24 hour marathons

Do you, ladies, ride 24 hour marathons? I start this thread to share training, tips and experience for these races.

Last Saturday and Sunday I did my second 24-hour solo. The previous one was in 2010 and I missed 2011 because of injury. My first marathon was very dirty: the weather was rainy, stormy, foggy and muddy. The race was a challenge for both racers and bikes.
This year the weather was wonderful, even a little hot for my taste. To be honest, I didn't ride all 24 hours. At about 12:30 my batteries were low, I was tired and fell two times. The light was not enough to see and my descending was very slow and careful. This was a sign that going further was risky. I was ahead 3 or 4 laps. So I decided to go to the tent and try to sleep instead of losing time and energy in the night. I couldn't sleep because I was excited and tired and it was very noisy, the relays were shouting all the time. Nevertheless, I got up refreshed at 5 a.m. and started again. My competitors had ridden through the night but they still couldn't make up. So I rode until 11:30 and I did 18 laps (11,1 km each). Even though the end of the race was at 13:00, I decided to stop riding at 11:30 because the competitors couldn't catch me and I wanted to save my energy for this week's race. Yesterday my upper body hurt so much, I couldn't lift my fork and knife. My shoulders, chest, biceps and triceps were very sore, as well as my thumbs form the shifting of the gears. Only my legs and butt were ok but I had trained them on the road. I ate and drank all the time and kept a decent pace. Together with my long road miles last week, this was the key to success. Only my upper body wasn't prepared for the rocky section so maybe I have to think about lifting weights again.
My husband was of great help to me: he filled water, cleaned my chain from the sand (the track was dry and sandy) and fixed my derailler and lights. He also made pictures :)