Wow...what a tough start to a seven day race! The course started out with a 5000' climb that we figured would have some hike a bike. Because of that, Carey and I got a good starting position near the front of the pack, to hopefully avoid any potential bottlenecks. The climb ended up being mostly rideable, but it was damn steep and looonnnggg..when we finally reached the summit I had 1:40 ride time on my computer – so much for an EASY first day!
The next 14K was like a section out of a bad adventure race. Relentless singletrack hike-a-bikes and sketchy scree field downhills. I think it took us over two hours to ride...er push, that 14K and we never stopped! And it was all at 8,000 ft to boot. Oh, and did I mention it was SNOWING! Bloody hell as Neal would say!
The end of the stage featured a fast decent on a fast fireroad, so we had a bit of reprieve before our final climb and descent to the K2 Ranch. We crossed the line in first in the open women's division, so we were stoked. We were able to ride somewhat conservatively, keeping our HR's below 165 most of the time, so that we can actually still climb tomorrow. Today's course made Mt. Mitchell look like a charity bike tour, so I can only imagine what tomorrow will bring! Now we're off to some chow!
1 comment:
Nice job! Thanks for the update and pics.
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