Hmmmm, where to even start? Logan to Jackson, aka LOTOJA is easily one of the more intense, fun, and awesome events I have ever been a part of. I worked so hard for this goal starting last winter on the trainer bike, then through the spring and summer with long days on the bike, early mornings, and 4,000 miles logged thus far. I was ready! But....., racing is still racing, and you never know what is gonna happen with so many variable over the course of 206 miles.
Luckily it all came together, including my absolute rockstar support crew. I can remember a long, long time ago before I started riding bikes seeing Lotoja every September thinking it wold be cool to do someday, all the while feeling like 200 plus miles of riding in a day didnt seem like a lot of fun. Well, so much can change. Saturday literally felt like about an hour.
The fam, at the Village, post race, celebrating.
Lotoja has many races within a race. THere are recreation divisions and there are race divisions. Within the race divisions there are 5 Categories. I am in Cat 5. Within Cat 5 there was 3 waves......you still with me? Each wave had about 60 people in it. Staggered starts. So, really you are only racing those in your wave.
WE had a super strong group. A "selection" happened over the first major pass of the day (where faster riders leave slower ones behind, never to be seen again). Our selection group included 10 guys. We ended up riding all the way to the finish together, and......, I came in second. The avove shot is the rest of the podium, although...the dude in white ended up being DQ'd after the fact by race officials for public urination in Afton. Ooops.
Thank you Hannah, thank you so so much. Quite literally, couldnt have done it without you, Dash, and Chels. My support crew spent 10 hours in the car in a frenetic state of having to haul ass from each feed zone to get to the next. They just barely made it each time, but they did, which was awesome. Our group agreed to stop and get food for 30 seconds each stop, then a "nature" break after too. Our time was 9.5 hours to complete the entire ride, and we stopped for just over 4 minutes total, so, you can imagine how stressful those stops were for all!
Hannah keeping Dash entertained.
While Dash and I went to bed at 8 am the night before the race, Chels and Hannah had a big night out on the town getting yogurt!
Bike racing really is about slim, slim margins most of the time. After 9.5 hours of absolute hammering (we averaged 22 mph for the day) this is the photo finish! He just barely got me in the end.
Over the course of the day you kinda make allegiances with other guys in your group who dont have teammates in your wave. Bryce rode like a boss all day long and won the King of the Mountain up Salt River Pass. I ended up getting him on the line, but he and I had a blast all day chatting, discussing strategies, and being pumped.
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