The Whiskey

What a race. I have not done many endurance races, but I am going out on a limb to say this has to be one of the coolest. Super fun singletrack with some scary loose rocky downhill sections and you have to love the 11 mile dirt road down to Skull Valley... Especially knowing that you have to climb up and beyond the point where you started to head down. Lots of climbing and then the course ends with some more great singletrack....all downhill after one last short killer of a climb. That's the climb where everyone starts (or continues) to cramp big time.

Zach, Tim and I got downtown with plenty of time to spare. It's such an awesome race...from start to finish. It's so laid back at the start, you can head up with just a few minutes to go and weasel your way up closer to the front. I started with Zach, and Jen, Spring and Heidi were just a little ahead of me.

I had a completely uneventful race, which is the way I like it. No crashes and no mechanicals. I handled the water bars better than last year, made that last torturous climb, and improved on my time from last year. The climb back up from Skull Valley totally killed me. I must have swore 50 times that I would never do the fifty again!! Can't decide if it's more physically or mentally difficult. Couldn't have been on a better bike. The Vassago did me good. It's amazing how awesome I felt on Sunday after that race.

I ended up in 8th place... Not what I wanted but totally appropriate given my experience in longer races and my current level of training. School has ruled my days. There were some serious hard core ladies there like Lynda, Sonya, and Sarah. Wow, they are fast. Spring and Heidi kicked my butt up the road (ya damn roadies :)!! ) and had great finishes at 5th and 6th.

And the fun doesn't end with the riding. As you head in towards the finish line, you have an entire crowd of people cheering you on! It's so great. This year they finished the weekend up with a band on the square. How cool. I love this joint.

Zach had a great finish at 19th out of 139 in his age group, bettering his time by 16 minutes.   First time Whiskey Riders Jeff and Vienna both did the 15. This was Vienna's first race!! They both did awesome. Tim's first time too.  He did the 50 and was doing great until he stopped to help the dude who peeled the skin off his knee. Elizabeth was a trooper and hung at the house with the Doodle and Oliver during the race. Tom had a pretty good crash that took some time from him but Kim got a FIRST PLACE!! ha ha!

Unfortunately, I left my camera at home and didn't get any pictures after the race, but I did take some pictures of the course the weekend before during a preride. 

Here's my bike, the Optimus

Zach, just before the waterbars.

Tim heading down 260.

A view up 260, which was in GREAT  shape, thanks to the MAN - John Shumaker.

View of 89A from 260.

And a few pictures of the gang on the square.

The only disappointing thing about the weekend was that our friends from Illinois did not make it out here this year!!  NEXT YEAR WE BETTER SEE YOU!!!  YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!