Known to many as “Toast,” Josh Tostado (no, not Tostada) smoked an all-star field at last weekend’s Suzuki 24 Hours of Moab in the solo competition. Tostado completed 17 laps of the 15.5-mile course for a grand total of 263.5 miles of riding. He opened his gap on the opening lap and then held off Tinker Juarez and the sport’s heaviest hitter, Chris Eatough.

Tostado is best known as an altitude specialist, who owns the course record (and a handful of victories) at Colorado’s Montezuma’s Revenge 24 Hour race. In his spare time, he works as a handyman and tree trimmer outside of Breckenridge, Colorado, where he spends the summer months riding and the winter hitting the powder. VeloNews caught up with Toast to talk Moab, Eatough and what keeps a guy like him going long.

VeloNews : Let’s hear a race report from your win at Moab.

The big win

Photo: Leam Doran

Josh Tostado: Basically I just went out at a good pace, and we had a good group with Chris, Tinker and (Roan Exelby). About three miles in I just went to the front and started pulling away, and every time I looked back those guys were further back. I pulled into the pit after the first lap with a few minutes in the bank and just sort of kept going from there. I was riding really fast the first half of the race, but I paid for it at the end. I was suffering — it was super windy and super cold, like 29 degrees at some points. It was a test of attrition. But usually I go to races with one (support crew member) if I’m lucky, and I had seven people at Moab, because it’s only a five-hour drive from home. And they didn’t get super drunk, which was great. I had great help.

VN: Describe the suffering you went through at the end.

JT: It started when there was about six hours left, and that’s when I was hurting my worst. Every part of my body that was touching the bike hurt. I was going slow and not even burning what I was drinking or eating, just kind of going through the motions. Being tired and sore and thinking “Am I am going to lose now after going so hard?” That’s the hardest part of the race for me. You want to stop because there’s serious pain. Wanting to stop always goes through my head. But I would never do it.

VN: How do you talk yourself off of the ledge, so to speak?

JT: It comes down to seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. OK, I have six hours left, but I try not to dwell on it. I just take each hill or section of the course and focus on that — the little things. Oh, I’m going to go hard up this hill, or take it easy on this section, or whatever. If I’m in a position where I can win, that helps more. And I’ve found that while I might be hurting at that point, it doesn’t last forever — a lot of times I’ll feel better in an hour or so. I just tell myself that it’ll soon be over and I’ll be eating food and drinking beer. That’s the mental conversation I have with myself.

It's a lonely trail out there at night.

Photo: Leam Doran

VN: Describe the intimidation factor of going head-to-head with Chris Eatough.

JT: Yeah, there’s definitely intimidation there because his program is so tight. He always seems to have everything dialed, and nothing goes wrong. But having a good race at 24 Hour nationals, and almost beating him taught me I can beat him if everything goes perfect for me. That’s basically what it comes down to — you just have to have everything dialed in as tight as he does, and then let your riding dictate the race rather than other factors.

VN: Like what factors?

JT: At nationals my lights broke when I had a 15-minute lead. It was the closest 24-Hour race I’ve ever done.

VN: With guys like Eatough focusing more on 100-mile races and stage races, it seems like the world of 24-solo racing is shrinking.

Post-race buzz.

Photo: Leam Doran

JT: Yeah it is. It takes so much out of you that you can only do three races tops. That way you can do a bunch of other races, like 12-Hour and 100-mile races and stage races. If you did a season worth of 24-hour races, you’d be crippled. It works you so hard, it would be impossible to do six or seven.

I’ve done the altitude 100-mile races and some of the East Coast 100-milers. They’re OK, a lot of them are like 100-mile off-road road races. If someone tries a 24-hour solo race, they usually do it once. People who keep doing them, there’s usually something wrong with them.

VN: So what’s wrong with you?

JT: Ha, I don’t know. I just like riding my bike a lot. And I’ve lost too many brain cells living at this altitude.