The Shady Pirates from left to right, Tom Linn, Art Gillespie, Mike McKisson and Zach MacDonald.

Big events like El Tour de Tucson and the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo seem to have a way of becoming part of who we are as cyclists.

We tell people we rode 109 miles or rode through the desert at 3 a.m. in the middle of February and they look at us like we are absolutely nuts. Maybe we are, but events like the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo test us mentally and physically.

After the even is over, however, the pain subsides, the mental roadblocks are removed and what is left are the stories.

I hope you’ll share your story from the race in the comment section below. In the meantime, here’s my story.

The Shady Pirates team — which was named for Steve Vihel — was made up of myself, Tom Linn, Art Gillespie and Zach MacDonald. Zach was a late addition when our friend Duncan Benning had to back out. We were also incredibly fortunate to have Mike McCambridge and his fiance Susan Richmond act as our camp managers.

Only Zach had any experience riding in the race, the rest of us were 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo rookies.

Zach is the vice president a former president of the Sonoran Desert Mountain Bicyclists so we stayed with the SDMB group, which was a lot of fun.

Two of the members also happen to run Catalina Brewing Company, which made for a very delicious selection of beer constantly available at the camp.

We set up camp Friday afternoon and started enjoying the beer.

Once the sun went down we went on a night ride to see what the course looked like at night. It was my first-ever night ride and I had a blast.

Having a family and work commitments, I was really excited about the prospect of riding at night as a way to get miles in without having to sacrifice time with my family.

We spent the rest of Friday enjoying the company, fire and food.

It had been a while since I had camped and sleeping on the ground did not come as naturally as I remembered.

Saturday rolled around and I was starting to get excited and nervous about the race. I was set for the third lap.

Art started the race for us and did a great job and Tom put in a fast second lap, then it was my turn.

I hit the course and was feeling really good. Before the start I had worried about passing people and being passed. As it turned out it was pretty easy to do both.

I ended up turning in my fastest lap, clocking in at 1:13.

Zach followed it up with a 1:12 lap.

We were ahead of where we thought would be.

Mike McCambridge, in blue, and Susan Richmond, in red, kept our camp running.

I went back to camp and started getting out of my race clothes and immediately started cramping. I was getting pretty concerned about how my second lap would go. I started drinking lots of water and an electrolyte mix, which the swag angel gave me.

I was already thinking my 3 a.m. lap would be in jeopardy and Tom, Art and I started discussing sleeping instead of doing our third lap, but Zach kept telling us to wait and see how we felt.

I went out for my second lap. I took it a little slow because I was concerned about my legs, but then realized I was feeling pretty good. By the end of my second lap I felt fantastic and knew I’d be riding through the night.

I tried to sleep between laps, but double shot espresso Gu packets made it difficult.

My third lap didn’t go quite as well, though. About seven miles in my front tire felt strange. It was rolling over on itself and when I stopped to check, it was going flat.

I pumped a little more air into it and noticed it was leaking from the sidewall and the sealant wasn’t filling the tiny tear. So at 3 a.m. in the pitch black, I took off the tire, added a tube and got sealant all over myself.

Eventually I started rolling again, but the lap time was ruined and I was cold and wet.

I made it back to camp, tried to sleep and dozed off for a few minutes, but woke up after dreaming I was riding my bike off a cliff.

Soon it was time for my fourth and last lap. I thought it was going to be brutal, but aside from a little soreness in my neck, my legs felt good and I turned in a 1:25 lap.

Overall it was a fantastic weekend and less than 24 hours after the race I’m already started thinking about next year. I’ve been thinking more and more that I want to do a duo team to try to push myself even harder.

The only think I would change is getting my family to come join me. I missed them a ton.

I want to thank the Catalina Brewing Company, Sonoran Desert Mountain Bicyclists, my teammates and Mike and Susan for making the weekend truly memorable.

Check out my laps: Lap 1, Lap 2, Lap 3, Lap 4

What about you? What’s your story?

Check out the photos submitted by TucsonVelo readers from the race. You can submit your photos by emailing TucsonVelo@gmail.com

Thousands of cyclists and spectators turned out to participate in Epic Rides’ 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo bike race this weekend.

Event director and president of Epic Rides, Todd Sadow, said from his perspective, the event was a smashing success.

“It was fantastic,” Sadow said. “It was really an exceptionally good weekend. I don’t think we’ve ever had that perfect of a Saturday as far as the weather goes.”

According to Sadow, 1,800 cyclists registered to participate in the event and another 1,200-1,900 people came out to watch the race and assist riders during the weekend.

In addition to the weather, Sadow said he was extremely pleased with the way the participants took care of the land.

“This is the cleanest the 24 hour town has ever been left initially by its participants,” he said. “It looks great. We are fortunate to have an awesome group of people that attend the event. They don’t look at it as a junkyard, they look at it as their playground that they need to keep clean.”

This year, Sadow was honored by the owners of the land where the bike race is held for his commitment to putting on a great event and being a good steward of the land.

The recognition is something he said he doesn’t feel comfortable with.

Todd Sadow

“That was completely unexpected,” Sadow said of the award. “I am not a huge fan of being acknowledged like that, but I appreciate the ranch seems to feel the same way about us being out there.  I’m lucky man, I’ve got an awesome crew. Everybody thanks me, but it’s the whole crew. I probably sleep more than anybody out there these days because we have such an awesome group of people that make the event go.”

Check out the results and other interesting facts from the race.

By the numbers:

Number of riders registered: 1,800

Record breaking lap count by a solo single speed rider: 18 by Michael Melley

Laps ridden by a female solo single speed rider: 15, a tie by Melissa Liebling and Lauren Frisk. Liebling completed her laps slightly faster, however.

Most laps ridden by a team: 23 by the Epic Endurance P/B The Gear Movement four person team

Most laps ridden by a duo: 22 by the El Grupo Duo team.

Fastest complete lap (the first lap is shortened and uses extra jeep roads): 56:01 by Chris Baddick.

Here are a few photos from the race. I’m compiling photos taken by other racers and spectators. If you would like to submit your own photo, send it to tucsonvelo@gmail.com with information about how you would like the photo credited.

Results:

Check out the full results here.

This weekend when I hit the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo as a member of the Shady Pirates I’ll be thinking of my friend Steve Vihel.

Steve was going to be a part of the team, but as the summer ended he started getting sick.

Our team name is actually an homage to him.

One of my journalism students did an audio slide show about his bicycle shop There and Back Bikes. In the interview, which you can watch at the top of the post, Steve said he wanted people to trust him because people don’t want to, “buy a bike a bike from a shady pirate.”

Because it seems impossible to live up to the type of person Steve was, we named ourselves the Shady Pirates.

If you need a team to root for, think about rooting for the Shady Pirates. We won’t be in the hunt for a team win, but we’ll probably need the good vibes at 3 a.m.

Editor’s note: Steve Wilson is a longtime Tucson cyclist and former Greater Arizona Bicycling Association president. He recently retired from IBM where he commuted by bicycle the last 966 days he went to work. Wilson is employed as a Pima County Bicycle Ambassador.

Steve Wilson pedals the Pima County Book Bike to it's first official event.

The Pima County Library’s new Book Bike made its first official appearance on Saturday with a visit to the Keeling neighborhood’s street party on Fontana south of Blacklidge.

After an early morning rendezvous at the main library downtown, volunteers Annie Wicks, Josh Dotolo, and Steve Zupcic and myself loaded up the bike with about 500 books as well as assorted bike and library-related giveaways. We were accompanied by Pima County’s bike and pedestrian coordinator Matt Zoll, who followed along with a bike trailer loaded with additional books from the library.

The Book Bike was an immediate hit. It was well stocked with children’s books and there was a steady stream of youngsters and their parents poring through the pile for new favorites. There was a little something for everyone, including one classic from Tolstoy.

Other activities at the street party included a bike rodeo put on by the county’s bike ambassadors, free bike maintenance from BICAS (they were busy all day), a band, jumping castle and good local Mexican food.

By 1:30 p.m. things had slowed a bit. Less than 20 books were left from the original 500 or so. The volunteers packed things back up and headed south to the library. The Book Bike is ready to go on its next adventure.

The Keeling on the Move event was organized by Pima Association of Governments and the Keeling neighborhood. Check out more photos from the event here.

In preparation for my first 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo, I’ve been spending some time up in Oracle riding the course.

My first trip up was with El Grupo during one of their practices. I managed to do two laps in a row and here is what one of them looked like sped up by 400 percent.

Our team is nailed down and we are finalizing our plans.

The last thing I’d like to practice before the big weekend is riding at night.

Any tips for night riding aside from, “Have bright lights!”