more thoughts

quick notes...most impressed by: trevor taking 3rd in the 12 hour solo with nowhere near enough training since leaving decorah and jesse bergman who i met at the ballyhoo last year and took 2nd in the 24 solo in his first ever attempt at one (pretty much had the race i wanted). completely unsurprised congrats goes to the rassy team (cam, kent, andy and jed) who ran away with the team 24 again. always awesome to see kyle and bruce and the rest of the des moines area crew i don't see often enough. to everyone that offered help on the trail and stopped by my tent/deathbed...thank you. you guys are what this sport is about. it should go without saying, but thanks to the emt's/ski patrol. took care of me when i crashed and stopped back many times during the evening/night to check on me. i'm ready to be done talking about this race for a while so enjoy the pics while i enjoy a few days with my son.

kent (the tall one), andy (the hippy), me (thinking this is gonna be fun), dennis grelk (standing behind/above me), trevor (half a subaru jersey)

i actually did ride a bit

leaving my first real pit stop...mandarin oranges tasted great on the way down

"is the trail this way?"

pits/sea of orange
the bike was awesome...period. suspension for long endurance racing is in my future but the only other bike i would choose to race would be the optimus ti...someday.

pit stop following my 4th lap...this is when my head started cooking and was the beginning of the end. shoot me

yeah...i'll get past it, just give me a minute. went out for one more full lap after this. my next pit stop was worse, refunding everything i'd eaten and realizing things weren't right. then maybe two more miles into another lap before it got really ugly.