
12 02:23:12
13 01:46:07
14 01:57:55
15 01:43:31
16 01:49:17

You may notice some outliers, lap number 8 was dinner. Lap number 12 is when I almost froze to death. I overheated in laps 10 and 11 so I came into the start of lap 12 shivering from sweaty clothing (at about 2 am). So I stopped at the tent to put on dry clothes. Now normally, that would solve the problem. Not this time. It took me 30 minutes huddled dangerously close to the propane heater to regain a reasonable temperature. Finally, I stopped shivering, finished my Red Bull, and headed back out for five more laps. You may also notice my lap times did get slower. I’ll bet you are thinking this is due to tired legs. Not so, my legs were good. My hands, arms, feet, shoulders, back and ischial tuberosities (a 25 cent word for the bones you sit on when riding a bike) were a big problem. I think the cold temps had a large impact on my hands and arms. They were definitely the weakest link.

Overall, I really enjoyed this race. Don’t get me wrong, I have no plans to ever do it again (until next year)! I was fifth out of 24 solo racers, which is quite satisfying especially considering this was my first solo 24 hour race. I cannot adequately thank all the people who made this possible, and all those who gave generously. Thank you very much.

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