see buttons...

I'm still in shock. I flashback to a moment over the weekend & I can't even comprehend what I was up to. I never really knew where I was, somewhere in IA. Towns & direction were meaningless, it was just lefts & rights looking at road signs. I tried looking at a map last night & I still can't figure out exactly where I was, a general idea of the big picture now but the finer details are beyond me. Maybe somebody will post a map using the cues & I will be able to enlighten myself.

Move on! Way less stress going into this year's TI. I made my equipment choices early, tested things out & stuck by my decisions. This year I told myself to not get wrapped up in going with the early break, my goal was to finish. Last year my attitude was make the break at any cost & the early pace last year was wicked. This year it started out quick but manageable, huge group (maybe 40 or so) was together for the first hour? Eventually whittled down to about a dozen by sun up. So I did make the break but didn't have to kill myself doing it.

First CP @ 53 we were down to 9 or 10. Gorilla taking about a 2 hr. pull to get us there, damn dude is strong. C-bread blew his rear der about 7 miles out, shit! Oh yeah...it was muddy as hell, folks drive trains were screaming.

Tim Ek, Charlie Farrow, & myself rolled out first with a big tail wind. The pace they were setting & the tail-wind induced high cadence was bringing on cramps so I just let them roll away around mile 70, time to settle in, got 250+ to go. Spent 70 -120 by myself, brutal wind. It was during this time that I had the most doubts in my endeavor, secretly hoping for a calamity to put me out of my misery. The thought of riding all night by myself was unimaginable.

I found a wind block, ate a bagel with peanut butter I had stuffed in my pocket & kept rolling.

This post could go on forever. I need to wrap it up for now. Below: "the setup". I had it all, but needed very little. Like I said, I committed to my equipment choices & stuck with it. I wasn't carrying anything ridiculous but I was prepared for the quest.
More later...

Later,

TK