Winning streak wraps up 2008 season

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Namrita O'Dea runs through transition(Image credit: Mark Duffus)

October 20, 2008

Eddie competed in his first solo 24 hour race on the road at the Faster Mustache 24 hour Urban Race. The event was similar to a 24 hour mountain bike race but a little more interesting. Each rider or team had to stop at five check points throughout the city, some of which had all-night parties going on. There was no set route; the riders were dodging Atlanta traffic for 24 hours. All laps had to be completed between noon Saturday through noon Sunday, and the rider with the most laps won.

The next event was the Women's Mountain Bike Weekend I put together with Mulberry Gap Mountain Bike Getaway in the "Mountain Bike Capital of Georgia", Ellijay. It was good times filled with bike talk, riding the Pinhoti and Bear Creek trails, eating plenty of homemade organic food, and bonding with other mountain bike chicks. We had a wide variety of riders from early beginner to advanced and everyone had a fantastic time. The next one is coming up on the weekend of October 24-26, 2008.

Who needs a break? The following weekend, Gone Riding came back to Georgia for the annual 12 hours of Dauset so I decided I wanted to go defend my winning title from 2007. Eddie provided top notch support again, allowing me to take another first place podium spot. Eddie is getting quiet adept at supporting me and entertaining our two dogs for long periods. So far, switching racing and support duties between the two of us seems to be working quite well! Both of us knows what it takes to be a good support crew for each other so this strategy just makes sense for us.

Instead of staying home and watching the 24 hours of Moab, where we should have been racing, we decided to team up with Tina Pic (Colavita/Sutter Home) and her husband Chris Pic of Blue Competition Cycles for the last local endurance race, the 12 hours of Conyers. We kept the lead all day long, despite the second place team making us worry a little bit! In the end, we had a nice lead and came home with the victory in the four-person co-ed class. It was a nice change of pace from our usual solo efforts even though neither Eddie nor I have trained for that type of intensity at all this year.

Eddie and Namrita O'Dea are two married racers balancing the demands of professional racing and training for and even the promoting of endurance races. The duo will travel the US national circuit of 24 hour solo events while dropping in on assorted 100 milers and 12 hour races in between. Follow both into and throughout 2008 as they pursue their roles as spouses, team-mates, co-promoters and yes, even co-business owners.