Yee haw. Another whiskey in the books, number 3 for me.

I had a public goal this year of hitting 4:30 for a finishing time, and I was pretty damn close. Final time came in at 4:32. It was good for an 8th place SS finish, which in a field of 21 ain’t half bad.

I also had a private goal of trying not to cramp on the climb out of skull valley. I did my best to hit this goal, and came within 1/4 mile of the singletrack cutoff at the top of 12 miles and 3000+ feet of climbing.

The bike ran smoothly, I stayed hydrated and fed, and overall felt good about my race, which is a huge accomplishment in itself.

As usual, I felt like I went out too hard, but I think I’ve resolved myself to the fact that any race which starts out with a climb up the road behind a bunch of “insanely-fast racers”:http://www.epicrides.com/results/worresults/wor_results_2008.html (including a couple “big names”:http://www.floydlandis.com/blog/), you’re going to ‘go out too fast’. I just tried to recover well, and keep the impending climb out of skull valley in perspective.

I felt good rolling through the first aid station and as I descended into skull valley set about preparing my body with whatever I could for the climb. I ate “shot blocks”:http://www.clifbar.com/food/products_shot_bloks/1260, had a “gel”:http://www.hammernutrition.com/za/HNT?PAGE=PRODUCT&CAT=NUTRI&PROD.ID=4040&OMI=10103,10082,10047&AMI=10103&uir=product.category,NUTRI,Gels%20%26%20Fuels, downed almost a full bottle of “cytomax”:http://www.cytosport.com/Product.aspx?ProductID=5, and popped a couple “enduralytes”:http://www.hammernutrition.com/za/HNT?PAGE=PRODUCT&PROD.ID=4037. After a quick banana and fluid refill at the bottom, I thought to myself “alright, it’s cooler this year, you’re in better shape, and you’re well-fed and hydrated, if you’re going to do this without cramping, this is the year”.

Like I said, 1/4 mile. Almost made it.

As usual, Todd put on a great race, and I’m happy to see that he’s getting a lot of bigger names down for the race. Results are up “here”:http://www.epicrides.com/results/worresults/wor_results_2008.html if you care to take a look at the full spread.

I also want to congratulate Chris Latham, who pulled out a second place finish in singlespeed. Dude is fast. Rumor has it he was running a 32×17 on a 29er, which (for once) means that somebody was pushing a bigger gear than me. I’m curious as to what the SS winner (Mike Hileman, for the 3rd year in a row) was rolling.

Chris said that his reasoning for the gear choice: too lazy to change it. I can relate. I just wish I could relate to his time. Maybe next year. . .

p.s. Chris’ son Erowynn was the youngest competitor, completing the 15 miler. The kid is 9. Bad-ass.