Clarification

My wife says the write up sounds like I didn't enjoy the ride. Quite the contrary. This was the coolest thing I've done. I saw some amazing things (you can see for yourself later). I had the opportunity to meet some incredibly inspiring people. I made new friends. Ethan Passant is the new record holder and he is simply amazing. I ran into one guy while I was climbing up Marshal Pass and he said he had seen Ethan doing the same hike 2 nights earlier at 10:30 at night!! What a freak.

Jason Shellman is a Salida boy. What a complete bad ass. He finished second on a gorgeous Mclung singlespeed. I'm still scratching my head. He lined up in a shorts, a button up shirt, platform pedals and a damn messenger bag. Ultra minimalist and he just rocked it from the start.

Chris Plesko is another Colorado guy that also has me tilting my head like my dog does when I whistle. Third place on a single speed and he looked fresh. Killer ride Pivvay!!

Tim is a guy from Boulder that I yo yo-ed with the first 2 days. I first rode up on him on the nasty downhill at the end of segment 1 (I counted 23 switchbacks). He was riding slow and he apologized as I breathed down his neck. I wasn't in any hurry to get around him. I noticed he was on a singlespeed but I watch him downhill. His styl ewas really funky. Then it dawned on me. He was on a fixed gear!! Completely unreal. Later I would tell him that of all the racers I had seen, he had impressed me the most. He's a class act. He made a big mistake on a detour and had the ethics to go back and make it right even though it meant climbing up the mountain into a headwind on that fixie. What a neat guy.

I hooked up with Chucky and Eddie for lulnch in Frisco. I rode with them for quite a while and we laughed a lot. Chucky would abandon in BV and we all drank a beer together to see him off. I was bummed to see him go as he was super fun. Eddie and I stayed together until I made the decision to turn around. As far as I know...he's still heading south. He asked if I thought he should continue and I told him if he didn't that I would beat his ass right there on the Divide.

I leap-frogged Curtis and Matt Fusco and some of the other Carolina crew for days. Each time we would laugh and ridicule each other.

Kyle and I hung together for a several hours the first night and the next day I didn't like his tone when he told me to go on while he stopped to make some adjustments. He dropped several hours later.

Allison is a woman that can really ride. I spoke with her and her beau Jason (who finished the race either third or fourth last year but didn't race this year) at the pre-race meeting. Both were super nice people tha I'll look up the next time I'm over in the Butter.

Marshal Bird was carrying all of his gear but was nice enough to carry some of mine as well. I stopped on Elk Ridge to take in the views and when I got down, I realized I had left my gloves on the ground. I looked back up and decided I could do with out gloves. Several hours later in Leadville, here comes Marshal in the door smiling and asking who's gloves they were. I wanted to hug him. Thanks dude.

It was an absolute pleasure and honor to hang with these folks. Thank you all for the memories. My mind is racing with all the events that have happened and the things I've seen the last week. My hands are swollen and I haven't been able to feel my pinky and ring finger on my leeft hadn for 4 days. My feet/ankles are swollen like a cartoon character. My smile is big when I close my eyes and see the trail and views.