My 1st 24hr 3rd LCR = 8

My first 24 hour race, this is what it felt like. I did the first lap for the team, running start and i get to my bike and I was think when have i last sprinted that fast...? OK biking down road thinking dam I should not of did that, in 3rd spot off the start, the race could of ended there cuss that's were we finished. OK finished lap 1 drink eat get lights, think what the hell did i get myself in to?
lap 2 I hammered it but have no power, so I ride it instead. lap 2 done. Go to camp eat, drink & wash. team racer #4 Larry said "isn't this great!" I try to smile. next lap is a 2 laper lets say I tried to hard to do well & = failed then try to sleep Failed. Team racer 3 ray said time to get up Andy with a sound in his voice like it was a good thing...? 4am like 40Deg out no sleep yet, wet from dew and dark really really dark, so cold sitting at the start waiting for Larry this was the low point in the race. I raced that lap like I was racing for my life, so cold, getting wet, tired, hungry,this week was my fist night riding, and trail was emty, grass and rocks getting really slick. At this point I was thinking wow this is it the lowest of lows and it would not be so bad if I could of stopped, but I have to keep going forward for the team( team sports MTBing WTF over).
I finish lap 5 and its like 5am and tag off to heath and he looks at me and said next lap will be allot better and bikes off into the night, I was thinking what the hell is that? Is the riddler riddling or can he read my mind and is f ing with me or smart? OK go to camp tell ray to get up, wash off in the cold, eat, drink, sleep for 1hr & ray gets me up its sunny out, I get ready and ride it was the best lap yet... Heath is smart! me and eddy race down the last part of course from the top/new top all the way to the bottom/finish we passed some riders, if we had motors on the bikes the passes we made were good! so we said sorry to the racers we ran off the course as we bombed down the hill,best part of the race fun! fun! eddy won he had better passing skills.The rest of the day was a blank I was sad and zoned out. Race over 3 place overall.
The biggest shock was when the winning team got there awards they pulled out salsa skewers.... and that's it? If your racing and racing to win and paying big $ to race, there should be prizes to = the race fee like MNSCS, Buckhill, Murphy tt, and so on.

Things I liked about the race, my team! Larry laughing all the time, Heath so focused and tried 110% every time out & ray just having fun and loven it. This race put me were i do not want to be and thats good some times, I asked eddy "what do you think this race is doing for us" he said "nothing... its only good for your soul really" Nice . The one thing this race did give me was tons of feeling, Good and bad but there was allot of them and thats what makes life life and thats good! I have to give it up to the dark cold hills of Afton on Friday night they made me feel something I have never felt.