This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2006, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
MOAB - The phrase race promoters used to describe the 12th annual 24 Hours of Moab mountain bike race was, "The essence of experience is the mystery of the ride."
As an estimated 1,500 riders lined up to begin the country's largest event of its kind Saturday at noon, they had no idea how appropriate the description would become.
Torrential downpours, flash floods and chilling temperatures transformed an already challenging race course into a dangerous 15-mile loop of harrowing obstacles that forced even the country's top pros off their bikes into waist-deep, sudden rivers of sand and cold water.
"Parts of the trail were so washed out, you'd be out there in this river of water and it was moving everything with you, including big rocks," said Nat Ross, the men's solo winner. "This was my 34th 24-hour race and by far the most dangerous. It didn't do any good to preride the course; the water changed it every lap."
Southern Utah has been hit with big storms recently, saturating ground that normally drains quickly. As a result, when Saturday's storm rolled through the Moab area, puddles and mucky bogs formed on a course known to test riders more with its dust and sand pits in the recreation area known as "Behind the Rocks."
The conditions were so treacherous, organizers halted the race at 8 p.m. Saturday and didn't resume it until 9 a.m. Sunday, making it a much shorter endurance event than anyone expected. The Moab race is known for unpredictable weather swings - racers often endure hot temperatures during the day and near-freezing temperatures at night - but the race had never been postponed.
"It was just too cold and dangerous," said race promoter Laird Knight. "Cold and sunny we can handle, cold and rainy is a different animal."
Few racers complained about the shortened course, but many said they were too numb to race into the night.
"I know I came in hypothermic," said 32-year-old Rich Price, of Mammoth Lakes, Calif. "There wasn't even a course, there was just standing water everywhere and you didn't know how deep it was. Water was up to my waist at one point. It was scary."
John Marshall, an EMT with Grand County, said by 11 a.m. Sunday his volunteers treated 21 riders for various injuries and hypothermia. The count would have been higher if the race had continued into the long hours of the late night, the ones which riders often refer to as the "character-building" hours.
Instead, the conditions could have become life-threatening.
"The good thing is the weather forced riders to go slower, so we didn't have that many injuries, but the weather was an unforeseen variable," Marshall said. "I talked to an extreme number of riders who were hypothermic. They were putting out so much energy, they had nothing to keep their core temperatures warm."
Ross, who also won the race in 2003 and won the Granny Gear series title this year, said he expected to do 18 laps to have a shot at winning. Instead, he only had to do six since the race was called for the solo riders after Saturday's stoppage.
Team riders resumed their races under a partly cloudy sky Sunday morning. The temperatures were higher and so were spirits as many riders celebrated the better conditions by wearing costumes.
One rider wore a large plastic penguin on his head while another whooped and hollered his way through the part of the course that wound through the camping area wearing nothing but bike shorts and a long black wig.
Still, as riders huddled around campfires and steaming cups of coffee, with the whining sounds of hapless vehicles stuck in the mud as background music, conversations centered on the soggy elements that had tested them more than the course itself.
"It was just insane," said 26-year-old Jen Arnow, a member of the Salt Lake-based team Jenny and the Jets.
"Your feet would just disappear into the water when you pedaled. Someone stopped to put on their raincoat, and I just laughed. As if it was going to help."