Bill's 24 Hour Exploits
"Each one of us who travels farther than the obstacles will know a different kind of life from that time on."
- 1993
- 1994
- 1995
- 1996
- 1997
- 1999
- 2008 RMVQ [site]
- 2009 24 Hours of Rapelje [page]
- 2009 WSC [page]
- 2009 RMVQ [page]
May 10, 1993
Blue Trail Challenge
The Rider: William Martin
The Record: 105 miles in 24 hours 11 hours 13 minutes on the bike time 8.2 Ave. speed
The Course: 10.5 mile loop on the Blue Trail(counter clockwise) 150 ft. climbing per lap
In the first year I did not know to many cyclists. In fact I was too embarrassed to admit to anyone that I desired to see if I could ride a mountain bike off road for 100 miles without stopping. So I secretly hid a milk jug full of Cytomax, Powerbars, bagels, and some bananas behind a log so that I could stop each lap to refuel. I also hid lube so I could keep my chain lubed each lap. The ride seemed hard but at the end I felt a great sense of accomplishment. For only a moment, however, then the desire to go farther crept into my soul like a big dark cloud. Afterward I grabbed my milk jug and rode home, as I had no car.
November 5, 1994
Record Attempt Number Two
The Riders:
- William Martin
- Chris Rose
The Course: 10.1 mile loop on the Blue Trail (counter clockwise) 150 ft. climbing per lap
This year I talked to my friend and racing buddy Chris into riding with me so that I did not go crazy. When Chris arrived I had already done 7 laps and was groggy. Chris lifted my spirits and paced me back into my fast pace. Chris finally became sick and I set out on my final lap. 34-degree temperatures, sleet, and rain punished me. I walked the last half of the lap and barely made it back to my car. I put everything into my trunk and went back to my apartment. Unfortunately my landlord had evicted me and all my belongings were in the parking lot.
November 4, 1995
Mountain Bike Challenge 3
The Riders:
- William Martin
- Ed Smith
- Andy LaPlante
- Nicki Bogardus
- Dave Seymour
- Robert McCarty
- Charlie Mitchell
- Mark Heit
The Course: The Course - 15 mile loop on the Blue Trail (counter clockwise) 165 ft. climbing per lap
For year three, I had many friends help me in my quest to go farther faster. Each huge lap ended with friends helping me with water food and lube. A long way from year one, I averaged 8 MPH. All laps were done on one bike except the last one, in which another bike was substituted. my bike had a demolished rear wheel due to a crash the lap before. Ed accidentally rammed into I on a night lap. Ed was distressed but I calmed me down and slammed the tacoed wheel back into shape. The weather was freezing and very windy. Quite a few frost bit cases were the norm this year. I could not regain circulation to my feet for three weeks after. After this attempt I had to be taken home by my friends Andy and Nicki as I was in shock.
October 26, 1996
4TH Annual 24 Hour Mountain Bike Challenge, Complete with Halloween Pumpkins
The Riders:
- TEAM RUT-RO
- Dave Seymour
- Ed Smith
- Robert McCarty
- Nicki Bogardus
- TEAM BILL
- Bill Martin
- TEAM UNO
- Charlie Mitchell
- Mark Heit
- Chris Rose
The Course: See below
This year the yearly ritual would become a 24-hour race. The race started at noon on Saturday and ended at noon on Sunday. I challenged two teams for the record. At first it looked as though I would beat these teams and set a new record. At one point I was 1 minute away from lapping the field. As the race wore on, my food handler could not be found. Without fuel, I started to decay both in thought and speed. Things really took a turn for the worse when I flatted and ran 8 miles to the pits. It took me 1 hour to fix my flat and broken spokes and team Rutro put a lap and a half on him. Once fixed my bike would betray me again as another flat made me run another 3 miles to the pits. Exhausted and undernourished, I fell asleep only to wake 4 laps down. In a last ditch effort to salvage dignity I mounted another bike and set a personal record at 162 miles. On my last lap I hit a tree and rendered myself unconscious. Team Rutro defeated and humiliated I as they set the new record at 204 miles in 24 hours.
November 1, 1997
Night of The Living Dead 24 Hour Mountain Bike Challenge
The Riders:
- William Martin
- Ed Smith
- Chris Rose
- Charlie Mitchell
- Mark Heit
- Robert McCarty
- Dave Seymour
- Bill Henke
- Craig Cheeseman
This year the word was RAIN. For the first 5 laps, things went real smooth for I and my friends. The average speed per lap was 11 MPH, which is very fast. After the fifth lap it looked as though it wasn't going to rain as predicted and visions of a record danced in my head. I headed out for my sixth lap with Dave Seymour. Half way through the lap it started to rain. As they finished their lap it was a full-fledged rainstorm.
Dave and I changed into some rain gear and set out for another lap. I knew that there would be heavy rain for the rest of the night, and I started to see my chances of breaking the record diminish. A quarter mile into lap seven, I stuffed my wheel into a stump and crashed over my handlebars. I was injured and the front wheel of my bike was tacoed. Dave and I headed back into the pits so that I could assess the damage. After relentless tinkering, I brought my front wheel back into trueness. I wondered how long it would stay that way.
Not injured enough to stop, I headed out again alongside my friend Dave. The lap was horrifying. The trail was covered with water and the fog was thick. Every hill became a slick slide-fest. The lap was made even more deadly at the road crossings were the traffic could not see where they were going. As they finished their lap, a small group gathered at the pits to see if I would continue. Dave, now shaken up, was finished. I would have to go out on my own for the next lap.
Numerous attempts were made to talk I out of continuing, but I set off on another desperate lap. I knew that I would have trouble finishing the 24 hours, let alone setting a new record. After lap eight, my friends, Paul and Lucy, convinced me into not risking my life any longer. Bill decided to quit the effort, and felt as though my soul had died. The Blue Trail had beaten him.
After I fell asleep the rain stopped. Once I awoke I set out again, just like the previous year, to salvage my dignity. I rode the fastest 2nd day laps ever, and finished with 125.387 miles at 12:12 PM.
The High Peaks Cyclery 24-Hour Mountain Bike Race
Mt. VanHovenbergh New York
The Riders: William Martin and the rest of the field
The Record: 155 miles No record was set!
The Course: 6.2 mile loop at the Mt VanHovenbergh Biathlon Center 550ft climbing per lap East Mountain Climb Rolling Biathlon Terrain
Since my last 24-hour attempt had failed I went into a deep depression. I felt no purpose and had no self-worth. my racing went downhill also ending with my retirement from competitive racing in September of 1998. In 1999 I vowed to once again do the 24-hour challenge.
I had fanaticized about it for two years. I chose the 24-hour race in Lake Placid to make my comeback attempt. Things did not go to well in the preparation, as school had taken its toll on my fitness. I would begin the race with a total of less than ten training hours for the summer. I was totally out of shape.
The first lap went pretty well but I soon realized that this would be a long 24 hours and I settled into a slow but steady pace. With three laps done I started to feel back pains and fatigue. My body was just not ready to ride a bike for longer than an hour. Still, I trudged on getting slower and slower.
Suddenly all the eating and drinking started to pay off as I started to ride into shape. Each lap got better and better and I was feeling great in spirits. Darkness fell, however, and the biggest fear in my life started ... the dark, cold, night. I knew that it would be tough, but was up for the task.
Suddenly my race came crashing down around me. There were competitors that kept right up with me and so I gave up on the win expecting to go for my record instead. By midnight I was within reach of my goals but the second letdown of the night came in the form of news. News that each lap was only 6 miles long instead of 7.
This would kill my hopes of a PR, as my mileage wasn't as high as I had hoped. I would have to ride consistently and fast until noon. I determined that I could not go on however and decided to give up. I sat down for a piece of pizza offered to me by my friends, Charlie Mitchell and Chris Rose. Charlie was in the race too but in the 4-person division with team ROAR. I talked to Chris and Charlie until they had to go out to ride their own shifts.
I found myself alone. Could I finish or should I just call it quits now? I wondered and drank my coffee that I had attained in the main part of the lodge. The coffee then started to kick in. I thought to myself that I had might as well go out and ride and maybe see on of my buddies out there on the trail. I was just to miserable to just hang out at the lodge.
I knew that in the back of my mind that I wanted to at least keep awake and conquer the night. I had never conquered the night. I set off on a slow lap, walking at every chance that I got. I found comfort in the night with the moon in full and my shallow pants of breathing now becoming very therapeutic.
Chris Rose came up the trail with news. Apparently my competition had got two laps up on me and could not go any further. The competition had gone to sleep with intentions on getting up in the morning ready to attack. I came to life as my competitive juices began to stir. I would attack now and try to be ahead of the sleeping racer. I raced past the checkpoint and right back out for another lap.
After that lap, I then again did not stop for re-fueling and went out for a third consecutive lap. I was now tied and if I could get another lap in before sunrise I could take the lead. The gamble paid off and I went for a fourth consecutive lap. The pace had wore on me as the lap became long with I tried to fight from going into shock and passing out. I came into the checkout to find myself ahead by two.
I staggered into the pit area and said "He can have it , I cannot go any further". And with that I passed out on the floor. Chris Rose woke me right back up with some news. The bad news was that the competitor went out for another lap and the good news was that he had finished behind me and he too was stopped. Apparently he could not stop vomiting from exhaustion.
I watched my competitor afraid that if I went out for another lap I myself would die out there. The sun had been up for a little while now and I started to recover from my pre-dawn attack. Suddenly more news - my competitor was attacking once again. I would have to go out one more time. Chris told me to wait. To see if my competition would decide to go another, and then follow me. I went to get ready and decided to go at that moment - before I died (I figured).
The loop was very long and when I finished I decided to quit and see if my competition would catch. I thought that maybe my competition had enough and would not attack any more. I was wrong. my competition went out for another but I stayed. Could this guy make up two laps on me before Noon? At the mid-checkpoint it was apparent that my competitor was on the attack and posted a 13-minute half-lap. That pace would definitely be enough to do three laps before noon.
I went and put on my cycling shoes once again and decided to attack like I had never attacked before. I filled my water bottle with Mountain Dew and took off. I decided to go all out and attack every obstacle. I cleared East Mountain Pass in record time and let it all hang out on the decent. At the midpoint I posted a 11-minute half-lap time and realized that I was on a record breaking lap pace. Suddenly Charlie Mitchell was in front of me and I passed Charlie like he was standing still.
I was inspired at my newfound energy and was out of the saddle for each climb. Finally one more climb. Now on the straightaway. I crossed the line at 25:24, a lap record for the entire race - totally amazing. My competition came in and found out about the record lap, he was de-moralized and decided to give in. I stopped and I won the race by two laps. A long way from the depression that I once had the year before, I would now know a new life from that moment on.
2008 Remember Marcy Vision Quest
Web Site
Missoula, MT
The Riders: Rich Shattuck, Jim Brown, Sten Hersens, Bill Martin, Ronnie Attaway, Dave Chenault, Garland Thayer, Larry Dent.
The Record: 153.17 in 21:14 (not a record)
The Course: Google Map
The first year was inspired by the death of my dog Marcy but also by a underlying dream to go to the 2009 24 Solo World Championships. This event would give me some feedback if this dream was at all a possibility. The results were good but most of all a epic was born.
What I remember most is getting to know some good people and friends who put a lot of effort into this ride not only to keep me going but to take on the challenge to ride the RMVQ, now an epic loop that will live on into the future of Missoula mountain bike
2009 24 Hours of Rapelje
Web Site
Rapelje, MT
The Ride: 7 laps, 99.4 miles (not a record)
The Course: 14.2 mile laps with 900 ft climbing
Result: 1st place solo overall
We arrived in Rapelje and the weather was great and our first night there exceptional. I didn't get much sleep because everyone was just having way too much fun. This was my tune up race and quite frankly my only experience before the worlds.
They're off! 79 in the shade. ~Marta 11:08 AM Jun 20th, 2009
The race started out and I quickly found the pace to be raining my heart rate way above the prescribed level by the coach. Clearly 24 hour racing was way faster then it used to be and this was only Rapelje.
Bill came thru 3rd. sten & rich also thru. no problems. ~Marta 12:33 PM
When I finally settled down I started setting a pretty reasonable pace and things started looking up as I took the lead and never looked back.
I was loving the course and settling in for night time when the storms rolled in.
Storm rolling in Bill in lead! no issues 4 b, s, or r. ~Marta 2:58 PM
Bill on lap 5, in lead. ~Marta 3:34 PM
Bill way in the lead. Just started lap 7. Sten & Rich doing well. Cooling off-overcast. rain just started. ~Marta 5:33 PM
My 7th lap would be my last as they called the race. I was so disappointed that I stayed up all night riding the road to Columbus and back. I was jacked and peaking to race. Argh!
Storm delay since about 6. trouble keeping cell signal. all riders in & ok.~Marta 7:34 PM
Earliest restart 5am. gumbo mud. raining off & on. but tunes & beer so all good!! ~Marta 9:34 PM
Raced called due 2 rain & mud. Bill wins nearly beating all teams. ~Marta 8:45 AM Jun 21st
2009 24 Hour World Solo MTB Championships
Web Site
Canmore, Alberta Canada
The Riders: Just a few folks from around the world.
The Record: 178.56 miles and 33,660 vert.ft. (new personal best)
The Course: Canmore Nordic Center 9.92 miles with 1,870 feet of climbing per lap
My Crew: Bob Waggoner, Sten Hertsens, and Rich Shattuck
So much that I needed a separate page http://williammartin.com/worlds
2009 RMVQ
Missoula, MT
Participants: Bill Martin, Julie Huck, Bob Skogley, Garland Thayer, Ed and Laurie Stalling, Alden Wright. Chenault, Garland Thayer, Larry Dent.
The Course: tinyurl.com/rmvq-map
Length: 151.97 (152) miles (not a record)
Climbing: 23,719 feet
See the Web Site for complete details and a time line description or accounting of the ride.