I agree with Yellow. Any double century is certainly an epic ride. My first double century, Lotoja is also a competetive race. My goals were to finish in the light and to not cry during the ride.
Two days before the race I figured out that I had registered with the men's 35-44 yr age group and not in the Women's citizen category like I thought. I was a little bummed but I figured it didn't matter since my personal goals were the same. Unfortunately, this meant that I didn't get to ride with anyone that I knew. Instead I started out with 49 men that I didn't know. The first 35 were flat and the miles flew by. During the first few minutes of the race my sister, who was serving as my support, wrecked my Jeep. The officer wasn't going to let her keep driving so she had a major meltdown because she was so worried about getting to the rest stops with my food. Finally he gave her a ticket and let her go on her way. Fortunately she didn't tell me about the accident until the race was over.
After the first feed zone we headed into the mountains. After the first big mountain pass I was excited to see that my parents had made it to the next feed zone and were there to cheer me on for the rest of the day. I felt pretty good all day. I stuck to my eating and drinking plan and was able to keep my energy up. There were a lot of long stretches that I rode all by myself. I would hook up with a pack when I could but sometimes they were just going a bit too fast or too slow so I was alone. The scenery was beautiful and I knew my family and friends were ahead waiting for me and that helped to keep my spirits up.
After about mile 160 my stomach started to cramp up. I think my body was just saying no more. My energy level went way down and it was all I could do to keep going. I could see that the sun was getting low in the sky but I just could not make my legs go any faster than 17 mph.
The last 10 miles were the worst. I started to get a bit delirious and I was again riding by myself. Somehow I got off the road and onto a bike path. After a while I looked over and I could see other racers through the houses and I gathered my wits and got back on course.
The last two miles to the finish line were backed up with cars. People were shouting and cheering out thier windows and they were what pushed me through to the end. I did choke up as I crossed the finish line and heard them anounce my name and heard my family and friends cheering. What an amazing day.
I finished in 12:27 just as the sun set over the Tetons. Out of the 50 men in my group I took 13th. Had I ridden in the women's group I would have taken 6th. But actually, it was more fun to kick some boy butt!!
