Allegheny Mountains Loop ITT Day 3

I must have slept good that second night as Chris had to practically shout my name to wake me up. It was 5:00 and we were eager to get on with our final day. There was a water source right next to our bivy spot so after filling up we were in the saddles and rolling around 10:00. We knew that this day would involve lots of climbing however this would also be out shortest day at 120 miles.

I don't remember too many details of the mornings route. I do remember that we came to an intersection that had a sign for Lake Moomaw. As soon as I saw the sign, I remembered the intersection as Vanessa and I camped and rode out of Lake Moomaw a couple of years ago. I had no idea that we would be anywhere in the vicinity of the lake. Thinking back on the great time that Vanessa and I had was a great pick me up.

We came upon a beautiful view of the lake. There had been fog lifting off of the water and it was so peaceful and quiet out there.

As we rode around the lake, we noticed signs for the marina and figured that we should scope it out for some food. Sure enough there was a store however the lights were off and it was locked. As we were rolling out, a lady stepping out of a motor home got our attention. It was just our luck that she was the one running the store. I had some chocolate milk and donuts while Chris had a fresh cup of coffee. We grabbed some extra food to help us through the day and were on our way.

A couple of hours passed and we found ourselves passing by a gas station. Not knowing how far the next opportunity to stock up would be, we decided to stop. I made the stop worthwhile..

All of this food was gone before leaving the gas station.



Not long after our gas station stop is when the real climbing began. It was getting hot out and the sun was relentless. We encountered climb after climb with and the grade seemed to increase the longer we climbed. Lucky for me, I was feeling excellent. My knees, neck, back, feet and hands were all feeling terrific. Unfortunately for Chris, this was his day to suffer. Chris was having a tough go at all of the climbing. His pace had slowed tremendously so I would either wait up or climb for a bit, descend and climb some more with him. This is how the remainder of our day would play out. A little note on Chris.. this guy travels out of state for work each week and has four kids at home. This leaves him with almost no time to train. He was attempting this 400 mile ride with very little riding leading up to the AML and very few hours of sleep. How impressive is that?

We saw lots of interesting sights on this last day including an abandoned inn that was designed by Thomas Jefferson and had hosted presidents Van Buren, Pierce, Fillmore and others. We also saw an old covered bridge and quite a few buffalo ranches and Mountain Lake where the movie Dirty Dancing was filmed.

Another highlight of the day was running into a general store/restaurant in the almost non-existent town of Paint Springs. I filled up on buffalo bbq, fries, coleslaw and some sweet tea.

Our pace was slow for the rest of the afternoon which gave us ample time to check out our surroundings.

I had to take a picture upon seeing this sign. It's hard to tell from the picture but the sky was a very stormy grey color. This was definitely a sign of things to come.

The remainder of the ride went off without a hitch except that two hours from finishing, the bottom fell out. We found ourselves riding in a huge thunderstorm which decided to follow us all the way back to Blacksburg. The rain was coming down so hard that it was almost impossible to see. Lightning was striking and cracking all around us with bolts to close for comfort. The wind made it a chore to stay upright and there was enough water standing in the roads to make us concerned with hydroplaning. Needless to say, this was maybe the most frightened I have ever been while riding.

As we rolled into Blacksburg the rain turned to drizzle and our adventure came to an end. We finished up the route around 7:45 pm with a total on route time of 57 hours and 29 minutes. The route proved to be much more challenging than I  expected. The adventure included way more than I imagined possible on some roads in VA/WV. I enjoyed this route so much that I will be back!









Allegheny Mountains Loop ITT Day 2

The shelter was a great place to spend the night. I was able to get some good sleep and finally crawled out of the sack around 6:00 am. I was still stiff and sore which seemed a bit strange as I usually recover quickly when off the bike. We slowly packed up our gear, took in some calories, took some pictures of the river flowing just behind the shelter and then we were rolling once again.

The last ten miles of the Greenbriar Rail Trail was a great way to start the morning and the perfect warm up for the day ahead. Once the rail trail came to an end, we spent a fair amount of time on pavement. The roads were rolling and primarily single lane. It was great to get in some out of the saddle climbing and the rollers were welcomed. While Chris pulled off some layers, I continued on looking for photo subjects. I stopped when I saw these guys in the middle of a pasture. It took a little coaxing but they slowly made their way over to me.

It wasn't long before we came upon the second section of rail trail included on the route. The West Fork Rail Trail also had a slight uphill grade which again meant plenty of saddle time. This rail trail was a little overgrown but the tread was in great shape. Once again we found ourselves following the contours of a river that provided plenty of beautiful views.

Lots of chamois cream was applied during this ride.

After completing the rail trail we spit out in Glady, WV. I had been feeling like some real food and had been looking forward to making it to Glady. When we arrived in town, I was surprised to see a game check station and a church.. nothing else. We continued our ride into the Laurel Fork Wilderness which consisted of primarily gravel and a fair bit of climbing. With the climbing came a sharp pain in my left foot which progressively got worse. The pain was playing a game with my mind and it was winning. I dropped back off of Chris' pace and started riding in granny. This 2-3 hours ended up being the low part of the ride. I kept mumbling to myself about not wanting to ride my bike anymore and was scrambling to find a way to bail. The good part about being in the middle of nowhere is that it's not so easy to bail. Chris was nice enough to wait for me (for who knows how long) at a point where we decided to ride a few miles off route for some gas station grill food. I polished off a couple of cheeseburgers, fries, coke, and some Advil. We restocked our food and water supply and set out for what would be one of the biggest climbs of the route.

I was a little skeptical if things would turn around for me or not, but not ten minutes into the climb I had my answer. The climb lasted around 45 minutes and I was able to stand for just about all of it. Somehow the pain in my foot subsided and I was feeling great. Once at the top I took some time to eat, stretch and massage my feet. 25 minutes later Chris came rolling up and we were on our way to the last monster climb of the day.

The last climb of the day was again around 45 minutes to an hour. It felt great to be climbing and I was now having a blast. We made it to the ridge top just as the sun decided to set. We took a few minutes to capture mental images of our surroundings. After putting on some warmer layers, we began the long descent toward our final destination for the day.

Peaches make you climb faster..

Riding down off of this ridge line was one of the best descents on this route. The speed was fast, the lights burned bright and the bear whistle was screaming. We made our way into a tiny town that consisted of a small gas station, firehouse and not much more. We found shelter behind the firehouse and set up on picnic tables for the night. Once again, we were beat down and our bodies were sore. The stars were magnificent and the temperature was perfect for a good night's sleep. The time was 10:00 and we had covered 130 miles.

Allegheny Mountains Loop ITT

The Allegheny Mountains Loop (AML) is a 400 mile self supported ride that begins and ends in Blacksburg, VA. The loop consists of 235 miles of pavement, 100 miles of rail trail, and 65 miles of gravel. The majority of rail trail is seen within the first 200 miles of the route with 80 miles of that being on the Greenbriar Rail Trail. The second half of the course is drastically different being made up of mainly gravel and pavement  while containing 75-80% of the climbing encountered on the route. The one thing that is consistent over the entire route is the abundant wildlife and beautiful landscape.

Elevation Profile of the AML provided by www.trackleaders.com

 Day 1..

I woke up at 4:45 to make the 1:45 drive to Danville, VA where I would meet up with Chris Tompkins. Chris and I met as we carpooled and then rode together for most of the night during the Huracan 300 back in February. It was then that he informed me about the AML. Chris has taken the time to create an Individual Time Trial (ITT) and group start date for the official AML adventure which is to take place on October 5, 2012. Chris and I decided after the Huracan that we would ride the AML at a casual pace together in May to help prepare for ITT attempts in October.

Chris and I arrived in Blacksburg at 9:30 on Tuesday morning. We loaded our bikes and made our way to the War Memorial on the Virginia Tech campus which would serve as the official start and end of the route. By 10:15 we began pedaling a route that would end up far exceeding my expectations.

War Memorial at VA Tech

Chris

For the first section of the route, we found ourselves primarily on paved roads. The roads seemed to have a river attached to them at all times which made for great scenery and provided a great distraction from the constant grind. At mile 80, we made our way into the small town of Caldwell, WV to stock up on food and top off the water.

Subway!

Not long after our stop in Caldwell, our tires made contact with the first rail trail of the route. The Greenbriar Rail Trail is gravel double track with a slight uphill pitch that continues for 80 miles. Being that there are no opportunities to coast, this trail has the potential to wear you down and could potentially wreck havoc on the rear end. Riding the rail trail consisted of several minutes of constant spinning followed with a few minutes out of the saddle cranking in a harder gear. Using this method allowed us to spread the work out over some different muscles and also provided some much needed relief out of the saddle. The scenery on the rail trail was excellent. Constant cover was provided by the trees as we would pedal by layered rock outcroppings and overhangs. The trail followed the contour of a river which provided constant entertainment. Wildlife was everywhere along the route. You name it and we saw it. Along the river, there were lots of waterfowl, deer, turkey, squirrels, snakes, turtles and bears.

Riding on the Greenbriar Rail Trail proved to be harder on me than I would have guessed. My legs had been tight from the start. They were still tight after 100 miles of riding. My knees had been hurting over the past 50 miles, I had a sharp pain in my neck, my hands were sore as was my lower back. It was odd for me to have all of these issues going on at once especially so early on during a ride which included no singletrack. Needless to say, I had already started to question whether or not I would have what it would take to finish out the route.

The day was coming to a close and we were unsure if we would run into any areas where it would be possible to resupply. We knew that there was a small town coming up just off route but we didn't know if there were any stores or if they were still open. We decide to stay on route and bypass a chance to resupply. As we prepared for the final push of the day, we came upon a small store right on the trail. It was 7:30-8:00 pm and we were in luck because they were still open. I took this opportunity to take the shoes off, stretch, and fill up on junk food such as chili dogs, chips and a Pepsi.

The unplanned stop helped energize and motivate us to keep motoring down the trail. As I was riding off of the front, I came around a corner and spotted something black. At first I assumed that it was another turkey but as I got closer I noticed that it had four legs. I stopped and just sat the motionless as I hoped that Chris would come rolling down the trail quick enough to see this cute little fur ball standing in the trail. The cub stayed around long enough for me to take a photo and then it took off into the brush.

As the sun set and darkness set in, the bear sightings became common. In total we saw 9 bears in five separate sightings. Four of those bears were cubs. It seemed like the longer we rode, the more frequent the encounters were. At one point we were cruising at ~15 mph where a group of three darted across the trail. They were close enough that tagging one of them seemed like a real possibility. From that sighting on, Chris started blowing his whistle every few seconds to alert any bears that we were rolling on through. The whistle worked and we didn't see any more bears the rest of the night.

The miles began to drag on and we were both feeling wore down. We realized that with 250 miles to go that it would be a good idea to get some rest. It was around 11:30 pm when we came upon a three sided shelter on the side of the trail. With the bear encounters that we had recently had we felt a bit relieved to be able to bivy in the shelter for the night. We stashed our food in the outhouse just up the trail and tucked in while thinking about what adventures the next day might bring.

Cohutta 100 Race Report

One of the great things about racing bikes is you never know what is going to happen on any given day. No matter how much time you put into preparing for a race, they very seldom play out as planned. I think that this may be the reason for my addiction to endurance racing.

My training going into Cohutta this year went very well. I had a few excellent weeks prior to the race and my head was in a good place. I knew that I was in great shape and felt that I could be a top contender. I had been running the bike rigid and figured that I would sacrifice the body a little in order to run a bit lighter. Even though the course was changed up a bit this year with an additional 2,000 ft. of climbing I was planning on running a harder gear than I had for the previous year. A week before the race, I swapped the rigid fork out for suspension and after talking over the course conditions with some locals the night before the race, I changed my gearing to match the previous year.

While packing for the race, I premixed my nutrition that I would need at the aid stations and felt like I had a solid nutrition plan.  Nutrition is something that I can’t seem to get dialed in. Some days it all works out well but most days it is just so-so. I have a feeling that most racers deal with this same issue.  I felt pretty good about my nutrition plan until I was filling my drop bags at the venue and realized that I was two bottles short. It’s a good thing that I left all of my “product” at home to save room in the car. A little scrambling took place and a new plan of “I’ll just figure it out as I go” came to be.

I was able to secure a good spot into the singletrack and felt comfortable enough in my position that I didn’t worry about looking for passes. About an hour into the race, my stomach was already turning against me. I didn’t think too much about it because this happens to me at most races. If I just remain patient the discomfort will usually pass and may come and go for the duration of the race. It just so happened that my stomach was a constant challenge for the duration of this race. Dealing with an upset stomach sure does make taking in calories a chore. I stayed strict with my nutrition and ended up doing a decent job taking in enough calories to keep me from hitting the wall.

Since I have focused quite a bit of time working my legs out with gears, I know that I now have the ability to spend much more time in the saddle while climbing on the singlespeed. This allows me to climb faster and more efficiently; or so I thought. It was around mile 30 and I was climbing in a seated position when one of my hamstrings cramped into a nice ball. I was dumbfounded. There were no twinges, soreness, none of the pre-cramp signals, just an instantaneous full on cramp. Usually if I have any cramping at all, it is in the quads. I have learned to ride through quad cramps but the hamstring cramp was quite different. It seemed to render my leg useless. I was lucky in that the cramp released rather quickly. I had no idea what brought this on but I knew that I was going to have to ride conservatively and stand on the remaining climbs if I wanted to have a shot completing the course.

Knowing that I may be in danger of a DNF, I backed off my pace for the next ~45 miles and went into survival mode. During this time Jason Pruitt finally caught up with me. I know that he usually comes on strong late in races so this was no surprise to me. We rode together for a short time before he pulled away. At this point in the race, I had no desire to try to chase down anyone in front of me. I was just hoping to keep Watts Dixon whom I had been going back and forth with since the start; behind me. As it turned out, Watts caught me as we rolled into the mile 75 aid station. I had the best help I could have asked for at the aid station and the transition was seamless. I was in and out leaving Watts behind me while gaining the knowledge that 4^th and 5^th place were less than a minute up the road. I still felt as if my legs would not respond well if I went into attack mode and to be honest I was running low on motivation and couldn’t talk myself into chasing.

I did increase my pace for the last 30 miles while constantly looking over my shoulder expecting to see Watts. I motored along spun out on a lengthy flat knowing that Watts was pushing a slightly harder gear. I just had a feeling that it was only a matter of time before I would have company. Lucky for me, company came in the form of a geared rider who was still riding strong and was in great spirits.  We pushed each other on the remaining fireroad and I followed him into the final bit of singletrack. The trail was fast and flowy but seemed to go on forever. As we popped out onto the last 2 miles of pavement, I took his wheel and worked as hard as I had all day through the finish. I finished with a time of 8:48 and in 6^th place.

In all honesty, I was glad to just make it through this race. I was prepared and had a great plan in my head prior to the gun going off. The plan fell apart early on and I found myself drawing on lessons learned from previous races. The more experience I get, the more I realize that seeking out and executing the perfect plan is not was draws me into endurance racing. What feeds my addiction is knowing that no matter how perfect my plan may seem, come race day my success will depend on how I respond when I realize that plans will only get me so far.

Huracan 300 Race Report

I have never given much thought to mountain biking in FL because well… it’s Florida. When I think of Florida, I think of the ocean, beaches and Disney World.. not mountains. When I first heard of the Huracan 300, I figured that it could be a good opportunity for me to get my feet wet in this thing called bikepacking. The Huracan 300 is a self-supported race consisting of a single loop beginning and ending in Santos, FL.

Previous to the Huracan I had spent a total of four full days out on my loaded bike and around 220 miles. Needless to say, I was a little apprehensive about the idea of such a long race with minimal experience using the gear that I would rely on to get me thru. I was relieved when my buddy Mike decided that he would come down for the race and the plan would be to ride together. I went into this race with no expectations however I did have one goal… to finish. I knew in order to give myself a chance at finishing this race I could not look at it as a race; I had to see it as an adventure.

Photo Cred: Mike Shultz (Highland Training)

The race started with a neutral rollout at 9:00am Friday morning. Mike and I rode in the back of the pack getting to know some of the other racers and checking out the different setups. Not long into the rollout I noticed a group of riders way off the front. At first I thought it was a group of roadies but soon realized that they were the lead group. I was content watching the lead group pull further and further away and eventually out of sight. I had to remind myself that for me, this was not a race but a very long ride. It wasn’t long before Mike, Jason, Shey, and I found ourselves working together with no one else in sight. The pace continued to elevate until Mike and I popped off the back to ride our own pace. It was already getting quite warm out and I could tell that the heat was not playing nice with Mike.

As the temperature crept up, the sand got deeper. I have never ridden in sand before so at first I was intrigued but it didn’t take long for me to realize that this route was going to be a real treat. As I motored along trying out different pedaling techniques in the sand, I could tell that Mike was not feeling well. The thing about riding in sand is that you have to turn the pedals over with a smooth quick cadence while keeping the front tire floating and straight. It sounds easy but it works you hard and the pace is slow. I would compare it to riding on two flat tires. The one thing that you do not want to do is stop. If you find yourself stopped, it could be almost impossible to get started again and you may end up walking.

I found myself moving along fairly well in the sand however Mike was not fairing so well. It wouldn’t take long before he had fallen off and out of sight. I would stop and wait and sure enough Mike would come rolling up. The heat reflecting up off the sand was pretty intense and it was working on Mike in a bad way. I was hopeful that he would eventually recover and start feeling better but after a few hours I began to worry. I wasn’t worried about Mike as I knew that he was going to continue. I was worried that I would eventually have to go out on my own to give myself the best opportunity to finish the route. I felt horrible even asking but the time came when I asked Mike if he would mind if I continued on at my own pace. Mike had no hesitation in his voice when he told me to keep rolling which made me feel a little better about the situation. We wished each other luck and parted ways.

Not long after Mike and I parted, I realized that I had made potentially a huge mistake. Since Mike and I had planned on riding the entire route together, I took a backseat approach when it came to studying the course prior to the race. I had the track to follow on my GPS but other than that, I was pretty clueless. Mike had known where potential water and food sources were, how far between towns etc.. I knew absolutely nothing. The trouble that this could apparently bring was brought to my attention 4-5 hours in as I started sipping air bubbles out of my bladder. The sun was beating down and the heat continued to rise up off of the sand. I didn’t really know where I was or what was coming up and I was out of water. As the miles added up with no signs of water, I had times where I would see floating spots and such which I knew were not a good thing. I was in the process of putting myself deep into a hole so early in the race which could jeopardize finishing the route. It was a relief to finally roll upon some houses as I knew that I could just grab some water out of a hose. I’m not sure if I was just not thinking straight or what but I ended up passing hose after hose all while being too afraid to walk up and grab some water. The no trespassing signs coupled with the stories I have heard about the crazy locals kept me running dry. The plan I came up with was simple. Once I saw someone outside at their house, I would simply ask if I could fill up with water. The miles passed by and so did my chance for water as there was no one outside. The next section of the route would take me into a wilderness preserve and with no other option I turned around and rode back to the last house prior to entering the preserve. Knowing that I was dehydrated and not knowing when I would find water again, I drank as much water as I could prior to filling up my Platypus.

For some reason the next section of the ride is lumped together in my mind and is difficult for me to remember. Here are a few things that stick out in my mind.

I ended up doing some bushwhacking to find the river crossing. Once I found the crossing I scanned it for gators, snakes etc. and was still unsure what was out there or how deep it was due to the thick vegetation. I had trouble navigating the banks on either side of the river as it was difficult to lift my 45 lb bike shoulder high with the frame bag being in the way. While in the river there were spots where I would sink in the sand bringing thoughts of quicksand into my head. I could tell that I was just off route at this point so with a little more bushwhacking I linked back up with the route. I discovered a much cleaner crossing 100 yards downstream of where I crossed that I think was the intended crossing point.

I saw a lot of wildlife, some of which included alligators, water snakes, an armadillo, and lots of interesting wetland birds. I was happy to not come across any wild pigs or bears.

A little tobacco shop appeared along the route and ended up being a great place to stock up on provisions. Upon entering the shop, I was greeted with a “you are number 5” in a heavy Indian accent. I purchased three armfuls of food and drink. At this point I had seen how dangerous going light on water and food could be so I was taking full advantage of what this place had to offer. It wasn’t until I started loading up my bike that I remembered the limited space that I had available to carry all of this stuff. Needless to say, I had to give some food away in the parking lot.

I remember the sand being relentless. There was so much sand on this course and it didn’t help that the area had not seen rain in quite some time. There was one ~3 mile section that appeared to have been tilled where there was no option but to hike. It appeared that the others who passed thru the section prior to me were walking also. For some reason this made me smile.

Initially, I had planned on riding my singlespeed for this race. Because I was going to be riding with someone else I chose the geared bike at the last minute. During the race I kept thinking of my singlespeed wondering how I would have fared with the amount of sand that was encountered. This is the only race where I ended up being thankful that I was not on the singlespeed.

I started noticing a painful rear end around 10 hours into the race. It may have come on from riding in wet shorts but I have a feeling that the sand and gears were the culprit. I am primarily a singlespeed rider so I am used to standing as much or more than sitting. Finding myself in so much sand required me to spend lots of time seated spinning at a high cadence. The saddle sores continued to get worse throughout the rest of the ride and were so painful that I spent as much time as I could resting my leg just below my rear on the saddle while coasting. I’m sure that I don’t really need to explain but I ended up getting half of my ass rubbed off on this ride.

Sometime after dark, I was riding some pavement in a not so nice boondockish area and would continue to see people sitting outside their house, trailer, shack in their cars. I had a weird feeling that I was being watched and was a bit on edge. I wasn’t so sure that I wanted to ride thru any more sketchy areas at night. I was thinking that once the route returned to the wilderness, I would find place in the woods to bivy for the night. As the pavement continued, I noticed a single light somewhere behind me. I slowed up and watched as fellow racer Chris Tompkins came into view. Apparently he had missed a turn and while he was off route I had snuck by. He couldn’t have showed up at a better time. I was beginning to bonk and had decided that I would bivy once the right location came about. Chris started talking about a town coming up on route which would have some food options. We rolled upon a Chik-Fil-A 15 minutes before closing time (9:45pm). I devoured a chicken sandwich, fries and a couple sweet teas. It took 20 minutes or so after eating for me to start feeling better but when I started feeling better I really felt good.

Chris and I stuck together thru the night. This was a good thing as we rode some of the most dangerous areas together. There were locals all over these backwood sandy roads all night long. Lucky for us, they left us alone. Around 4:00am we entered a 16 mile section of singletrack. The singletrack seemed fairly smooth and flowy with only the occasional sandy pit. There were plenty of short steep ups which required some power or at least quick shifting. Chris had seen this section of singletrack while on his way to a second place finish at CFITT last November so I was more than happy to follow his lead. Sometime in the 5:00am timeframe Chris appeared to be losing some of his pep. He wasn’t riding as smoothly as he had been and I could tell that he was struggling on some sections. I on the other hand was baffled at how well I felt this far into the race. The only thing that was bothering me was my rear which was getting very difficult to block out of my mind. My legs, knees, back, neck, hands all felt great and I didn’t seem fatigued at all.

At this point in the race, we had been following a single set of tire tracks. This meant that we were sitting in second and third place. Knowing that I only had ~90 miles left and with some encouragement from Chris, I decided that my ride was no longer just a ride but it was in fact a race (~6:00am). My goal instantly changed from finishing the race to winning the race. I had no idea who was in the lead or how far out front they were but I was determined to put everything I had into catching the lead rider. I increased my pace with an effort that I would typically put out in a 100 miler. As it became light out I found myself in a populated area. There were all kinds of people out biking, running, walking etc. It was great to see and a real pick me up. At one point I passed a group of roadies out for a morning ride and wouldn’t you know they latched on to my rear wheel. This motivated me even more and encouraged me to work so hard that I eventually dropped them. I came upon a convenience store and decided that I had better stock up one last time for the final push.

I continued to ride at what seemed like a blazing pace. I kept my eyes peeled for the leader and tried to look for any signs of weakness in the tracks he left behind. I just knew that I was going to find him around the next corner. Corner after corner, went by with no leader in sight. This only motivated me to keep the pace high. As I entered the last section of singletrack which ended up being a heck of a lot longer than I thought it would be, I let my singlespeed instinct take over and just hammered in the big ring. I was pushing such a hard gear that I ended up standing for most of the last ~20-30 miles. I got turned around within the last 10 miles and ended up making a mess out of my GPS track. I ended up riding out and back on four different sections of trail before finally discovering the correct one. In doing this, I lost around 20 minutes and was unsure if Chris had been close enough to pass me. I assumed that he had passed me which gave me even more motivation to finish out strong.

~27 hours and 30 minutes after starting this adventure, my race came to an end. I found out that the tire tracks that I had been following all night were those of Shey Lindner who finished up with a remarkable time of ~24 hours. I ended up taking second with Chris rolling in third place with a time of ~ 31 hours. Was I disappointed that I didn’t catch Shey? Heck no! I came out here for the adventure. I came out here with no expectations. I came out here with one goal in mind. I found adventure. I still carry around no expectations. I achieved my goal. I did all of this while learning things about myself that could have only been discovered somewhere out there in the Florida sand.

Photo Cred: Donald Harries (Greenway Bicycles)

Photo Cred: Donald Harries (Greenway Bicycles)

I would like to thank Karlos Bernart (Singletrack Samuri Productions) for putting in the time and effort to provide us with an opportunity to make memories that will last a lifetime.

Side note: One thing that really impressed me during this race was my Squirt Lube. I have been using this lube for three years and continue to be amazed at how well this stuff works. I re-lubed once during this race and it was only because it felt wrong not to. My bike shifted flawlessly and did not make a sound during the entire race. I was so impressed at how clean my drivetrain was after the race that I took some photos.