Most laps in 24 hours reaps victory for cyclists in West Virginia race

                 Tuesday, May 19, 1998

                 By Tasha Zemke

                 If you haven't raced the Newsweek 24 Hours of Canaan, then you haven't
                 experienced the ultimate in mountain bike racing.

                 Hailed as the largest mountain bike event east of the Mississippi River, the
                 June 6-7 epic is expected to draw more than 1,800 competitors in its seventh
                 year to the Timberline Resort in Canaan Valley, W.Va.

                 "Everyone in the mountain bike community says this is the race to do," said
                 Jonathan Kersting, 25, of Mount Oliver, who will compete for the first time
                 this year with three other members of the Pittsburgh High Technology Council
                 Off-Road Cycling Team.

                 The concept is simple: The team that completes the most laps from noon
                 Saturday until noon Sunday wins.

                 Beyond that, a multitude of racing issues face each competitor.

                 One loop is 12 miles, including an 1,800-foot incline on a path sometimes
                 only wide enough for one biker. The corresponding descent drops 1,000 feet
                 over 1 1/ 4 miles of rocky terrain with little dirt for tires to grip.

                 Teams of four or five people take turns cycling the laps and must carry a
                 pencil-sized wooden baton from start to finish. At the end of each lap, an
                 official records the time it took to complete the previous lap and the baton is
                 handed to the next teammate.

                 It takes most competitors between 1 1/2 to two hours to complete each lap,
                 but professional racers vying for part of the $30,000 cash purse - $8,000 for
                 first prize - will complete a lap an hour.

                 Last year's winning team finished 22 laps in 24 hours.

                 "After every lap, you're exhausted," said Bob Poage, 33, of Squirrel Hill, who
                 also is competing for the first time.

                 Poage went with a support crew for another team last year but had a chance
                 to ride the course and watch the competitors.

                 "The course is as tough as you'll find. Steep with rocks, lots of turns. You
                 brake a lot and you're changing gears a lot, but you want to go as fast as you
                 can on every part," Poage said. "You can tell who the pros are. They're going
                 a lot faster and not holding anything back."

                 Strategy is the key to winning, said Laird Knight, the race's founder and
                 director. You can ride in order from the first to last teammate, then repeat that
                 sequence, he said, or each rider can complete two laps in a row before
                 alternating.

                 "It's really up to the team," Knight said. "But you have to be in good shape,
                 have good teamwork and a good support crew. You come in from racing,
                 then eat, sleep and prepare your bike for the next lap."

                 This preparation occurs in the "pit" area, which is either in a group of pitched
                 tents four miles away or in condominiums near the course.

                 Because of the rise in the race's popularity, the condos fill up the day after the
                 previous year's race. Most newcomers end up camping.

                 Dale Fogg, 27, of Ross, said his team camps and he enjoys the festival-like
                 atmosphere.

                 Of the 15 to 20 races he competes in each year, this is the highlight, Fogg
                 said.

                 "As soon as it's over we look forward to next year," he said.

                 Knight, 39, came up with the idea for the bike race in 1991, modeling it after
                 the 24-hour LeMans auto race.

                 Even the start is patterned after the LeMans: Competitors line up and when
                 the starting gun sounds, everyone runs 150 yards up the ski mountain, then
                 downhill to their bikes. They leap on and go.

                 The Canaan event has grown from 36 teams in the first race in 1992 to a
                 whopping 450 this year.

                 Knight's Granny Gear Productions has added two other 24-hour cycling
                 races to the series: in Moab, Utah, and Donner, near Lake Tahoe, Calif. Both
                 will be held this summer.

                 Knight also has sanctioned other companies to run 24-hour races in Great
                 Glen, N.H., and in Vermont.

                 Perhaps the most challenging part of Canaan's race is riding at night along the
                 unlit track. Cyclists use 60-watt lights on their helmets and handlebars to
                 guide them.

                 Even then, it's difficult to see ahead of yourself, Fogg said.

                 "At night any small leaf throws a shadow that looks like a pothole so you try
                 to avoid it," he said. "You ride slower."

                 Last year, Sharon Neeld, 33, of Hampton, was a member of Fogg's team and
                 she said her helmet light burned out and she wasn't using the one on her
                 handlebar.

                 "I had to let my bike pick its own line down the hill," Neeld said.

                 The lap that took her 1 hour and 22 minutes to complete in daylight took
                 more than two hours in the dark. When her light failed, fellow bikers helped
                 guide her through the trails.

                 Exhaustion sets in between dawn and noon of the final day.

                 "If you go down without training, you're in for a rude awakening," Fogg said.

                 Completing 16 laps last year took Neeld, Fogg and teammates "personal
                 strength and intestinal fortitude. There are going be times you're going to hate
                 your bike," Neeld said.

                 "But after you're done, when it's 12:15," she said, "you're like, 'That was so
                 cool.' "
 

                 The field is filled, but call Granny Gear Productions at (304) 259-5533 to ask
                 for an application for next year's event. The fee is $150 per person to enter in
                 the professional division, $100 per person for amateurs.

                 Spectators will be admitted free to the event southeast of Morgantown,
                 W.Va.

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