Stage 4 -- The Queen Stage

I don't think I want to do anything harder than that for a long, long time. The first major climb over 12k was psychologically horrendous. For as far as you could see, mtn bikers, mostly off their bikes because they simply lacked the air to ride, pushed their bike up a goat trail to a windy, barren summit. Only one rider ALL day cleaned it, and he was a Honey Stinger-kitted non-pro. I saw three things that stick in my mind today: screaming down a beautiful singletrack descent, I was met by a fox carrying his recent mouse kill casually coming up the trail. He didn't budge when I flew by. Second, I've been riding most of the race w/the third-placed coed duo from Sho-Air. On the climb to the heavens, the female was so gassed, she couldn't even push her bike. Her partner pushed both bikes up this monster, and at a pretty fast clip. He also pushed her through many tough sections of climbs with a hand on her back. Strong dude. But the kicker for me was Tommy, a dude from Gettysburg that has raced the whole Epic ON A FIXIE SINGLE!!! Holy crap. I sat next to him at the awards tonite and he actually looked quite rested. Incredible.

I had a nap today that was so deep, so refreshing, I woke up w/a huge smile on my face. Who needs drugs when you can nap?

Oh, on the descent off of the 12k summit, we had to surf a snow field. Now that was fun. I made it half way down this 300 m slope and yard saled it. I didn't know at the time but left behind was Drew's Vaude jacket, which dislodged from my camelback!!! I was very nervous abt finding it, but a guy racing for Ouch found it (after his yard sale!) and will bring it tomorrow. It was hilarious. This guy approached me and said, "I crashed bad on the snow field and when I got up, there was this red jacket! I heard you were missing one." Whew!

Tomorrow: The Wheeler Trail. 36 mi, 7,600 ft of climbing, w/some supposedly rough descending. I'm still solidly in fourth, w/a decent 5:04 today. Someone said they thought today's stage felt like doing the Firecracker 50. Off to eat!! Take care all.