Thru Endurance We Conquer!

It's not something that's happened before - heading out for a weekend of riding and fun only to return home that same day. But that's what happened last weekend. A number of factors kept adding up and finally I was done. Time to head home and admit defeat. So what happened? Getting organized to ride - not looking forward to the sun! It was already hot when we got up. The van was mostly packed, so all we had to do was load the cooler and the bikes and take off. We had a plan, but didn't know how well it would pan out. Being FIBark weekend in Salida, we knew it was going to be crazy crowded. So we would avoid the full insanity of down town and park at the top of S-Mountain for our pedal up to Cottonwood. We could hear the announcers for the Kayak races while we got ready to ride. I was wishing we were down playing in the river instead of riding. It was that hot out. There were no goals on the ride but to have fun. Still, when we started riding up Little Rattler, I f...

At nearly six hours and 55 miles into a 64 mile mountain bike race, everyone is tired. Everyone is hurting and looking for the finish line. Sometimes, the question becomes who is willing to hurt even more? To dig just that little bit deeper, push that little bit harder? I've never found myself in that position before, usually being so far off the back of the Pro field that the leaders are closer to the finish line then to me. This year was a little different at the 10th Original Growler. I found myself asking - who wants it more? The Growler delivered this year! Even if he needed to stop and have some iced tea near the end of the race. Photo: Matt Burt, http://www.mattb.net/ There was still a very strong women's field assembled, but without the hefty prize purse of years prior, the biggest names were opting to sit out the race. It's a busy summer and riders have to chose events that suit their needs, whatever they are. Me, I always choose the Growler because it's ...