The 508: Stage Eight

I started this stage feeling human and ended feeling more human. In other words, I suffered. The last 20 twenty miles of this stage were mentally some of the hardest miles of my riding career. I rode strong to the top of the stage's climb, then at the bottom of the descent the road turns west and keeps going that way forever uphill into a interminable headwind. At least it felt that way.

I felt as empty and bleak as the desert around me, and the support of the team was what sustained me as I thought only of curling up in the fetal position.

In the end, we finished. In fact, rather surprisingly to us, we finished 3^rd in the 4x team competition. We had a grand time doing it. Though I'm not as crazy as Ron, who wrote afterwards: “I hope that we can do it again, although if not I volunteer to do it solo. Yes that's right, you heard it here first! I love epic events and I am proud to have been a part of the team this year.” Solo? Ron, you're crazy, but I love ya. Tom, Justin – I love ya'll too. Thanks for the time and the miles, all 29 hours, 15 minutes, and 30 seconds of it (plus the 4 hours stuck in LA traffic on the way home).