Cholla, or my weekend in the car

Saturday was the Cholla Challenge. They ran the course the opposite of years past. Not having done the race for a couple of years I had forgotten about the long decent which became the long climb. Friday night the wife and left late and stayed at the UnComfort Inn in Hurricane.

Saturday, had some breakfast and drove out to the race.
Spent the warm-up assuring Mark that he was going to be fine and just to relax and enjoy the race, lined up and went off.


I manged to stay with the lead group through the hike-a-bike. Just after that I was starting to get tossed off the back and decided to take it down a notch and just ride my race. I went with the camelbak on this race and was glad I did. I came through on a 55 minute first lap and Sheryl missed me.

The second lap I could tell the heat was starting to get to me. I kept sucking down water and gu hoping to keep any cramping at bay. Finally on the long climb on the second lap I had to let a couple of guys go and just hope I could catch them in the wash. I hit the top of my climb and found one of the utahmountainbikers just getting back on his bike. I decided to stay with him through the wash and made my move on the climb to the finish to get around him with a terrible 61 minute second lap.

I guess the base just isn't quite there yet. I think I finished 8th?

Loaded up the car after the race and went to Lost Wages where the wife is attending NAB the first part of this week. We got a nice room at the MGM signature and got some dinner there. Exhausted from the driving and riding I think I fell asleep at 9:00 so we didn't even bother to go out.

Sunday morning got up took the wife to the store to get a few things, dropped her off and then drove home all alone.