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Noon Saturday June 26 until Noon Sunday 27, 2004

11 miles per lap

Winners of the 4-Person team category were "Guaranteed Overnight", a team of 4 FedEx pilots (Seth Downs, Todd Borke, Tom Peichel and Joe Weinberger). They were closely followed by "2 Tall 2 Short", a team of mostly junior racers (Jose Vega, Ben Couturier, Nate Berry and Jory Stariwat). Both teams completed 27 laps which sets a new distance record for the 3-year race and were only separated by 16 minutes at the end.

In the 2-Person Category, Jeremiah Bell and Janis Tjarve (Team "JRA") also established a new race record by completing 25 laps, and in the process beat all but the leading two 4-Person teams.

The Solo Division was led by the two female solo competitors with Janice Tower completing 17 laps followed by Terri Arion who completed 16 laps.

Corrections to Kevin Klott's article, Anchorage Daily News (see below):

SOLO COMPETITORS

TWO PERSON TEAMS

FOUR PERSON TEAMS

Pushing the limits

Cyclists take challenge of 24 Hours of Kincaid race

Right now Janice Tower is probably still sawing logs at home, resting with a quiet grin and knowing how good it feels to hold onto a pillow instead of a handlebar .And more than likely, she's probably dreaming of the white cottonwood seeds, devil's club and moose that lined the 11-mile dirt course at the 24 Hours of Kincaid mountain bike race at Kincaid Park. Tower, 42, is probably still recovering from cycling 187 miles in a ridiculous journey that began at noon Saturday and ended at noon Sunday. She was one of 87 mountain bikers who, either as soloists or in teams of two or four, competed to see who could log the most trips around the course in 24 hours. Saturday night, tents were scattered around the park's stadium. They were filled with fatigued bikers. But resting wasn't a concern for Tower, who placed first in the solo class with 17 laps. She knows how to pace herself. "There were clearly better bikers than me out here," she said. "But my motto was to start slow and go slow.

"What began with a shotgun start at noon had turned into a battle of psychological strength by Saturday evening. "You didn't want to waste yourself too soon," Anchorage rider Jason Hill said. "The key was keeping positive thoughts and not dwelling on the pain. "Tower handled the pain and mental exertion the way Lance Armstrong does in the Tour de France. She completed 17 laps to out cycle all of the men, who normally dominate Arctic Bicycle Club races. Another woman, Terri Arion, placed second with 16 laps. The first man was third-place Patrick Fitzgerald, who completed 15 laps aboard a single-speed bike. "The guys are so competitive that they often push too hard," Tower said. "The heat wiped them out really fast. "Tower said the men may have logged faster loop times than her, but they took longer breaks. Tower's longest resting period lasted 10 minutes. She said that was just enough time to puke, wash out her mouth and catch her breath for another wicked loop.

Because Kincaid is built on an old glacial moraine, it challenges riders with numerous doublewide, high-speed roller coaster rides. Fence line Trail, the park's northern border, is considered the hardest stretch because it has 300 feet of uphill climbing. "It's so long that my heart rate jumps to 190," said Matt Novakovich, one of the most successful racers in Anchorage. "That's as high as it goes. "Most of Novakovich's four-person team called it quits early Sunday morning. Race director Reggi Parks said another team complained that Novakovich skipped a portion of the course and emerged with a four-minute advantage. Novakovich said he made a wrong turn. "What would motivate someone to cheat in a race with no prize money?" he said. "I definitely went the wrong way. "Parks disqualified Novakovich, who decided to pack his bags and leave Kincaid along with his teammates around 5 a.m. Sheryl Loan stayed behind to finish what her team started. Two of Loan's children were in the race, so Loan -- one of the state's top mountain bikers, male or female -- practiced what she preached. "I'm always telling my kids 'Come on, you can do one more lap. Just don't quit,' " she said. "Plus, I just didn't want to go home. "Loan, who spent the final seven hours as a soloist, heard nothing but cheers from other racers. "That was the classiest thing I had ever seen," Anchorage biker Joe Weinberger said. "She was a chocolate mess from all that riding."

So was Janis Tjarve, 24, who was racing for the first time in Anchorage. He and Jeremiah Bell set a new course record by completing 25 laps in the two-person class. Also setting a course record was a team of four Federal Express pilots -- Seth Downs, Todd Borke, Tom Peichel and Joe Weinberger -- who won the four-person class with 27 laps. Second-place finishers Jose Vega, Ben Couturier, Nate Berry and Jory Stariwat also recorded 27 laps, but the pilots won by a 16-minute margin. Tjarve, who is from Latvia, had never seen mountains before coming to Alaska last month. The sight of the Chugach Mountains seemed to help Tjarve when he felt fatigued. "I was glancing up to look at the mountains and it kept my mind busy," he said. "Once you learned the trail, it was an easy ride. "It was never exactly easy for Tower. As the hours wore on, part of her told her to quit, and another part told her to win. "The evil thoughts started coming into my head after lap six," Tower said. "It would have been easy to quit, but after lap 10 I got into a groove. "Until she stumbled across a curled-up bull moose nestled on the trail. She said the moose probably wondered why somebody was riding on a trail that rarely sees bike traffic at that time of night. "I was screaming down this hill, wearing my headlamp, and had to swerve five feet from hitting it," she said. "I felt bad for him. He looked really comfortable lying there in the grass."