This was my 6th ride at Lotoja. I train fairly consistently all year, but on race day, something always comes up - this year was no different. A week before the race, I was diagnosed with a bulging disc. The sciatica wasn't bad on the bike, but was brutal when I was sitting (at work or in the car). I was on Lyrica and Tramadol to moderate the pain, which led to severe deyhdration. Cramping started on Strawberry, and never stopped for the rest of the day. Every time I'd exceed RPE 70-75%, I'd cramp and have to back off. I finished the race feeling fresh, and with plenty of energy - a new experience for me, and one that tells me that I could/should have gone a hell of a lot harder

First leg (Logan to Preston) was fairly pedestrian. There were reports earlier of loads of flats (later attributed to goatheads), but by the time the unlicensed 35+ groups got there, they were all swept up. The group wasn't as nervous as in years past, and there was less sprinting out of the corners. Weather was cool, but nice - all in all a beautiful ride. Even better, within 30 minutes or so, the sciatica had cleared up entirely.

I was riding with a friend, so we stopped in Preston to fuel up and drop some layers - I'll skip this next time 'round

The hill right out of Preston wasn't too bad - I was struggling to keep up with my buddy, but that's normal. Predictably, I caught him on the downhill. I began to notice that I was having a difficult time keeping on top of my fluid consumption. I was constantly grabbing a bottle, just to slake my thirst. The rollers up to Strawberry were nice - we held a good pace, and all seemed well. Then, about a mile before the climb proper, I had the first twinge of a cramp. The rest of the climb was hell - every time I'd ramp up effort, I'd cramp. Unfortunately, I was riding with a 39-25 low gear, so speed was the only way to stay on top of it. We got off at neutral support at the top of Strawberry & refilled bottles - I ended up filling and slamming one down before refilling it again. By the time we got to Montpelier, I had pretty much drained both bottles again.

It was on the Strawberry downhill that a rider crashed, causing injuries that would (three weeks) later take his life. Paramedics were stabilizing him when we I got there, and course marshals were directing everyone off their bikes to pass the scene of the accident. My heart goes out to his family.

Again, a full stop at Montpelier.

Montpelier to Afton was bad. I had to choose between going slow and cramping, or going really slow. I lost a boatload of time here, and spent a good 25 minutes putting together the speech that I was going to give my buddy when I told him that I was going to drop out. He was a total stud, pulling me along, and never so much as peeping about our absurd pace. I suddenly felt guilty that, after dragging him down for 100 miles, I was going to tell him to ride his own race. So I kept on.

Another stop at the top of the KOM, and then the downhill. I managed to recover a bit here, and was able to take a few meaningful pulls. Our AVS from the KOM to Afton was pretty decent, although I was still hobbled by the threatened cramps.

Final supported stop at Afton - I had our crew skip alpine (as it is generally such a cluster that it's not worth trying to meet up) and head straight to Jackson.

Star Valley was beautiful, the wind wasn't bad, and I never hit a rumblestrip.

Hitting neutral + Honey Buckets at Alpine made for a long stop - we were in full tourist mode by that time. I think we killed 10+ minutes there.

Snake River Gorge was amazing as ever, and I had recovered enough that I was able to do a bit of group skipping. There were some really surgy packs, and my buddy and I ended up getting split when he was able to latch on to a group that I got boxed out of. I ended up in no-mans-land trying to bridge for a while, and finally was caught by the stronger riders from the surgy group I had left. We had a nice 4 person rotation going for awhile, and I was able to regroup with my buddy in Hoback.

More stopping, lots of fruit in Hoback. It was also here, I learned after the race, that a rider had crashed off of the bridge that has been under construction for the past four years, landing in 12" of water, and dying. Again, my heart goes out to him and his family.

Hoback to Teton Village was brisk this year. My buddy took off with a quick pack in the final few miles (once he was sure that I'd make it). I got sick of the yo-yos that I was with, and so jumped off the front with 5 miles to go, only to learn (after seeing pics from the finish) that I was towing someone the entire time. My legs were gone, and cramping continuously, but I made it again. Despite being hobbled by dehydration, I had still beat my previous best time by 10 minutes.

Get the problem fixed, don't take drugs to cover it up. We'll see how next year shapes up...

I love this race, and will probably make it a part of my life for as long as I am able to ride. In thirty years, there had not been a single fatality - a situation that changed dramatically this year, with two rider deaths. Suddenly, all of the little annoyances that seemed so major on race day are put into perspective.