Your leg is bleeding and you left a tooth at the rock garden on the downhill. Your bike will only go forward in three gears thanks to a spill on lap two, you’ve had too many beers, and all you’ve eaten in the last 18 hours is Hammer Gel and beef jerky. You’re so tired you’re actually nauseous. Welcome to 24–hour mountain bike racing, the most challenging and painful 24 hours of your life, and the most fun you’ve had since discovering Zima as a teenager. It’s no wonder this bizarre subculture within the bizarre subculture of mountain biking has been touted as the sport’s savior. Mountain biking numbers have been slipping for years and if it wasn’t for the surprising popularity of these all night races that are sprouting up across America, the sport might have found itself resting alongside BMX in the annals of curious but short-lived two wheel movements.

Fat tire fanatics can thank Laird Knight, founder of Granny Gear race promotions for creating the most popular event on dirt. In 1992, Knight transformed his popular Canaan race into an all night mountain bike frenzy, and 24-hour racing was born. Blue Ridge Outdoors talked with the daddy of 24 hour racing about the curious life of this bizarre event.

BRO: How did you come up with 24 hour mountain bike racing?

Knight: I’d been a biker and race promoter for a while and I had a sense of how much camaraderie was involved in the sport. I wanted to produce an event that was worth traveling for and that would play off of that camaraderie of team racing.

BRO: What was that first race like?

Knight: Nobody knew what the race would look like. None of us had any idea what we were getting into. The first course was 12 miles long starting right in Davis. It was a gnarly course. Foggy, wet, muddy. There were three major stream crossings on each lap and we had had a lot of rain. Even I didn’t know how much fun it was going to be. When it was all over, we were all stumbling around with huge grins on our faces. That’s when I quit my job and took on Granny Gears full time.

BRO: How many riders did you have at that first race?

Knight: There were 36 teams for the first race, which was a pretty good turnout for the time. We had 85 teams the second year and 200 the third year. It was obvious we were on to something.

BRO: 24-hour races attract hardcore bikers and duffers too. Why do you think they hold such a wide appeal?

Knight: I think what makes 24-hour racing so unique is the shared experience. I raced on a team those first couple of years and I had never raced harder. You don’t know how hard you can ride until you have three or four buddies waiting for you at camp. 24 hour mountain biking holds onto the core values of mountain biking in a way that other races don’t.

BRO: What’s next for 24-hour racing? Where does it go from here?

Knight: I’m creating a national 24-hour point series. You ride in three of our six annual races and you could qualify for the championship race out in Moab. We’re going to have real time scoring so you can track your team’s standings on line with every race. It’s the first time anything like this has been done with 24 hour racing. This will give riders something to gel around on a national level. And not just the pro riders, but all riders. There are amateur motocrossers that ride the national circuit just because they love it. I want to create that sort of buzz around 24-hour mountain bike races.