Meanwhile, back in reality (that’d be D-town silly) folks are getting amped for the 100 mile epic race above Durango Mountain Resort next Saturday. This race is a toughy – not technically, but aerobically. It’s got something over 18,000′ of climbing and most of it is above 10k’. Yuk.
Yesterday I rode the first loop with Mitch. I gotta say I like my chances going up against Tinker next week in Park City over racing Mitch. Coming off of the Tour of Utah 2 weeks prior, Mitch is gonna light that course up. Yea, I know other big dogs are showing up – Cale, Miles, Greg to name a few – but it’s Mitch’s race to lose, it’s a race for second.
Course conditions were pretty good. The singletack to the top is in much better shape this year, not the deep trench of last year. The old logging road turned singletrack from Relay Creek road to Graysil is mostly dry and fast. If the weather holds it’ll go faster than last year. On the downside, a lot of the dirt roads are freshly graded and/or gravelled (read: slower). I think the event organizers are in cahootz with the SJNF road crews…that $500 bonus to the first rider to go under 9 hours is probably going to be safe for another year.
Since your head will be down and you might miss the views, here are a few.
The descent down the Cascade Divide road.
Top of the first loop on the CT.
Yea, nice views. Be sure to catch’m if the day is nice!
