24 Solo

A DVD I finally got hold of for Christmas is 24 Solo. It's the story of last year's 24hr solo world championships in which Chris Eatough was attempting to make it 7 straight titles. In his way was Craig Gordon, an Aussie with very little sponsorship who actually has a 9-5 job he has to hold down while he trains for these races, unlike Eatough, who is fully sponsored. A couple of news articles will give you the flavour of what occurred.

From Velonews

Chris Eatough's attempt to secure his seventh straight victory at the 24 Hours of Adrenalin Solo World Championships ran into an impassable roadblock Sunday morning - Australian Craig Gordon. Gordon, a 34-year-old former World Cup cross-country rider, hails from Sydney, Australia.

After riding wheel-to-wheel at a blistering pace, Eatough and Gordon lapped the field after only eight hours. But as night fell, Gordon (Cannondale) gradually rode away into the dark, adding two minutes, three minutes, five minutes, and once even ten minutes per lap over the 31-year old Eatough (Trek-Volkswagen).

With the Eatough eventually slowed by an upset stomach and blurred vision in one eye, Gordon upped his pace, maintaining 44- to 47-minute laps on the relentlessly bumpy eight-mile loop, site of the inaugural Olympic cross-country race in 1996.

Gordon also managed to outmatch Eatough in the team pit areas - the Aussie would often times run his bike through the pit areas as his mechanics lubed his chain and handed him water bottles. When dawn broke on Sunday, September 8, Eatough was a full lap-and-a half down on Gordon.

Also from Velonews

Rhabdomyolysis

A common disorder which may result from a large variety of diseases, trauma, or toxic insults to skeletal muscle. It may be defined as a clinical and biochemical syndrome resulting from an injury which damages the integrity of the sarcolemma of skeletal muscle, leading to the release of potentially toxic muscle cell components into the circulation.(1,2,3) This may result in potential life-threatening complications including myoglobinuric acute renal failure, hyperkalaemia and cardiac arrest, disseminated intravascular coagulation, and more locally, compartment syndrome.

Craig Gordon pedaled his bike so hard this past weekend that he nearly rode himself to death.

More than a slight cramp: Gordon did some damage

The Aussie pushed his body to the extreme limits of physical exhaustion to capture the 2006 24 Hours of Adrenaline solo world championships, held in Conyers, Georgia. In doing so, Gordon sent his body into the depths of rhabdomyolysis.

Now, I'm no doctor, but after reading the above definition, I have to assume that rhabdomywhateveritis can't be good. In simple terms, Gordon's bloodstream was so full of junk given off from his shattered muscles that he was close to poisoning his kidneys.

That is some serious riding. When you push yourself to almost dying, it's gotta say something about your commitment. Now having watched the movie, here's my review.

The movie is basically about Chris, how he prepares and his relationship with his team manager John Posner. John is someone who wears his heart on his sleeve, so he makes for great viewing, especially near the end where they are losing the race.

The cinematography is great and they get a lot of great footage. For the race itself they had fixed cameras, boom cameras, cameras on a flying fox, a guy riding around with a helmet cam during the race and even a night vision camera. With all these angles and options, this is about as exciting as a 24hr race will ever get. It's not really a sport for spectators, but the producers have managed to put together a great sequence, especially on the back of a great original score.

Chris's dominance of the sport can be likened to Lance Armstrong, and during the interviews of his competitors, they say as much. Pretty much they turn up and all fight for second. Except for one Aussie....

Due to the fact that no-one knew who Craig Gordon was before this race, the producers didn't bother interviewing him before the race. All of the footage of him you see was in his hospital bed after the race. They also don't really get a lot of information out of Craig, so it's a bit lacking in what he was going through during the race, and how he prepared etc.

Ignoring those small quibbles, the movie is fantastic. And that's not just an enthusiast talking: The few other non cyclists I have shown it to really thought it was very well done. If you get the chance, watch it. You won't be disappointed.