This gives me a headache just thinking about writing the report. So if your reading it. Sorry I've got a lot on my mind. Unlucky, Bad execution, and plain Stupid. That pretty much spells out my day. Bob and I didn't get into the race until a day or so before so we were stuck in the back of the pack. In the CAT 5 b group. Which even if we registered early we would have only been up one group in the CAT 5. And the CAT 5 b was just another heat of the CAT 5 that was supposed to start 2 min's after the CAT 5 group. Starting time ended up being 15 min's slower than scheduled and the gap between groups was like 5 min's instead of the planned 2. Because some dink on the mic wanted to sit and hear himself talk. Totally pissed me off. So our plan was to hammer the first and bridge the gap between the groups so we could just be in the first CAT 5 group. So we did it. It took 15 miles to finally catch them but wasn't super hard however in the end just one more strike against me. To make it worse after we caught them we passed the next women's group and a masters group but by around mile 27 the CAT 5 b group we started with just caught up to the CAT 5's anyways so we basically did all that extra work for nothing. But I was feeling good and didn't think much about it. At mile 45 the course turns onto a DIRT road section that lasts for 5.7 miles. I had heartburn about this from the time I found out about it. Seriously! DIRT! On a road bike? We hit that section and the pace got faster. I guess this is a place were the race kind of takes off. So I made my move to stay right in the front of our big group. We hit a pretty steep climb on that hill and coming over the summit I was in 3rd and within a couple seconds moved into 1st and started putting distance on everyone in our field. I was rolling and feeling great and with only .5 left of dirt I was well up on everyone. Which didn't really matter because I'd join back up with them anyways once w reached the pavement. But then I heard a BOMB go off and started sliding sideways. A flat tire. It just didn't go flat. It exploded. And so did the rest of my day. EVERYONE buzzed by as I struggled to change it out and burned 10:20 or so. Now I was all alone and only 50 miles into a 157 mile race. So not only had I lost 10+ min's on the group but now my pace was slower in the hunt because I was going solo and they were united. Ugh. I still believed I could reel them in... STUPID. I worked like a dog up to Evanston Wy and would pass stragglers every mile but no group in sight. I didn't stop for anything at the aid station in town and kept motoring a long. And for 50+ miles I worked. Worked hard. It was hot, sunny, uphill (really) and into a blistering headwind. At around mile 75 I passed a lone girl rider who eventually busted her butt to catch back up and she road my wheel until my end... So I pulled her and we kept burning down straggling groups and solo riders one by one just blazing our way up the foothills. The course basically climbs from 30-117. It was all uphill, all hard, and the WIND was so stereotypical of Wyoming. It just hammered me. By around 85 I could feel things slipping and asked the girl how much more climbing? She looked at me like I was crazy and said A LOT. Ouch! I just needed a break a little flat or downhill to switch it up a little. But it never, ever came. In fact it just got steeper and steeper as we went. At mile 98 we got our food bags from the aid station. It had two bottles, one of water and one with some kind of electrolyte mix (it was super nasty) but I drank it out of need. It also had a mini warm coke, a cliff bar and a cliff shot pack. One of these if not a combo of something blew my stomach up. By mile 101 just a few miles past the feed bag pick up I was close to hurling. Couldn't take down anything else... even water. I finally talked to my lady friend who was oh so happy to be riding my wheel and said that I was "checking out". She tried to get me to press on. She told me she was with the pro women's group and had blown a tire and basically took her out of the race too. Now she was just trying to get a workout in. Had I known she was so strong I'd have worked with her the last 45+ miles. Instead of pulling her. By mile 105 I couldn't go anymore. And she slowly road away into the sunset. I didn't. I had it in the easiest gear and was fighting for my life. I just thought if somehow I can summit this climb then I'll be able to recover on the 30 miles of downhill into Kamas. But the climbing never ended. One false front lead to another and around mile 112 we hit the summit... or so I thought. There was a brief maybe mile of downhill. I though I was home free. But was having a hard time staying on the bike even on the downhill. My butt hurt past my breaking point, my neck and shoulders were the same... and even my feet. Which have never had issues: where now killing me. Then came my "tap" out. The downhill that I was struggling to roll down turned to another never ending steep long uphill climb. I think I really did cry a little as I started to try and work up it. And then it was over. I could no longer stay on this bike one more second. I got off fell to the ground and was quickly joined by some other riders. I was done. Sunburned on my arms and legs worse than any Lake Powell trip could do. Dehydrated and an upset stomach. Too fast too early? Too hard alone? Wind? No sunscreen? Upset stomach? Bad food? It was just one thing after another that brought me to my first ever DNF and I road the meat wagon back to Park City and the finish. Don't know where I'm going after this one. Pretty bummed. Had I not got the flat my day could have been much, much different. I'd have easily stayed right in the group until the steep climbing at around 100 miles. I'd be WAY fresher to start those climbs. I may or may not have won my division or finished with the leaders in that group but I think I would have made a running for it. But with the flat and all my struggles this has to be the single hardest physical thing I've ever done in a day. It rocked my world. I'm still sick today. Fever, headache, upset stomach, body aches. It just got way to damn ugly out there. I hind sight after the flat I should have just road it in. Or teamed with that chick. But I'm really scared about one aspect of this cycling thing. That's my butt. I'm not getting use to it. 200+ miles a week for over 2 months and after about 80 miles I'm really, really hurting. I tried wearing two pair of cycling shorts this time.... it helped for about 10 more miles than normal but still. There's no way I could make it through LOTOJA at 209. Really thinking about bagging it.
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