I made it! 40 miles in the woods without crashing or getting run over by 1213 other riders. Ya', that's where I placed, 1215 out of 1800 and even though my time was 38 minutes better than last year!! As you might have guessed, it was fast. The winning time was 2:10 and mine was 3:32 - to see how these people travel through woods on two wheels is just amazing - what strength, balance and power.

We climbed 2600 feet and I used 3800 calories doing it - at the end I was spent. Three and half hours of climbing twenty small and very steeps hills and at least 10 large twisty steeps hills, one that was so bad no one was able to do it - everyone walked it. It very steep and full of loose rock and deep dirt. I had a hard time even walking the damn thing.

All in all, it was an exciting adventure. A riding buddy of mine went with me which made it more fun 'cause we drank a lot beer after the race and told stories to anyone that would listen - but then, everyone had stories to tell so we all had a lot of laughs.

The band played good rock and R&B music while we sat around picnic tables in the warm sun shine and enjoying great company from all over the Midwest - what fun. I enjoyed this more than the race -