Too Wrecked...

...to write coherent sentences, but I'll do you a quickie.

Everest Challenge Day 1. We had just a bit of everything weather wise... rain, hail, snow, and wind, but it wasn't bad at all. Most everyone dressed expecting the worst, and it turned out to be just right. The promoter altered the course a bit so we wouldn't run into the snow, but we still did 94 miles of racing with nearly 15 kft vertical.

Before I continue with this report, I'll give you a little quiz: which option sounds more believable...

A. I decided, to be fair, I would spot C-Walk and Lindsay, et. al., a nice 5-6 minute cushion at the start

or,

B. I chose today to be the first time in 30 years of racing to actually miss my start.

Yep, B is the correct answer. Not sure how it happened as I was parked about 50 feet from the start, but sure enough, when I rolled over there, I discovered the p/1/2 field had departed 5 minutes prior. Idiot! So I jumped in with the 35+ field and chit-chatted for the first 30 minutes before the climbs started. But then it was gloves off and the suffering began. I think I picked off half the field but don't really know. I'm somewhere between 5th and 10th.

Up front, C-Walk dropped everyone on the first descent and then rode solo for the next 3 hours getting a several minute lead. Only one problem... he didn't eat. Not a single thing! Sheesh! So you know what happened. Big bonk. Huge. Paper boy up the last climb. Lindsay, Jesse Moore, and Joe Wiley rode a good tempo behind him until Lindsay ramped it up on the final climb, dropped Jesse, caught and passed CW, and put 40 seconds or so into Wiley. Strong advertisement for the altitude tent! CW held on for 3rd, maybe five minutes back, and Jesse got 4th.

In the threes, Gary rode really strong and is in 2nd by less than a minute. Jason and Steve the Prof rode intelligently and finished strong. We don't know any placings. Mark Luke and Steve Weixel also rode well and are looking comfortable for tomorrow.

Some Proman woman just crushed it today. Not sure who she is, but she was incredibly strong.

That's all I know about the races.

Other stuff...

* Huge thank you to Jon and Jamie Eropkin for the ride back to the start in the warm car. Life saver!

* Poor CW. I got back to the room expecting him to be crashed on the bed snoozing, but he wasn't here. Two hours go by and I started really worrying, but then he showed up STILL IN CYCLING CLOTHES. Turns out his car died (alternator probably) and he pushed it to a gas station. PUSHED IT ...after bonking and riding 110 miles today (he rode back to the start). Now he's probably gotta stay in Bishop for a couple days next week to deal with that. Bummer.

That is all for now.