Jeni- this was my first experience with endurance MTB racing ever. I came off cross season wanting to do something differeng and decided a 24 solo would be it. I rode the trainer through the winter (1-2 hours at a time) and tried to get out on the MTB once a week if it wasn't too nasty out. By the time April rolled around I was thinking that my training sucked so I did a few 50 and 75-mile road rides. Looking back I should have trained harder but oh well!

My one piece of advice would be to watch what you eat and drink. I barely ate any solid food and still avoided the bonk, but I was super dehydrated- so much that I didn't really pee until late in the evening. I didn't test my liquid diet until the race and was lucky that things worked out. A lot of other racers were not so fortunate!

Good luck!