A n am azing thing happens w hen you ride you r bike for days on end w ith m inim al sleep. You becom e one w ith that m achine,the bars,fork,w heels all an extension of you r body. B ike handling becom es so extraordinarily crisp it is alm ost like an ou t of body experience.I loved the techy sing le track leading to Salt C reek. A nything that didn’t requ ire a lot of pow er, that is! T here are long sections betw een R abbit V alley and B itter C reek w ith tons of flow , realripping dou ble track and those w ere a blast.T he desert w as cool this afternoon/evening , and ju st before W estw ater I actu ally had to pu t on m y arm w arm ers.G o fig u re! R ig ht as I rolled u p to the railroad overpass near W estw ater - the start and finish of m y loop - an A m trak train sped over, fu ll of onlookers, all cheering m y finish. A t least that’s w hat m y addled m ind told m e. T his can be a lonely sport - solo starts, solo finishes - bu t m eeting u p w ith other riders on rou te and the A m trak cheering section w ere certain hig hlig hts. T he G PS file tells m e these tim es: 2 days,12 hou rs 44 m in for the traditional (bedrock) rou te. For the com plete loop (inlu ding the typically u ntim ed section from the Tab trail head to L om a) it w as 2 days 15 hou rs 39 m in. T hat’s abou t 6.5 hou rs faster than the ‘07 record ride and this year’s conditions w ere qu estionable at best. A nd SS - g u ess w hat I think abou t that?? T he event this year saw lots of action. T here w ere so m any tire tracks ou t there I cou ldn’t keep them allstraig ht! M onday m orning I g ot online in Fru ita and saw that Jefe w as abou t to finish and he w as hau ling the m ail, du e to finish w ell u nder the previou s record. Instead of heading hom e,I drove back to G J and the Tab T H to m eet him - C at M orrison and Z ack w ere already there and Jefe w as onrou te to eating a w hole chicken and then XXC SEASON ONE: ISSUE THREE
som e… sim ply aw esom e to chat w ith the 3 of them in the perfect tem ps of the m idday desert. H e pu t in a phenom enalride,also on a SS! H is energ y and enthu siasm for the experience w as contag iou s,I sw ear he did not ju st finish the G rand L oop! A s for m y recovery… I w as com pletely shelled post event. A fter finishing I headed straig ht for Fru ita,the su per 8 w as calling lou dly and the W estw ater m osqu itoes w ere w ay too hu ng ry.T he m irror there told the story of m y race. I did not see a 44 year old du de I knew 3 days ag o,w hat I saw w as an ag eless du de w ith not enou g h layers to hide a sing le piece of m u scle fiber or vein. Indeed w hen I g ot hom e the tanita told m e bodyfat w as at 2.4% . It is rising qu ickly bu t that pace I don’t think w as su stainable for m u ch long er. It really m akes m e think abou t strateg ies for long er events like the C olorado TrailR ace. I’d be rem iss if I didn’t show som e appreciation here. M ike C u riak has long provided the inspiration to do this sort of event, in fact this exact event. O n top of that, he has bu ilt bu lletproof w heels on w hich to do them ,and even helped m e qu ickly acqu ire the L enz M ilk M oney (w hich he had a larg e role in desig ning ) w hich tu rned ou t to be the ideal bike for this difficu lt rou te. Scott M orris’ Topofu sion & bikepacking .net have becom e enorm ou s contribu tions to the endu rance racing scene.Saving the best for last,L ynda is an inspiration on m any levels. O ne is sim ply to keep u p w ith the g al, the second is sw eet thing s to daydream abou t on long su ffery clim bs. T he entire endu rance M T B crow d is su per g rou p of folks I’m happy to consider as fam ily.
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