The 66 milers started at 7AM. I had 60 oz of Infinit in my Camelbak, 1 20oz bottle of Infinit on the bike, and one water bottle on the bike. I had enough Infinit packs for 9 hrs on the bike, and a few spare Clif bars.

We headed out and some people went out so fast you'd think it was a 10 mile race. We got onto the forest road and hit a climb. It takes me about 10 miles to get warmed up, especially at 6000+ ft, so I took it slow. I was hating the elevation in the first 5 miles. A gal came up next to me (Lindsay) and we chatted for quite a long time. I told her about our tri club, and she said she had been meaning to join. So it was cool to hang with someone nice on the trail. We missed a turn and luckily some guys yelled at us. Only the pink flags were marking the trail, and not arrows. This would be the theme for the race. We finally got onto singletrack and started climbing. Lindsay was better at climbing and I was better at descending, so we were close by each other for a few miles. Then we hit the major climb. I didn't see her after that. My HR shot up so I took it real slow. I smashed my pedals on so many rocks and a few times I was forced off the bike. Finally the trail flattened out.

The trail wound around a bit more. I came up on some guy taking a piss on the side of the trail and rode past him. He was like "Uh, ma'am, the trail is this way." He was STANDING on the entrance to the next singletrack and the turn. Not a good place to take a bathroom break, bro. Just then other riders came up from the trail I had started to head down, and they too had missed the turn. This would be a common theme.

Climbed, climbed, climbed some more and at some point I got onto another Jeep trail. It started heading downwards on a really rocky downhill. I was cursing being on a hardtail. It was taking everything out of me. Finally I relaxed my body and let the bike dance wildly under me. It was very much out of control, but my legs were so tired from the hits on the rocks. At one point I stopped in the middle of the hill to take a rest, then continued on.

I was almost to the bottom when I came across 3 riders going the opposite direction. Oh no! Sure enough we had been on the wrong trail. Got off and started hiking back up the terrible hill I had just ridden down. One gal had a GPS with the course uploaded into it, and I had the printed map. We came across another group that was on the same trail and they had to turn around as well. So that was about 7-8 of us lost on this trail. We hiked and hiked and hiked, pushing the bike up over rocks as we climbed in BIKE shoes (should've worn my trail runners). We came to a fork and couldn't remember what trail we came down. The GPS was pointing left, so we went left. Hiked and hiked and hiked some more. Finally we came to a pink flag. Sure enough, a few yards away was some singletrack. Fock! So I had about a 45 minute hike in there. We got on the singletrack and came to a checkpoint where we told the volunteers there we had gotten lost. They pointed us in the right direction, so we continued on the singletrack.

I ended up by myself for this stretch and just did the best I could on the trail. I was alone, so I really didn't want to crash. Then the sweeper came up behind me. I asked him where I was on the trail, and he said I had about a mile to the first aid station. Got to the first aid station and looked at my watch...3.5 hrs. I was at mile 18 and it took 3.5 miles to get there. The sweeper had a different map, so I took a look at it. The next aid was 8 miles away, but Aid 4 was the last chance to bail out, which was 20 miles away. We had to get to Aid 4 by 2pm, or we'd be re-routed down the fire roads, which was another 15 miles or so. I did the math and accounted for getting lost as it seemed the 40mph winds had removed all the trail signs and determined I'd be dangerously close to darkness if I went that way. I decided to head back at that aid and take the DNF. Yeah, it sucks, but sometimes you have to take what you know and determine what the smart thing is to do. I was often alone on the trails, I didn't know the trail system at all, had already gotten lost, trail markers were now blown away from wind, and I've got 7 more weekends of races coming up and I really didn't want to crash alone out there by myself and ruin my A race (which is SOMA on 10/28). I was really out there just to have fun and ride some singletrack, so the risk wasn't worth it for me. I hung out at the aid station for about 20 minutes, talking to the folks there about bluegrass music (they had music playing) and about the trails. They said they were getting riders from both directions, so people were obviously lost because the trail is one-way. I asked the sweeper if I was the last one, and he said no, there was a group behind me that had gotten lost and the other sweeper was with them. I had the volunteer at the station radio to headquarters that I was coming in, and got directions back to the camp.

I headed down the road, and kept left where they told me to keep left. I got to the intersection of FR 45 and 182 and there was a sign saying Lakeside left 10 miles, US 60 right 7 miles. I called my husband asking if he could check the map to see where I was and how far away from camp I was. A guy in a truck drove up and offered me a ride, so I put my bike in the bed and hoppped in. He had also been on the 66 miler, but broke a chain and DNFed. He said he's done the race since it's 3rd year and this was the worst it had ever been marked. We came up on a car that had driven off the side of the road and wrecked, so he stopped to help and I got out and rode my bike the last few miles in. The wind was AWFUL! Seriously, why can't I have a race where there isn't 40mph winds?!?!

Got back to the race site at camp and headed to the finish to tell them I got back and that I DNFed. I was about 10th on the list, and 2 more guys from the 66 course came in right behind me as DNFs too. It was crazy. Talked to some folks around camp and people were lost everywhere. One group even ended up in Show Low! Those that made it were the ones that had a lot of familiarity with the area and knew the trails well.

My husband and I were having a miserable time in the wind, so we decided to pack up and head home. As we were driving out the SAG trucks were coming in with 52 and 66 milers piled in the back. They must've started re-routing people off the trail and bringing them back in.

I checked the results, and most of the ladies in my group were finishing around 10 hours. I was going about that speed or slightly slower, so that would've definitely put me in the dark with no lights. I think I made the right decision.

3:55 was my riding time (I went 28 miles) but I was out there for 5 hrs with stops and such.

Know the course better. We're planning on making a few trips up to the area next year to ride portions of the course and know it well so that we don't need to rely on markers and maps next time.

Hit Denny's in Show Low, then drove home.


Knowing the trails. Definitely know the course and pre-ride it before attempting the longer distances. I also need a full-suspension XC race bike. My hardtail is beating me up on the rocks which just saps energy that should be spent propelling the bike forward. My DH rig has 7" of travel but weighs 33lbs, which is too much for climbing. Nope, time to bite the bullet and get another MTB. So now I'm looking at FS XC rigs for endurance MTB events. I'll still keep the hardtail for things like 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo and a back-up bike and such.


Ranked it "too hard" because I didn't know the trail system, and it wasn't intuitive. You really had to know where to look to find the singletrack. They should've had more volunteers at key decision points and turns. Some volunteers were on the course in the middle of the sigletrack, which is of no help. They needed to be at turns to point the right direction, not in the middle of the trail where it's obvious to go.