Racing Yourself, Chasing Chuck.

I've never been much of a racer, but every now and then I like getting into a big event with lots of mile and give it a good go. I'm hours from first place, but I get to race myself from last year.....and race Chuck. Its good to have a Chuck. Someone a bit faster and a bit stronger, to drag your sorry ass into a higher level of riding. Never saw Chuck, bit I knew he was in front of me, and I got a lot closer to him than I thought I would. Great day for me. 60 miles in 6:38.  Last year it was 35 miles in 4:53. Another 25 miles in 1:45! I must have been flying!

I've been riding a lot in the last year, and its good to see it paying off. I'm getting into a category of rider that I thought was a bit silly lasty year. "Sixty miles? What? Are they crazy? I'd have to bring a sleeping bag." This year it was done without a second thought. I can only dream about next year. I can see some big races in the future, I'd like to be in some of them.

The start of the sixty miler. It was a bit chilly at 6 am, but by race start at 7:30, I was feeling good. A little coffee, a little breakfast burrito and I was off. 141 racers total for the 60. 

FS and myself with a stupid race smile ready to go.

Aid station #2. Los of bananas, oranges, oreos, mini muffins, cheezits, goldfish, Heed and water. If not for the stations, I would have moved much slower. They're come just at about the time you should refuel. Great for keeping the legs pumping.

Nice action shot of #45 at about mile 22.

Aid Station #3. Big hike-a-bike climb after this. Was not fun. Ugh.

CW keeping it real on the SS. He was just behind me all day. If I didn't have the gears for the flats, he probably would have caught me.

And the push. I'd like to note that I wasn't passed on the HAB section. It was pretty steep in some sections and a long 490 ft. However the reward after that was Los Burros, which is great fun, and then the Country Club Connector, which was pretty fast in most regards.  That was a fast 20 miles.

Bike performed flawlessly all day. New Control in the back worked well too. Still loving the framepack to keep the tools off my back and the gas tank was great for getting a Block when I wanted one. I also had the camera in there. Always good to product test during a race.

Good ol' 101 this year.

Freeskier came in DFL, but was quite happy about it. Way to pound it out. Made the cut-offs by minutes at aid #4 and #5. Now there is some grit. I think some lingering stomach issues kept him off top game.

8+ hours on a bike and loving it.

Gotta love the sweep crew.

FS took this nice pic with my camera in the morning of his bike impression after the night long drizzle.

Ma caught me with the camera phone as I was rollin' in for my finish. Too bad they were doing rewards as no one was paying attention. The beer was already gone too. At least Mom was there! Thanks!

Its a nice route. About half of it is on forest road - the part heading out to Lost Burros. But after that, almost the whole way back to the start is singletrack. We started at the top left, then headed east, clockwise around the two loops.

Good day for some climbing. Over the 60 miles there is only about 4000 ft of climbing, give or take.