LOTOJA Report

First of all it should not be Logan to Jackson because you actually finish in Teton Village.

I have had people ask me if this was worse than having a baby, and I think that this was worse than having a baby. This was 13 hrs and 24 mins. of labor. It was a great experience! We learned so much just being a part of it.

Our start time was 7:01 am with all of the Cat women (real racers). We really should have been in the fun ride group. It was a great ride to Preston. We took a little long at the stop and lost the group of women that we were with. We then headed up Strawberry which was pretty ok. I started having some breathing problems. We met a girl named Elise from Phoenix,AZ who happened to be a brain surgeon. I took it a little slower at the top of Strawberry so that my breathing would be ok. The descent was awesome (of course).

We made it to Feed Zone #3 in Montpelier and took a really long time there (40 mins.). We didn't know we took so long. Heidie had a inhaler. I took a couple of puffs off of it and wow! Did that make all the difference! So up the next canyon we went. The climb was not bad. Another great descent. We were all by ourselves and started to climb Salt Pass where we hooked with a small group who we did a double pace line with. We stopped at the neutral feed zone and proceeded up the steep part of Salt Pass. There was alot of riders struggling with this climb. We had another great descent. We almost hit 50 mph.

The head wind had started picking up. A group of men hooked on the back of me and Heidie. I said "this is stupid let's drop behind them and let them break wind for us even if they are a little slower. " So we dropped and got on with them and as it turns out they were just waiting for the rest of their group to catch up. The rest of their group caught up and they had us do another double pace line with them. There was about 14-16 of us. It was a lifesaver in the wind. We stopped in Afton and this group of guys said that they would wait for us. So we started off with them again. But then some guys in the group needed to pee so they stopped and said that they would catch up to us. They never caught up. So Heidie and I were by ourselves against the wind. Heidie really started to hurt on this stretch. I offered to cut off her leg and let her finish with one leg. But she opted for keeping the leg.

We got to the Alpine stop and we knew that it would be tight, but we KNEW that there would be a tailwind because there ALWAYS is a tailwind. No tail, more like a head. I was out of steam. I told Heidie she could go on faster if she wanted, but she stuck with me. We stopped quick at the last feed zone to top off my water and eat some fruit snacks. The fruit snacks must have worked because I picked up a little.

I tell you they need to fix the descriptions for the race. I realize that I was getting tired but the hills just kept coming. The sun was starting to set and it was getting dark and cold. Neither of us had our lights with us. There was a guy in head of me with a light so we caught up to him and hooked on to him for a minute. He was totally pooped. He told me that he was sorry but he had to drop and not go as fast as us. So we rode on. A few minutes later was back, he said "all right I'll give it another try." So he hopped in front of me and we followed him in. He told me that had done this race 4 times by himself. I was really impressed that he dug a little deeper so that he could help us out. We crossed the finish line. I kept thanking the guy for helping. We turned in our timing chips and numbers. I saw Shane and Shad and gave them a yell. I got to the bike path and laid down by Heidie, she was crying & I started to cry a bit. It was a long walk back to the truck. We stopped and ate at Pizza Hut and drove home. We made it home at 2 am.

I was so happy that we made it!! I was really glad that Miles made it. I kept asking about him all day. I felt like we rode really good. Our slow time was due to our rest stops. But still it was an amazing feat to accomplish. On the hills nobody passed us. The ride home was quite painful, but I am feeling OK now. I was also glad to hear how well Tracen did.

Shane and Shad were a great "pit crew" and we met some really neat people along the way.

The question is will we do it again? Heidie says "no". I say we'll see. A relay might be alot of fun. But the most important part of all is that I can now place the sticker on my car!