sm100 - part 1

ok, ok... i've been draggin' out this write up for several days now as i try to sort out cross bike work, my trip to duragngo/interbike, work and riding... just not enough time in the day to do all this stuff so i am going to post it in to parts.

the day before...
trip out with gerry and andy was a hoot, just a long drive of about 7'ish hours total for me. this would be my first real test of legs since my tibia fracture back in june. i've done these kind of hours before with this injury, but it was hard to tell how things would go with 7'ish hours of race pace and major climbing. my weight, power & endurance are on, but with my type of injury it could take major time to heal up and to feel good.


the first 50...
we rolled out at 6:30am with gerry throwing down on the very first climb. my knees were feeling tight (should of warmed up some) and i decided almost immediately i had to race my own pace. soon the leaders slipped away.

i got caught between a group of about 8 riders and a few stragglers behind me after the first climb and descent out onto the first paved road section. as we rolled by what would be drop #1, i got caught by Chris Strout and we rolled up together to the group ahead of us that included Steve Schwartz.

through some jeep trail and out, chris, steve and myself rolled onto checkpoint #2. chris and i grabbed a bottle, steve stopped to fill his hydration pack - we rolled on.

up another climb or two, i dropped chris and rolled on. hit the fast downhill section rolling good into checkpoint #3. grabbed my drop bag and a coke i had in it and then rolled out with andy applegate and matt ferari in tow. i gave them some of my coke sugar goodness and we rolled on.

we would hit a steep hike a bike and eventually i would drop them both by the end of the climb and when we circled back to ride by checkpoint #3, i could see two riders in the distance. time to hammer.

up the climb, i eventually catch up to the two riders - including Aaron Oakes. we all took pulls and on the next climb we dropped the other rider. aaron and i would now ride the next 40'ish miles together.