LoVe Vs. HaTe: ThE FiNaL DouBle DaRe PoSt

Promise.

You have to be able to relate, this was one of the biggest challenges I ever faced and I came away smelling like roses.

First let me take a moment to say thanks:

1. Paloma:  my nutritionist and head massage therapist and all around motivator and lead advisor.  I am 100% convinced I would not be at the level I am now if it had not been for her direction advice and hardwork.  She not only instrumented a philosophical awakening in my life, but also a physical awakening.  Thank you my LOVE!

2. Team Bikeworks Orlando dot com, Specialized, Busby Flooring, Trane, McCree, Palmer Chiropractic, 4 seasons air conditioning, road I.D., and Native Skates thanks for your support and product. I honestly, truthfully, and wholeheartedly appreciate it.  To all my sponsors, THANK YOU, I appreciate your support in 2008 and look forward to more in 2009.

3. To Eric Wever from Pisgah Productions.  Thanks for letting a couple of rookies take on the course and the race, thanks for letting us race despite our lack of qualifications.

4. Steve "THE HAMMER" Wingo.  Thanks so much for being able to tolerate a complete stranger for three days and having faith in our abilities to conquer this course as a team.  Next time I will go BIG or go HOME, this time I wanted to FINISH, I wanted the BADGE OF HONOR.

5. To all my friends and family that lended spiritual and moral support, your words and encouragement and well wishes do not go unnoticed, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Now for what Worked:

Ergon pack works, I think I over pack it, but it still works.

200 oz Camelback bladder works, too much water for just any ride, but for out there, no worries.

My rear pack from Carousel design works well and it does what its intended to do.

My front pack works excellent, but I discovered I may have been using it beyond its intended means and overpacking it.  Great part is Jeff took notes on my desired mods and will take the back and make the adjustments free of charge, that is professional service.  As a result I will be getting a Frame pack and fuel cell very soon from him, check the dude out if you want to get into bikepacking anytime soon.

Salsa Mamasita, by far the best bike I have ever had, super plush in the mountains and the bike performed great in all conditions.  I decided it will be the bike I race the divide on.

What I need to do different:

Train with my bike fully loaded as often as I can.  If I plan to ride the GDR route with it I better just start training with it full, it made a huge difference pedaling a heavy ass bike versus an relatively light bike.

Stick to my nutrition plan especially before the race, cracker barrel really made me feel ill when I could of felt great.

Ride more and more and day in and day out, I need to get to the point where I can ride 100 miles a day every day, and I am still aways from that.

Side Effects:

Well, my elbow still is bruised I can feel it to the bone and so is my hip, when I press deep I can still feel the pain.

And I discovered after a couple of days, like on Monday, all though I was no longer sore, my brain was not firing right.  I could feel the difference and felt a little off, I was not able to be as observant, I was mentally taken down a notch.  This is a good thing for me to become aware, if I am ever OUT THERE for repeated, days and days, I need to keep in mind that my mental faculties may become impacted and I need to have a system in place to protect myself from that.

Overall, a real blast and totally what I wanted it to be.  Next time I will work and push harder, I want to go for a respectable top ten finish which from what I hear is hard for a person who is not a local to do, maybe since we were the first non qualifiers to race it, we can be the first non locals to win it!

enjoy,

Laters,

LOS