Moab R-R

Yesterday morning in the pre-dawn about 40 crazies met up in Moab. At 6 we headed out and the fun began. First we headed north of town on the old highway road to the Bar M. Then, the sun came up and the weather was perfect for a day of riding!!!

Kept heading north through Circle O and Sovereign Singletrack. Both trails are most excellent and fun to ride. Some of the views were pretty spectacular, and I wish I would of taken a few pictures, oh well...next time.

This is what it looks like to have the first 3 finishers riding away from you, and two of them are on singles!

At around mile 30, Soverign Singletrack ends and we passed under highway 191, and linked up with the Seven Mile Rim trail. Once again, nice riding, good views, and even better, my legs were still feeling good.

At about the 40 mile mark we dumped out onto highway 313 and were facing a 5 mile uphill climb into a fairly fierce headwind. I rode basically 95% of the ride solo so....no draft. Also, at this point my stomach started to get a little angry with me. I had been spot on with eating up until then, but all of a sudden I couldn't eat any more. I would try to choke down a bar, but would just end up chewing it for 5 minutes and spitting it out because I couldn't swallow it. I drank plenty of water and sports mix and hoped the situation would improve.

After the road, we hopped onto Gemini bridges trail. I kept leap frogging several riders at this point as we would all go slightly off course and then find our way back. Once to the Gold bar singletrack which overlooks the rim into Moab things got interesting. I was starting to seriously bonk because of lack of food and kept getting off course. The trail was marked, but super narrow and twisty. I could see Moab and the finish about 1500 feet below me and was waiting for the downhill to come, but it was just one climb after another.

I finally made it to the Posion Spider trail (which I have ridden before) and figured I was home free. However I managed to get seriously lost and ended up spending an hour backtracking and finally getting out the map in an effort to find the correct trail. I ended up getting back on course only after alot of walking through deep sand and sucking my water dry. At this point I ran into a local by the name of Cullen and we rode the rest of the way into town together. I coasted across the "line" in 13:53" with 98 miles....about 6 miles more than I was supposed to have. Overall, it was a fun ride and I learned alot. I'll be back for more..

Some of the lessons learned for next year:

- Bring along a yak and 2 camels to carry enough water
- Strap 14 water bottles to your bike, helmet, thighs, and arms
- Bring less gummy worms and more peanut butter cups
- Don't get lost, or atleast try to keep the count below a dozen
- If you see a Wendy's with free frosties along the trail...you're probably hallucinating and need to drink more.

Today, J-to-the-K Kerkove and I headed out for a light spin and rode out of town along Kane Creek road.

Next it was an out and back ride on Amasa Back/Cliff Hanger. Legs felt better than expected, but the rear end was a different story.... Tomorrow it's back to FoCo and by the looks of things, snow and rain.....crappy!!

Hopefully, next up is the Dusk till Dawn 12 hr in 2 weeks....