loving living

desert, bikes, friends and beer

Headed down to the 24 Hours in Old Pueblo this past weekend with Rachel, two bikes, two coolers and about a hundred cookies. It has been 10 years since I raced 24HiOP solo. For a few of those years I have been kinda curious if I learned anything since that might make it possible to crank out more laps?

no matter what it was gonna be a great weekend

The desert is such an amazing place and it pulls at me almost as much as the mountains do. The sun was warm, the wind was fierce, the air filled with fun and adventure. Oh and bikes, lots of bikes and the chance to ride as much as you want to…

there is no end to learning…

So it would seem that I have learned some things, but I don’t always follow my own advice. My plan, if any, was to run slow then ride easy and consistent. Ended up running slow, getting excited and riding too hard for too long burning a few too many matches. Eventually the body got tired, sore and I slowed down. Even had a few mishaps that tested my shaky bit of calm. I teetered on the edge of implosion, slowly falling apart night lap after night lap. Somehow I managed to rally along with the rising sun and push my pace a bit harder for the final laps.

I rallied, but man did it hurt…

It was an awesome week, weekend, and a fantastic and successful race. The desert was warm, sunny and full of love. The race was a wild crazy fantastic ride leaving me to wonder about a next year? Mostly the whole week makes me grateful to be happy, healthy and still learning, dreaming and scheming.

Podium!

All pictures by Rachel Alter.