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After the neutral lead out and instantly up the first hill, it was game on, the peloton blew apart and pacelines emerged. I was motivated, all my hill riding in my new home prepared me for this. 4800' climbing and 68 miles, I consistently ride 3-5k' in 20-40 miles of riding. Further down the road and once the riders settled back in, I wound up with the first chase group for twenty or so then we split up, for me, my 40 tooth front sprocket really is not helping up the hills but going down and on the straight sections I can fly.

At Cupsuptic, what seemed to be an abandoned flat smooth narrow gauge railbed, I chased down a guy with a red jersey, then we worked together for several miles before we hit a soft muddy section, my tires just sank in and he vanished. Now, I was solo in moose territory. Beautiful views and temps in the low sixties were really nice.

After my long solo maybe fifteen miles and frequent looking over my shoulder for a moose, thankfully a group of three caught me and I grabbed their wheel, relieved to have help, we flew up and down the small hills and this greatly reduced my workload at a most critical time. Finally, we caught and passed red jersey and many others who blew up or suffered mechanicals. More riders joined us as we grouped back up and all worked together. At the final long gravel descent, assuming more near-perfect gravel, water bars, and hitting thirty MPH the duo track deteriorated, sharp large and small rocks and off-camber washout. Rocks and debris were pinging my frame and tires were bottoming out. Expecting a flat, my Schwable X-One's with Carver deep-dish carbon rims were amazing, light, tough, fast-rolling, and grippy when needed. No flat!

My legs were now on the limit and I could tell I was close to dual leg cramping. Drinking Nuun water and eating Cliff Blocks helped. On the final hill up to the airport our group blew apart, some off the back, others clearly familiar with this race saved energy for this climb, I wound up towards the back. On the descent down to the finish, the road was bumpy until we hit the pavement, on to the ninety-degree turn to the finish. 4:15, maybe less, Wahoo was not exactly accurate for some reason.

My day was done. I was happy to be in the first group behind the leaders. No idea of my result in Expert however I think mid to back of the pack? Very few riders were in the finish area or by cars. It twas expected the first long course riders would return around 1 pm, I arrived around 1:15.

This Race is awesome, well organized, clearly marked and Rangely is a special place to ride. If you go, you can choose from a short, medium or long course. Most of the course is only accessible on race day as they are mostly on private land.

Something for everyone, fun for all!