Count down to the 12 hour.

[Bike Goddess]

Thanks for the link. I sent it to one of my bike pals who loves to race! I'm sure he'll be impressed.

Good luck and let us know how you do.

[Tri Girl]

Wow- that's very impressive!! I hope you have a GREAT time and enjoy every minute of what will be an enormous accomplishment.

[salsabike]

I remember this from last year and you DID kick butt. Bet you will again, and we will want to hear! Have fun, kiddo.

[szsz]

Holy crap that is amazing! Please report back afterwards. Can't wait to hear all about your success!

[Wahine]

Well, it started out with a stomach ache and trouble with nutrition. The first 60 miles of the course is at least 80% climbing and I was much slower than I had hoped. I was OK with that, I had all day to pull through as long as I could get my stomach to straighten out. At about 5 hours I finally got a long enough descent to back off substantially and get some food into me, my stomach started to feel better and I hit the next climb with some oomph, still not fast, but better.

Then I had fun for about 1 hour.

Then came the heat and there was carnage all over the race course. Someone with a temp gauge on their cyclocomputer said the heat got up to 97 deg at about 3 PM. Cyclists were stopped at random spots all over the course just because they were too hot to keep going.

I got seriously overheated. Relying on SAGs and self supporting did not help. By the end of my big loop of 112 miles, I was struggling to go 10 mph on a flat road with a slight tailwind. I hurt everywhere, had a terrible headache, flashing lights in my field of vision. When I got into the checkpoint and tried to talk to one of the volunteers, I wasn't articulating well and I knew I couldn't go on until I had cooled off substantially and got my electrolytes and hydration squared away.

While I was trying to do this, my BF came in off the 24 hour course with a DNF. He ended up vomiting and very overheated as well.

That's when I decided I was done. The cost seemed too high to go back out. People were throwing up everywhere, many racers had DNFed, one went to the hospital and had an IV of 3 litres of fluid. He still wasn't quite squared away.

So I got an official finish and I seem to be recovering in a timely fashion. I'm still a little whacked out but my legs are better. No significant signs of anything serious.

Not sure I will solo this race again. I certainly would not do it without support if there is any chance of heat.

Susan O. did great at the 24 hours. She rode very smart and had a PR. Yay Susan O. !!!!

[OakLeaf]

Man, that heat sounds brutal. Great job Wahine!

[colby]

Between your and Susan's accounts of the race, it sounds BRUTAL. Good on you for even finishing what you did!!

[NbyNW]

Wow. I'm picturing a cycling version of the "Barf-o-rama" scene in Stand By Me.