Dirty South Roubaix 2020

Last weekend was my first race of the year. I headed down to Alto Pass, IL for the Dirty South Roubaix. I have been to this race every year and it just keeps getting better. The course is a nice mix of surface with some good climbs and down hills to keep it interesting. The weather was better than last year and it really helped make the day even more enjoyable.

We headed over Friday after work and made a stop at St. Nicholas Brewing for packet pick up and a bite to eat. The food was great and the beer was even better. After hanging out a little while and getting our packets, we headed to our home base for the evening. We stayed in one of the cabins at Giant City State Park. These are nice little cabins and not too far from the race. I got most of my things ready and hung out a little while before crashing. I actually slept pretty well and was up fairly easy. Ate breakfast and got things ready to go. It seemed like I was going to run a little late, but somehow everything came together at the right time and we rolled out just when we wanted.

This got us to the start area a little earlier than needed, but that was all good. I finished getting ready and did a little warm up.

photo credit: Antino Martinez

I also got to say hi to a few friends I don’t see very often. There were a lot more people that I would have liked to see, but we were all spread out a little with different parking areas. It was getting time to head toward the start. I took my jacket off and any final adjustments and headed toward the start area. I loaded the route into my computer and didn’t plan on taking my phone with me. I ended up sitting around long enough before the start that my computer turned off. I had time to turn it back on, but my route was no longer active. All I could hope for is a well-marked route since I didn’t have time to get it loaded on my computer.

photo credit: Antino Martinez

There was a little bottle necking going on right off from the start. It took a little bit before the while group was rolling. I moved up some but didn’t want to put in a lot of effort and figured I had time to move up. The neutral truck still had a way to go before pulling off. Looking up ahead there seemed to be a big gap from the front group already. I kept leap frogging on the back wheel of all the riders moving forward. I was trying to move as far forward in the group as I could but still using as little energy as I can. There was a fast downhill right after the truck pulled off and the race was actually on. We came flying around a corner and there was a big dump truck pulled over heading the other way. It looked like at least one rider slid off the road trying to miss him. There were a couple people there with them and they didn’t look seriously hurt so I kept going. That is not what you want to see, but hopefully everyone was ok.

Photo credit: Janzow photography

I tried to stick with good groups, but still move up as far as I could. I knew there was a good sized hill coming that I didn’t want to have wore out legs for. I had not been climbing very strong so far this year, but I can not complain at all on my climbing this day. I kept moving fairly well up the first climb and happy with how I was feeling. I kept finding good groups and people to ride with. I found myself with similar company on and off all day as everyone would move forward or fall back.

I ended up with a big group as we hit the levee. This helped keep me moving for this part, but also makes it a little sketchy with line choice.

We were moving well, but some of the group was not wanting to rotate or push the pace. There was some splitting of the group. A couple of us were bridging a gap to a next group right as we finished the levee section. The next section was a little more relaxed probably waiting for the loose climb. Part of the way up the first section it got loose and steep. I ended up spinning out and having to walk. As it flattened out I got back on and could finish the rest of the climb. This effort had my legs really hurting. I just kept moving forward the best I could and tried to pick good lines. As I rolled on to the paved section here, my legs were coming back to life and I was turning the pedals over better. I ended up pulling some riders back in that I lost on the climb.

photo credit: Ted Carr

This section was moving along ok, but the legs were feeling heavy. I knew I had another big hill coming up and hoped I didn’t burn all my matches already. The climb into the Trail of Tears hurt but seemed shorter than previous years. I kept pushing the pedals the best that I could for this section. I was happy with the legs and let it hang out some on the sketchy down hill and caught up with Jeremy at the bottom. It was good to have some more help. There was 3 of us rolling along for this part pretty well. The group made a quick stop at the last rest area. I got my bottle filled up and took off. As I rolled out I remembered the group and looked around to see where they were. Jeremy was not far behind me so I let up a little for him to catch on. I figured he would have caught me by then so I looked back and he was gone. There was another rider bridging up to me that I had been riding with at times all day.

photo credit: Matt Carey

This section of gravel seemed to me to be the chunkiest section out of the whole day. It was hard to keep momentum and with weak legs was putting a hurting on me. It was good to have some company to let the legs recover even if it was only a little bit. At some point after hitting the pavement again I looked back and noticed she was no longer on my wheel. I'm not sure where she fell off. Only thing left to do was keep moving toward the finish line. I was wore out and very ready to be done. I ended up climbing the last climb better than I thought I would and rolled it on home.

photo credit: Antino Martinez

I ended up with a finishing time of 3:52 and in 40^th place. I have no complaints at all for my day on the bike. My only real goal was to finish in under 4 hours. I had been close the last couple years. My legs did way better than I thought they would and did everything I asked them to do. I still have a ways to go to be competitive in my current class. Hopefully I can keep getting closer to where I need to be. I want to thank all of the people that helped make this race run so smoothly. Sounds like they are increasing the number of racers allowed for next year. Hope to see you there.

Florida in February

There has been a group of guys that have been heading down to Florida early in the year in one form or another for a very long time. I have made the a few times over the last several years. For the longest time the group headed to Clear Water Beach, but this has recently made a change to Jacksonville Beach. This was the 3rd year to ride in this area. I made the trip the first year, but it didn't work out for me the second. I really didn't think it was going to work out this year either, but somehow it ended up working out for me.

The plan has changed a little over the times that I have gone, but mainly the plan is to ride 100 miles each day. This year there was a group of 10 guys staying at the condo. Several of them had never made this trip before. We left on Tuesday night and drove through the evening to arrive early on Wednesday morning. We got in to town and made a stop for some breakfast. After unloading the trailer it was time to head out for our first ride.

We headed north across the Mayport ferry and toward Fort Clinch. The weather was 80+ degrees and exactly why I wanted to ride in Florida. There are very little hills and not much for elevation to be had, but the temps make up for it. We stopped for a quick bite on the way back and continued south. The trip north is not quite long enough to get the 100 miles in on its own, so when we got back toward the condo the group split up. Some stopped at the house and the rest continued south for what ever mileage was needed. I ended up with just over 100 miles for the day.

The second day we headed south toward St. Augustine. The weather was a little cooler, but still plenty warm. The only negative was that the wind had picked up. We went into a head wind the whole way out and had gusts that would about blow you over. There was a storm that was getting blown in for later that night. The head wind was brutal and little by little, parts of the group would turn back north. Eventually 7 of us made it to our Subway stop near Palm Coast.

This is our 50ish mile turn around point with the option to continue south for even more miles. With all the wind, there were only 2 people crazy enough to keep going south. They rode all the way down to Daytona Beach before turning back. This netted them a 160 mile day and rolled up to the house with it being almost dark. The rest of us turned back toward the house. The tail wind was such a relief that we were cruising between 24-28 mph for the next 30 miles. It was still not an easy ride, but it was so nice to not be riding in to the wind. I ended up with 103 miles for the day. This was also one of the guy's first ever century.

The next day we headed more inland to ride along the river. The wind was still blowing strong, but it seemed like the gusts were less than the day before. It was a little bit of an adventure heading west, but eventually we found our way to the river. We rode south along the river heading toward a trip staple of stopping at Molasses Junction. I am not as big of a fan of some of the roads in this area, but riding next to the river with all the moss hanging from the trees makes it all worth it.

The group was a little bigger on this day for getting the full 100 miler in. The places to turn around are few and far between. I mean, there are places to cut back, but you would have ended up going just about as far so you might as well stick around. I think a couple of the guys were getting a little hangry since our lunch stop was a little farther than the other days. It took about 60 miles to get there. I think everyone also felt a little better once we headed back east and had a little tail wind.

We finally made it and we all got some of the least healthy food on the trip. The store was under new ownership and has had some upgrades, but I'm still not sure the grease in the fryer has been changed. My chicken tenders and fries were fast and easy. I thought they tasted pretty good too. Actually, my fries were very good, but I don't think my stomach liked it very much. I was in pain for the rest of today's route. The road back to Saint Augustine was not too bad, but had some busier sections. There was also a ghost bike leaning next to a sign on this section. That kind of hit me pretty hard and the feeling of security was not as strong from there. I know that getting hit is a reality, but I try not to think about it. I do what I can to be as safe as possible on the road. It really doesn't take much of a distraction to keep me from making it back home.

Once we made it back to the A1A we once again were getting hit by wind. A quick bathroom stop had the group split up. Everyone was hurting and ready to get back home. Once we got rolling again we tried to push the pace and catch the other group. We were exchanging pulls pretty well and as I finished a pull and started backward the group had split. A couple of us kept going and could see the other group. As we rolled up on them I kind of just kept going. I really thought I would blow by them and sit up, but with another rider on my wheel, we just kept going and digging our self deeper and deeper in to the hole. This ride had more riders getting 100 miles than any other day. We had a rider get his second ever century after yesterday's first. We also had another rider get his first century. I ended up with 103 miles again and overall it was a great day on the bike.

I was feeling pretty rough the next morning. The number of riders willing to go for the 100 mile ride was dwindling. We headed north again and across the ferry. It was painful on the trip out and as I looked at the other bike paths and nature areas I was fully contempt to turn back early and make it a shorter day. The one rider already said he was not going all the way and I kind of assumed he would turn around at the subway. Well, that didn't happen. With him continuing north, how could I turn back. I'm here for training, so it was time to htfu and keep going. All the previous days riding and wind had me pretty tanked. We made it to the end of the line and headed back south. Most of us were really hurting and as we got closer to the condo I really thought we would stop. We actually made a quick stop at the house for a bathroom break and to get more water then headed farther south to get our miles in. I had moments where I felt better than others, but after we turned around I was in complete survival mode heading toward the barn.

Eventually we made it back to the house and completed our fourth 100 mile day in a row with just over 101 miles. I was sure glad that I kept going, but even more glad that it was over. We kicked back and cut a little loose that night. I think everyone was having a good time or at least most of us. It all ended up a little blurry with only 2 of us left awake. Not really sure what time I finally crashed, but it was after 1:00. 6:30 that next morning came around very quickly. Sleeping on the couch did not condone sleeping in once other people started waking up and hanging out in the kitchen. I was exhausted, but eventually started moving.

I had to get ready and head out the door. The weather said it was 47 degrees, but it felt a lot warmer than that. It didn't take long before I was really sweating and was feeling way over dressed. I am sure it was a combination of the temps and the alcohol, but either way I was way too warm. I was not alone in this feeling, so I'm sure it felt warmer than 47. We headed south for an hour and turned around. I was hurting, but still moving well enough. That was until we turned around and I figured out that we had a little tail wind. So, our casual pace had help, great! The trip back north might have hurt more than the end of the ride the day before. We could not get back soon enough for me. I ended up with just over 27 miles and that was a wrap for the trip. Time to pack up everything and get back in a car for 12+ hours home.

There are a lot of good things and bad things with this trip. It is not always roses, but overall the warmer weather and long days on the bike are why all of us are there. Not ideal training, but also not terrible. There is not much climbing to be had, but hours upon hours of turning the pedals over with very little coasting has to count for something. I just hope to find some climbing legs in the next couple weeks before my first race of the season. I don't normally go in to this race expecting to be in top shape, but does feel good if I ride strong. I will have to see just how it goes. Lots of plans this year that I really hope to have some legs for. Just got to keep moving forward.

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2019 Gravel Grovel Swim

If you have read my previous post about Gravel Grovel you would probably be wondering how much gears had helped me for this year. Well, you will have to check back next year and see if you have any more luck knowing that answer than I do. As much as I would really like to give this race a good run with a geared bike, this was not the year. First of all to give it really a good run I would have to be riding stronger than I was this year. I didn't get the training done leading up to the race like I would have liked and was not as strong as I should have been. Also as the race was getting closer and I was keeping my eye on the weather, it was looking like a very high chance of bad weather. I figured I needed to just take the bike that can handle the worst weather out of all the bikes and changed to the SS class.

Is it that time already

It is getting the time of year that I normally start doing a lot more gravel rides. I usually get some Gravel Grovel recon rides in and start wondering what kind of finishing time I can get. This may be the first year in a very long time that I have not rode any of those areas recently. This year is full of a lot of unusual things. Before I get in to all of that, I need to start a few weeks farther back.

After the BT Epic I was pretty run down and had some aches from the hard effort. I didn't have the motivation to get out as much I needed. I also ended up doing something I didn't think I would do, I bought a full suspension geared bike. I was not expecting to do that at all, but this year after PMBAR I could not help from wondering how that kind of bike would be a lot more enjoyable for that area. Some things ended up happening so that all the stars aligned and there I was, an owner of another new bike.

The new toy

I ended up taking ownership a few days before the O'bannon Woods Adventure Ride. I figured if we were going to ride the AHT, then why not take my new ride and see what it was all about. I did get a couple minutes on it in the yard to get some things adjusted, but didn't really spend much time on it. I have never been to this event, but I have been to the area a little and heard that the event was a good time. I got there a little late on Friday and could only check out a little section of trail. Saturday the event ride was around the park and stuff. The group I was with wanted to check out the AHT. It didn't take me very long to remember how rocky this trail could be and how many hike a bike sections there were. The new bike was riding pretty good, but I was having an issue with my back brake and basically ended up riding most of the day with only a front break. It sure made some of the sections pretty interesting.

It turns out that the brake pads were completely worn out. I tried to put new pads in, but I could not get the pressure to build and make the brakes work. So much for a nice new bike. Someone was nice enough to loan me his bike for Sunday's ride. Saturday's ride kicked all of our butts, but it seemed like everyone wanted to go back and give the AHT another go, but this time add a little more of the sections we didn't' ride. My loaner bike was a hard tail SS. Not anything I wouldn't have been on anyway if I didn't buy the FS bike. I was still worn out and the trail was even harder than the day before, but I didn't do too bad on the SS. I didn't climb a couple hills that I would have with my eagle and I was missing the FS on some of the rocky downhills, but it was still a great day.

Thanks Blake!!

So, after the event I went back home and tried to get the brakes to work. I tried a lot of different things, but never could get them to work very well. The next weekend I had planned on heading up to the Story area to get a good gravel ride in, but with the weather being good enough for trail riding and not getting much interest in joining me, I figured I would head back to O'Bannon and get another good trail ride in while it was good. I ended up stealing a caliper from my Spot to get it back up and rolling. I went to do some of the AHT again, but I skipped some of the harder sections. I will say that with both brakes working, this bike was a lot of fun. Eagle also was pretty crazy at what I could climb. It was another big, fun day.

Now this leaves me sitting in the another strange position for the year. I no longer had a working gravel SS that I normally ride for Gravel Grovel. This had me thinking about all the times I would ride my Speedster gravel bike and wonder what kind of time I could get at GG on it. But, I just didn't feel right not riding the SS. I had been contemplating this for the last month or so, but always ended up telling myself to just ride the SS. With this bike now only having 1 working brake, I figured I might as well see what the whole geared thing is all about and if I can get a good time on it. I know there are several gravel road sections that are not really the greatest on a SS and a couple of the climbs really hurt too. Now I am signed up in a different class than normal, riding a different kind of bike than normal and not even staying in the cabins like I usually do. I am not sure what I think of all that. I can only hope that no matter what bike I actually end up riding, it is a good day and I can have a fun time. I am sure that no matter how I ride, there will be at least some good times had. Guess we will see soon.

2019 BT Epic

I have wanted to check out the BT Epic for a few years, but it just never seemed to work out for me. It was brought up for this year and I found a taker that was interested in going. So, I made sure and was ready to sign up when the event opened since it normally sells out pretty quickly. This is a 50 mile race that uses the Berryman Trail and the Ozark Trail for the route and starts and finishes out of the Bass River Resort. The race is open for 650 racers and did sell out very quickly.

We headed west on Friday morning. Made a quick stop at our weekend house and then headed toward Bass River to get our packets and go for a ride. The house was pretty nice for a 20's themed place, but hope you don't want use a tv or a microwave. The trip over to the start area was not too long. We decided to ride the loop at the end of the race since it was about the right distance. After the long road climb and gravel road section, we hit the trails. It was a pretty fun loop with plenty of rocks and switch backs to keep you on your toes. After we finished the loop, we headed up the start hill to where it drops in to the trail section. I was definitely second guessing my 32x19 gearing choice, but I was going to stick with it.

2019 Fools Gold 60

This weekend was this years Fools Gold race. There was some changes from last year. They added some trail to the race and made it a 60 mile race and not a 55 mile race. I am all for more trail and less gravel if possible and 5 more miles didn't sound like a big deal. I ended up heading down with a few other guys. We were sharing a house any way or should I say garage. A little more on that in a minute. The E squared group headed to Evansville Friday morning to join the other two riders. Some were running a little later than planned (including me), but it was really didn't make a huge difference. After doing some bike jenga on the rack, we finally got 4 bikes and all of our gear loaded up. Then the train that included Butch, Bob, E2 and myself rolled on out of town.

The trip down was long and included some standard traffic issues at Nashville and Chattanooga, but overall was not too bad. We did have some mapping conflicts that routed us down some back roads, but it did lead us to the house even if it looked like we might not be heard from again. When we finally found the house/garage, it was behind another house and looked pretty sketchy. We found our way in and it actually turned out to be not too bad inside. Guess that's why they say don't judge a book by its cover. After getting unloaded we headed toward the course to get a little ride in.

2019 Kentucky Six

I was really disappointed when the Tri-State 6 hour series was dropped down to only one race and then even more sad when that race was cancelled. I tried making the trip up to the John Bryan 6 hour to fill the gap, but as soon as we checked in to the hotel the race was cancelled for weather. When I saw this race show up on the schedule and I didn't really have any conflicts, I knew I had to attend this race. I was just hoping the weather would cooperate. I don't think they expected the number of people interested in racing to be as good as it was and they had to put a cap on the number of entries. Good to see other people still want this type of race to happen too.

The only real thing I didn't care for was the fact that the race was on Sunday. This was not a deal breaker since the race was fairly close to home, but it does make me drive home after the race. I headed over Saturday afternoon and got there in time to get a good spot for the pit tent. The other racers in the group showed up and we went for a lap to check the trail out. It had been a couple years since I have been here. The course was different then the last race. It was a pretty fun loop with a plenty of variety. After the ride we headed to The 857 Taproom and Grill to eat and re-hydrate. It was a real nice place and good service.

Hanging out for the rest of the evening was fun and I even got a pretty good night sleep. I came in to this race with very low expectations. I am not riding as well as I was last year and had really slowed down a lot since Lumberjack. I have been trying to get back in to the groove and get stronger, but my legs have just not been responding. I also knew there were some really fast guys signed up for the SS class, so even if I was riding well, it would take a great day or a mechanical on their part to beat them. I was really just here to support the ride and get some good training in for Fools Gold and BT Epic.

Photo credit: @lauralou644

The morning moved along pretty quickly. I made my coffee, ate breakfast and did the last minute things to my bike to get ready. As normal on race mornings it seems like you have a ton of time only to be running around last minute to get to the line. Since I was running a little late to the racer meeting, this unknowingly put me in a great place to get a good starting position. I didn't want to be in the front row, but I did want to be fairly close to it. I know my bike of choice can be an issue on the wide open prelude lap, but I also wanted to be right behind the fast guys when we hit the trail so I can minimize the conga line.

2019 Lumberjack 100

If you have not read the post on the day before the race and would like to, you can find it here.

Saturday morning came around earlier than I would have liked, but that is pretty typical. Most nights I don't really sleep that well and this night I woke up a few times. Every time I woke up, it was still raining. This was not exactly what I was hoping for. I normally can ride in the mud pretty good, but I didn't really want to ride 100 miles in the mud. After sleeping as long as I could, I finally got up and moving. Made my typical breakfast and had some coffee. My stomach didn't really like my breakfast and I didn't eat all of it. I could have used a little more coffee, but it was all gone and I didn't feel like making any more. I got everything ready and loaded up. I was feeling more anxious than normal and not really sure why. I know it was going to be a hard day, but I didn't really feel a lot of pressure on my self. I just tried to relax as much as I can and go with the flow.

We headed out to the venue. Once we got there we needed to take our coolers and pit gear to the pop up tent. Since we parked in the overflow lot, it was a little bit of a walk. It probably would have been a good idea to try and drive over to drop everything off. Once we got over to where the tent was, it took us a minute to find it. The rest of the group dropped it off the night before and we were not sure exactly where it was. After I got everything set up I headed over toward the bathroom line. The line was very long and I didn't really feel like I had time to wait. I headed back to the car to get ready the rest of the way. Then I headed back to the start area. I hoped the line would be smaller, but it really was not and I just had to hope I was good enough.

Photo credit: Rob Meendering

I headed up toward the front group. I thought I might be a little too far forward, but I figured I would get dropped enough on the road and wanted to be as far forward as I can when I hit the woods. It was cold and still raining. I was wondering if I had too much on or maybe not enough. Looking around I could see all kinds of different clothing choices. It seemed like I was about in the middle of the choices and figured I would be good enough. There was a few announcements that I didn't really catch and then off we went. I tried to go as fast as I could with out completely blowing myself up. I found a few wheels to jump on and felt like I was doing as good as expected.

After the road section we jumped on a fire lane kind of section. It was still pretty fast. I was getting passed by some riders, but I felt like I had a small group I was keeping pace with. I also didn't feel like I dropped too far back, but it is really hard to tell. As we hit the trail section the group I was with was riding at a good pace for me. I had a few people I would pass and there was also a few that would pass me. I didn't really feel like anyone was holding me up or making work harder than needed. There was a couple climbs that I had to take at a slower pace that I would prefer, but nothing I was too worried about. I just kept the pace up the best I could with out over doing it.

Somewhere along here Dustin came up on me. He rode behind me for a little while and eventually I was worried I was going too hard and he went around. I tried to hold his wheel the best I could with out hurting myself. I was a little worried about going too hard. Either I was going too hard or Dustin was taking it too easy. I didn't figure I should have been riding at his pace. But, I'm still not sure if I was going too hard or not.

Photo credit: Rob Meendering

We came through the pit area together. I think he got ready and left before me. I tried to keep moving and leave as quickly as I could. The end of the first lap was a little hard on my legs. I started the second lap taking it a little easier and trying to recover. I walked a few more hills, but still felt like I was moving at a constant pace. Not too far in to this lap I was really feeling it. I must have gone too hard the first lap. Lovins caught me along this section and I jumped on his wheel and tried to keep up. I kept hurting more and more and feeling really run down. It didn't take me too long to start to feel like I really needed to make that bathroom break I wanted to do in the morning. I figured I was pretty close to the rest top just before mile 20 and could go there. The rest of this section of trail was not very pleasant. I was really needing to make it to the rest stop as quickly as possible. I was hurting very bad and not riding very well.

I was just about to the point I was going to just stop and I saw the leis hanging from a tree and knew I was right there. I had to let Lovins go and try to take care of myself. I made my stop and took in some pickle juice and coke and took off as quickly as I could. I immediately felt better and started to roll along at a better pace. The lap still felt like I went very slow, but I was getting faster near the end and was starting to feel better. I still hurt, but was improving. I rolled in to the pit area after the second lap, grabbed a new bottle, drank some Mt. Dew and took off as quickly as I could.

Photo credit: Rob Meendering

Feeling better at the end of the second lap than I did after the first, I started the 3rd lap in a little better head space. I was still tired and walking the steep sections trying to reserve as much energy as I could. On the first double track sections a pair of women came by me and I jumped on their wheel. The pace was rolling well and I was dong good enough hanging on. I think they felt like I wanted to pass in the trail sections, but I was just happy to have some wheels to help keep my pace up. There was a small group that formed and we rode together for a good section of trail. As we hit the rest stop, I wanted to make a quick stop to get more pickle juice and top my bottle off. I didn't take too long, but I was too slow to keep with the group. I was on my own again.

It didn't take too long and I found a couple more people to ride with. The pace was still moving good and the sections I was walking, I was really not going any slower that the rest of the people around me. I guess I was walking at eagle pace. Toward the end of the lap I could really tell the end was near. I picked up the pace and was riding pretty well. I was really hurting and just ready to be done. The last section took a little longer than I remembered it would, but eventually I was in the section that was all down hill to the end. Finally I came in to the last little bit before the end. It was awesome to see Lovins standing there cheering me on and giving my a high five. I rolled through the finish line and just like that I was done. I ended up finishing in 9:19 and in 19th place SS.

I hung out a minute talking with a couple friends and then made my way over to the beer tent before heading to our pit area. I tried to put a couple things away and sit down for a minute catching up with everyone. It didn't take me very long before I was really wanting to get changed. Then I headed up and got in line for my awesome pizza. A couple more beers and hanging out with everyone making sure we were all done and ready. Eventually we headed back toward the house, but not with out making a stop for some more pizza and ice cream. The rest of the night was full of aches and pains with a good amount of beer an laughs.

Sunday morning we were up pretty early so we figured we might was well start the long journey home. The trip was long, but not too miserable with rain on and off. We eventually made it home and I was back in the real world just with a lot more parts of me hurting. Looking back I am really torn at how to feel. Before the race I would have said that to finish under 10 hours would have been considered a success. With how well I rode and how bad I felt second lap, I can't help but think that I could finish in under 9 hours. That kind of feels unreal to me. 9 hours just sounds so fast for me to be able to ride 100 mile race. I don't understand why this race is so fast. Even if I would finish in 9 hours or less, I still have a ways to go to make it anywhere near the podium. SS may be ded, but the class is not lacking on talent.

Last year after the Mohican I was not sure if I would ever do another 100 mile race. After the Lumberjack this year I would easily say yes to doing this race again. I am not sure if I will next year yet, but out of all the options for a 100 mile race, this one is right up there. I will have to make that decision sometime early next year. Until then I will just have to try and figure out where I am falling down on my training plan and try to finish the year off riding strong. I am not sure exactly what is in store for the rest of the year, but I am getting closer to making some of those decisions. Hope to see you at the next one.