la ruta la a do

day two of la ruta. kevin really hooked me and my bike up after day one big time. loads of endurolites, an easier rear cog, chamois butter. all of those, combined with me buying a bunch of extra food to take along with me made a world of difference. there was no cramping involved at all. my legs actually felt fresh for the most part. i finally spotted another jersey rider than tim and myself in one of the marty's guys. i would just refer to him as marty's amd he to me as jersey for the rest of the race. much easier than trying to remember names.

anyway. the day started out with a road section were i charged and was able to stay with a quick group. when it started point uphill, violently, the walk-fest began. it involved alot of walking. i felt a bit of yesterdays fatigue and had to stop every couple of hundred meters for a breather. near the top kevin and i were riding together. pineapple bob came by at one point and i decided to head off chasing him. we rolled into the first checkpoint pretty close with kevin not far behind. bob was quick, kevin and i much more casual. that was the last we saw of bob that day and he went on to catch doug i believe before the end of the race. strong showing. from there the race got alot easier for me, and i really started enjoying myself. i got ahead of kevin on a downhill, and didn't see him again till the tripple road climb, which we walked/rode pretty much together. at the top, he stopped to take a photo of a pretty huge black beetle, and decided to keep rolling because i knew there was a super fun downhill coming up. i was well rewarded with a fast, fun blaster down into a town. through the town and up a road climb, which i happily walked. a little bit of rolling road, then a clay/rocky walker climb. some more rolling, a tacky, peanut butter clay downhill to load our bikes up to near 50lbs, and then a barely walkable wall of thick, slippery, soft, sticky clay. it took nearly ten minutes to scale it's 100 meter distance. at the top i saw people going through a nearly waist deep mud puddle, and a singletrack to the left through a field that looked to be in use by the racers. i took the singletrack. it was much more pleasant by all accounts. what followed was about as much fun as i had all race up untill that point. tires packed with mud making tread pattern a laughing matter, it was a slippery hell ride down a rutted out, rocky, muddy singletrack. i alternated between riding, stopping to pull mud out of my fork brace and seat stay bridge, running, and 'skiing' down it. so much fun. i even managed to sprint into the finish with a huge smile on my face that lasted till i was out of the shower. i wanted to ride more. i felt great.

249th overall out of 438 finishers
open results not posted
7:16:43