I cant remember when or why exactly I chose to sign up for this, but I do loves me some climbing and with always missing out on the HHH, I guess this would be worth a shot. I signed up not knowing if another soul at all was doing the event, but was fortunate to find out runaway and training buddies Gretchen and Casey were going to give it a whirl. Having a crew to bum around with made this a lot more fun, although we got split up at times as differing paces and abilities to climb were varied. The morning was kinda nippy but we headed out and you could tell it was going to be gorgeous. We started climbing up and then hit a nice decent and the first long gradual descent. There were a lot of people heading out for the hundo and two hundo. I got down in the aeros for a bit and turn around and there was our crew plus a bunch of others drafting, which was fine by me since it wasnt a race day. I think the problem when folks are drafting and I know it (and its legal cuz its not a race day, so I am not pissed about it) is that I only keep focus that somebody is still right off the wheel. I got in a zone and held a descent pace, seeing someone was still on my wheel, but I managed to get a bit ahead of some of the crew. Oopsie. There was a lot of road and elevation for the rest of the day, so I tried to keep cognizant where everyone is. Hitting the first water stop, runaway got a little ahead as I topped off my bottles, not a big deal until I noticed my back tire was a bit mushy. Crap, a slow leaking flat about mile 12 or so. We had seen a few others that were changing tires at this point and commented on how that would suck that early in the race. Well, I got mine and we pumped er up and I limped to the rest stop at about 90psi up some hills. That wouldnt be my only one as another slow leaker at mile 39 up a longer gradual hill got changed and mounted...er um, no, cuz the new tube wasnt inflating....got changed and mount...tube two slowly leaking. Checked the tire and there was a sharp flint embedded in the tire. Ok, one more time...changed and m....fock. I hadnt used my ksyriums in a while but the concensus was that my tire was a bit old. Luckily runaway had an extra tire cuz of getting stranded a few training rides ago. I think the timing of when the tubes were leaking and all was off cuz there was a leaker with the new tire and then we checked the rim a bunch of times. I was ready to throw it in cuz I was screwing up everyones day and told myself one more and I was gonna cut it short as to not screw it up for everyone else. Probably lost about an hour total between the first and second flat instances. We journeyed onward, hitting up the rest stops and enjoying the great weather and just had a great time. The second time up this ballbuster of a hill was sooper tough. I wish I could pull the grade off the garmin but the data seems screwy. Basically you go up a gradual hill, then as you turn see a sooper sharp incline. There were longer gradual hills that that and maybe one that was as intense as this last part as far as percent grade, but nice they threw it at you twice cuz it was a doozy. Casey and Gretchen were wearing down a bit and they gave us the go ahead about mile 75 or so. There were some instances where runaway and I pushed pace, but not knowing what was coming up and knowing there was still x amount of miles of the unknown kept us honest until about the last 30 miles. The last 20, I would aggressively hit the descents leading into bigger hills to help get me up em with some momentum so was cruising up a lot of the heavy rollers and just kept chipping away at the more gradual inclines. Around mile 100 or so, the back of my left outer knee was talking to me a bit, dont know if that was a cramp or what, but pretty much gone now. Just kept chipping it out and eventually we made it back to homebase. Really, other than the flats, there was a lot of just biking, eating, hills, etc. I had been hitting the hills around my place pretty good the past few months and practiced climbing out of the saddle a bit more, kind of pretending I was on a stair stepper, and the different techniques climbing helped to make it through the day. Did some in the saddle, some out, some easy, some throwing the bike around. I didnt really pay attention to time, just distance so ate when I was hungry, threw some salt tabs in every now and then and made sure I drank enough.

Now for the big bummer. After eating and ready to ride home, I saw Casey and he informed me that Gretchen crashed on a decent around mile 98 and was at the hospital needing stitches in her jaw and road rash. He was loading up and going to check on her. He was told there were at least 4 others brought in and one from the same exact spot. There were some close calls, especially on some descents in tree covered areas, with bumps or gravel and whatnot. I am soooooo glad I had my brakes redone for this cuz I would have been focked with soft ones. The crappiest thing is Casey and Gretchen are weeks away from doing MOO. I thought to myself midway through the ride that I didnt know if this would be a ride I would do so near to MOO next year because there is a lot of stuff you have to keep your eyes out for, but that is the nature of a ride like this in the boonies. So if you ever do this- be careful!!!

If you do this ride, you need decent tires. Keep the race slicks at home cuz some of the rougher roads and surprises a la gravel areas will eat up your tires and might lead to a flat or two. Would roll training grade tires that arent near the end of the life cycle.

Ate some grub and packed up. Made sure to hit some gas stations on the way home for chocolate milk and oj to start the recovery process.


13344 feet of climb? Winding descents on crazy country roads? Thats the ride dude and it aint gonna be fast!


As I said, the course/area is insane for biking and I might try and get some folks out there next year for some training camp action. There are risks to these kind of roads. I dont know if they could have posted caution on some of the areas where the roads were crappier (though loose gravel signs were out there in some of the main areas). Nice selection of food at the rest areas, ample water stations, nice schwag. I will be curious if this race sticks around long cuz the RD is saying he took a big hit putting it on, but you get a bag, pint glass, shirt and socks. A bit much vs keeping the future of the ride in tact, but nice since I paid for it. Good times with good peeps and well run. Just be careful out there in case ya didnt pick up on that at all yet!