Success on the Rim Ride

Thanks to perfect weather and good riding partners, I ate the whole cherry - pit and all! Here are the fact, since the rest of this is too long to read:

Start 6:20 am
End 7:42 pm
Starters/Finishers - 39/23
Results - click here
Riding/hiking time - 11 hours 46 minutes
Water carried/consumed - 200 oz/160 oz
Calories carried/consumed - 3080/2100
Calories burned - 8480
Endurolytes - 16
Miles - 94.9
Feet climbed - 8780
tss - 642
Mechanical - 1 flat
New friends - many

I didn't take a camera, but Jeff Kerkove did. Here are some kool pics of the day. Thanks Jeff.

The highlight of the race was passing Dave Harris and Lynda Wallenfels on the Circle Ohhhh trail. No, I'm not going to say how I caught them :-) But, I can say racing career is now complete. Like a true thorough breed, I held them off as long as I could and but I finally had to let them go. Thankfully, they came in 1 & 2. Now that's Life in Stereo

After the neutral start, I rode the first 3.5 hours at my own pace leap-frogging with several riders. Energy and excitment levels are always high early on and I try to keep it real and hold back. The sun was up by the time we hit Rockin A and I was glad not to have a light. I don't need any extra weight for what's ahead. Rockin A and Circle O went much faster than 2 weeks ago and I was through all that mess by the 1h 15m mark. That was surpising.

The Soverign Trail was it's usual fun experience with a new variation added that bypassed the nasty hike-a-bike. After passing over the Dalton Wells Road (mile 20.8)and climbing the big slickrock slab, the trail got nasty with 3 or 4 long hiking sections and sharp lava rocks. I watched one dude actually climb 2 of the bad climbs and was amazed. Maybe on a day ride, but not today! Unfortunately for him, he blew up before the climb to 7 mile rim and his day was done. Testosterone!

I caught up with Adam Lisonbee and Dwight Hibdon (DH, not to be confused with Dave Harris) shortly after crossing under 191 and Cottermine Road. That was a welcome moment cuz now I'd have some company and teammates. Dwight and I rode together for the next 4+ hours and had a blast in the sand and speeding down the Gemini Bridges Road toward Metal Masher. We almost missed the MM turn because the wind was blowing up so much dust we couldn't see the sign. Testosterone again!

Backing up a little, Dwight and I got off route after passing through Monitor and Merrimac and Wipeout Hill. Speaking of wipeouts. As we were descending towards Wipeout Hill we looked ahead about 100 feet only to see a jeep backing down the hill - without a driver! That puppy must have slipped out of gear before it came crashing into a boulder and stopped as it teetered on it's 2 passenger side wheels! 30 more seconds and you might have read about DH and me in the newspaper! Scary.

Back to the wrong turn. The part we missed was a turn off towards the sandstone area just before 313. We saw Adam up ahead but lost him when he took the correct turn and we didn't. The course checker said several other people did the same thing so we didn't feel too bad. He said our way had more sand so next time I'll pay better attention and avoid that mess.

The ride up 313 was very windy and boring. When we got to the Gemini Bridges Road we took a nature and food break and headed back east to the backcountry and rocks, rocks and more rocks. This next section was 27.5 miles and took 3 hours riding time. DH and I rode with Cat Morrison and her boyfriend Matt for much of this section and we had some good bonding time. DH and I got a little ahead of them but they caught us at 2 Tortises Rock where I was unceremoniously stopped by a side wall gash on my rear tire (an old thread bare Maxxis Crossmark - I knew better than to ride that tire, but I did anyway). The booted tire held up until the last two turns passing under the 191 bridge over the Colorado River. The best time to roll you're tire is at the finish. No harm, no foul.

About 2 miles after the flat, DH and I parted ways at 3:50. He headed back down GB Road and I continued up the Gold Bar Rim Trail. Cat and Matt were somewhere ahead of me on Gold Bar and I wanted to find them since the push to the finish was the most difficult portion of the race, and my confidence level in my booted tire was very low. I caught them after 20 minutes or so and felt a great sense of relief knowing I was with 2 skilled riders, and wouldn't have to finish this thing alone. Just having someone around felt good. Shortly after I caught them, Josh Tostado caught us. Although he looked like he just started the ride, he started at 9:00 am and made up all that time, with 20 miles still to go. Come to find out, he got lost several times too. WOW! Matt, Josh and another guy got ahead of Cat and me on the Golden Spike and we hooked up again after the Blue Dot trail at the top of Poison Spider. We never saw them again, other than in the distance, until the finish. Man they're fast. Cat and I came in together, before the sunset, to the applauds on many enduro freaks. I was hoping for the honor of being DFL, but my hope was dashed when I was informed many were still out. Oh well, there's always next year ;-)

So, how do I feel? Fortunately my only complaints are sore fingers (go figure), tender sit bones (typical) and bruised calfs from where my pedals hit when I was pushing my sled. My legs feel great, my back feels fine and I'll probably never do the ride again. Well, never say never!