The only spectators, the road climbs just behind the ridge they were grazing on.
Catching up with one of the early starters, they had to use lights for a pre-dawn start.
I installed compact cranks for this ride. It was a very good idea!
These guys are descending. The top 3k of the big climb were done in this fog/mist. Very wet. It lasted almost the entire, very technical descent, making it very interesting. Steep, technical, narrow, rough road, a number of sand slides throughout the downhill, 20-30′ visibility (<10 in a few places, you couldn't see the riders ahead of you, sometimes you couldn't see both sides of the road), many people had trouble with the cold, although it never really bothered me (I did have ice on the front of my wool socks), that was very wet, the entire time. I probably need new brake pads..
No pictures for the next 35 miles, the driver was supporting the guys in the fog picture, and I had managed to get up the road from them.
I wasn’t prepared when they finally caught me, so I had to work pretty hard to get back on their wheels..
Numbers:
106.1 miles. 7:18 moving time, 11 minutes stopped. 10, 487 feet elevation gain.. a number of sections with 10%+ grade, climbing and descending. max climbing grade (on a cursory examination) is 14.7%
how did I recover? tritips, beans and salad at the venue. Finished off a quart of Chery Garcia (yes, they come in quartys now) at home, chased with a Black Toad beer and a huge bowl of pasta.. sleep is coming soon..
Awesome Scott! Man that looks like one hellofa ride and I wish it was closer to NM.
Dunno though on the compact. I ran regular 53/39 with 12-25 for Kaiser and noticed it was like riding a singlespeed on the steep climbs…..I just ended passing people with easier gearing because I was stuck with the taller gear.
But that ice cream would have sent me to the hostpital. Damn, now I’m really jealous. At least I’ve got banana bread.