LOTOJA wrap up

I wanted to share a brief recap of my LOTOJA experience.  I rode in the "fun ride" category which I thought was an oxymoron.  It was nice to start at 6 am as the first group out.  The first 25 miles had a lot of accordian action as the field was nervous and it was still dark.  The peloton even made a wrong turn at one point.

Strawberry, the first of the three climbs, was not as bad as I had imagined.  I felt alright going over the top.  The Cat 1's, which started at 6:25, caught me half way up strawberry.  

Geneva, the second climb, was significantly shorter than strawberry, but steeper at the end.  I rode within my limits and grinded out the last bit to the summit.

Salt River, the final climb, is famous for the last 2 miles.  The gradient is almost 7%.  Up to the last two miles, it was relatively easy.  I felt good on Salt River and even surprised myself on the last two miles.  

The headwind from Afton to Alpine Junction was there.  I rode with some good groups.

All the LOTOJA literature states that there is a tailwind up the snake river to Jackson.  Not on Saturday.  The headwind continued all the way to Jackson.  It may sound insignificant, but it was a mental challenge for me.

I felt good until mile 185.  Then I gutted out the last 21.

LOTOJA has the best stocked neutral feed zones that I have ever seen.  They even had swedish fish and gummy bears.  The tour of PC could take note of what an aid station should have. Plenty of water, gatorade, and red bulls.

I thought the climbs would be the most difficult.  It ended up that the flat riding was actually harder for me.  I wanted to kill some of the idiot riders that would crank up the pace 5-8 mph as soon as they got on the front of the paceline.  Not only would this drop the guy who just finished pulling, but it would put gaps in the paceline.  

My finish time was 11h 30m.  According to my garmin, my riding time was 10h 51m, with 39 minutes paused/feedzone time.  I placed 22nd in the fun ride category out of 370. 

I took my time in the feedzones.  I wonder how different I would have felt if I had been quicker in the feedzones or even rode through them just taking on handup items.

24 hours after the finish, I feel relatively good.  My legs aren't overly sore.  My knees are about the only thing that still hurts.  My internal plumbing is finally sorting out all the energy food that I ate--it keeps me going through the race, but afterwards, it has my intestines in knots.

My parents did support for me and they did an awesome job.  I am grateful for the time they gave up to come and help.

My sister Kara also finished even though her support crew couldn't find her for part of the race. Congratulations.