❋
2026 East Texas Showdown
ride report
when i started the drive to far east texas, I was leaving one of my busiest, most stressful work periods in recent memory. I couldn’t get out of my own head, conscientious about my own career, about the future of my industry, and the insane things happening in the world in general. But I knew I’d prepped as well as I possibly could, but still couldn’t shake the feeling that the world was closing in, especially while sitting in traffic 125 miles from the start.
After tinkering with my bike for two straight weeks, rolling on a new wheelset, new cassette, chain and brake pads, I thought to take it into the shop for a quick final brake bleed and derailleur hanger adjustment (my last ride before leaving I had crashed in a stupid way). The Day before leaving, The shop found that my bottom bracket was completely shot, all the bearings crunched beyond belief, slotting in and destroying the whole thing.
I was supposed to leave at noon that day, but as 3pm closed in, I still didn’t have my bike. I finally ended up walking in the shop to see what was going on, trying to hide some nervousness around the schedule, and the guys were scrambling around trying to find a new T47 bottom bracket locally, as we knew we’d have to change it or there was no riding to be had.
We ended up getting one from another shop across town, and I drove to congress just as rush hour was starting. I got it back to the far east side and got it all greased and installed.
By the time I was on the highway heading east, it was 5:30pm, right in the thick of rush hour heading out of town. It’d be dark when i set up camp. It took me five hours to go what would normally have taken three. I held on to work anxiety the entire time, feeling like I was completely behind, and like I’d forgotten something important I’d regret after the first 100 miles. Too late, though. All i have is now.
On our ride WhatsApp group, I’d seen that someone was already there camping, so I assumed people were trickling in slowly to the base camp. When I finally got to the Bullet Grill at 10pm, there wasn’t a human in sight. I unloaded stuff sacks and dry bags on the ground in the dark and completely reorganized my gear setup I’d gone through in my head 100 times the week prior.
To fit my handlebar roll and sleep kit, I needed to swap to wider bars. I worried about extending my reach and a more stretched out position (and therefore back pain) when I was already running a 110mm stem, but stuck to my plan considering all the other variables.
When I finally got the tape off my old bars, I realized there were two 4” cracks in the carbon on the underside of the bars. Thank God I forced myself to do this, i thought, relieved. I immediately had visions of my bars completely shattering on a 40mph descent and what might have happened to my face and body.
The mosquitoes were out in full force in the swampy East Texas forest, so I laid out my bivy and sweated through the night next to the car, wondering what in the world i was doing.
Around 4:30am, I woke up to a sprinkler head spraying all my gear I’d laid out. I scrambled and packed everything back into the car. As I was pulling away from my campsite, a man walked by with a flashlight and said, “Oh, I didn’t realize you were already here; we were just about to rope this area off.”
Still dark another few hours, I pulled across basecamp to the other side of the forest, reversing back to the edge of a creek bed. As I was reversing, my rear camera and taillights illuminated a tent and bike 10 feet behind me. Oh no, i’m already being annoying to other campers.
I laid out all my bags again, inflated my pad, and stretched out my bivy again to try to get some sleep, which I knew was basically not on the menu the next few days. I was getting demolished by mosquitoes already, and I had visions of riding the next few days with my arms and legs completely covered in bites.
When the sun started coming up, I heard the zipper of the tent next to me. Jacob emerged, standing 6’6” tall, disheveled, with the sharpest bib and sock tan lines I’d ever seen. His skin was dark brown from hours and hours in the sun on the bike. He was on a full suspension bike with 2.4” tires, and this wouldn’t be the last time I’d questioned my own bike setup that weekend. (Jacob would later place 8th overall).
it was also the first moment of the entire weekend, and one of many that would follow, where I just had to trust that I’d thought through every part of my plan for what worked best for me.
I’d imagined unloading my handlebar roll in the exact order in which everything fit. Quilt first, inflatable mattress next, and then the bivy free in the dry bag to fill space in the roll and the other end. This kept everything together in the most perfect way, and it was also the exact order in which I’d lay everything out to camp each night. Having never done this length of route in self-supported conditions (but having backpacked a lot in colorado and new mexico) i chose comfort of having more over a lighter bike, something I’d think about and oscillate regret the entire ride.
jacob and I spent the day together. Turns out he’s lived on his bike for the last 10 years after leaving the military, and after finishing one of the hardest off-road races in the country, DOOM in Arkansas, he rode his bike all the way to east texas from Hot Springs. I was shocked he had done all that and was planning on tacking on another 395 mile fast race.
Jacob’s worldview, formed from this unique minimalistic lifestyle, paired with the silence and serenity of the Davy Crockett National Forest, helped my own anxieties feel small and silly. Our conversations were a type of meditation that brought me back into my body, to the impermanence of everything, and to the simplicity and joy of focusing only on the present moment.
Over burgers, Jacob and I talked about his travels all over the world, hundreds of thousands of miles through countless countries. This race would be his last big ride before he flew back to Idaho, where his family lives. This was the final checkmark on an epic adventure for him, and I was honored to be the one who got to hear his reflections, and they taught me a lot about looking inward.
By night two, the Dodge ProMasters and Toyota Tacomas started pulling in, with beautiful adventure bikes on the rear racks. The campsite had a new energy and buzz, and I finally started getting excited.
For months before this though, I had been pretty burned out on the whole riding thing.
When I got sober a few years ago, I rediscovered riding, especially long distances, and bought into a mythology around it all that provided a strong balance to my workaholism that once accommodated my drinking, and my drinking that accommodated my workaholism. It was difficult to tell where the snake started eating its tail.
What started as a deep dive into commuting turned into a renewed interest in long distance touring. It was exactly the escape and reset I needed after turning 40, to focus on the right things, and to take care of my body and mind.
an experiment
Many people don’t know this, but I ran a little experiment in my 40th year to leave behind my workaholism and remember fully who I am outside of my work identity. I stopped hustling for work like I had for 15 years and focused on doing things with precision and care, without overwhelming myself with the sales side of it all. I wanted to see if I would get the same results and income by trying harder at the work and less at selling.
crazy enough — It worked! and that was a revelation. Cycling became central to my schedule, not as an obsession, but as a tool to dig for something deeper.
The less I worried about work, the opinions of others, and how to frame myself as marketable to advertising agencies, the less work consumed me. I have to admit that scared me a little, even though it also felt great. My priorities were re-shifting. I poured all my attention into my family and my home. I was exercising, experiencing nature every day, and on a screen 50% less than I had. I’d found a type of peace I hadn’t experienced in 15 years.
but after about a year, a kind of guilt started setting in when the newness of it all wore off. I wondered if I was doing enough, because All i had to compare it to was me doing too much. I still needed to provide for my family. I am good at what I do, and I do find fulfillment in it, but cycling was giving me this immediate sense of holistic health that felt a bit like enlightenment, and naturally tempered my “doing” nature.
I was no longer attached to the opinions of others (though doubt comes in waves), and my perfectionism around work was melting away. So while that was good, the mythology of the bike had replaced the mythology of being a film director. At the time, that was exactly what I needed, but I started to worry that my career might be slipping away in that exchange. It hadn’t - quite the opposite - but I only had my previous habits to compare it to.
The race
Mile 1
Point Blank, TX
We took off around 7am that next morning in a peloton of about 200 riders across three race categories. I’d chosen to do the longest ride (395mi, 17,000 feet of climbing), feeling prepared, and trying to tune out all the chatter around everyone else’s strategies.
I need to ride my own ride, at my own pace, my way, I kept having to tell myself.
The showdown riders all collected at the front of the peloton, and I couldn’t help but notice I was one of few with racks and a sleep kit, wondering what everyone else but me may have known, or what the heck type of race I was on. I had about 20 extra pounds on my bike that I might not have needed. Too late. I was there, in third position in the peloton, and soon enough we were being dragged across a 2 mile bridge in a neutral start.
When the truck peeled away, our pace immediately went from 10mph to 22mph. I had the nervous energy to keep me in the front group, and a solid carb-heavy nutrition plan I’d not missed a beat on.
Nutrition
6 Scoops tailwind
2 Honey Stinger gels
I put on “Day One” by Bon Iver, and honestly don’t remember much of the first 35 miles as everyone fought for position through sandy service roads, pushing 300-350 watts. I knew I needed to conserve my energy, but I also knew I could do 100 miles at a 250w average, but I had no idea what would happen after because I wasn’t used to doing more than that, so i contemplated total energy spend a bit at this point.
All I knew to do was to keep riding my race, and eating as much as possible. At about mile 50, my plan started to crystallize, and I left behind thoughts of being in the front group, especially after seeing two guys in team color skinsuits with only a top tube bag holding 300 watts. I’d told myself I wasn’t racing, but I’m extremely competitive by nature, so it was hard to not get caught up in it all.
I sunk into a comfortable spot in the top 10, but tried to conserve energy while the group was still together. But I knew after the first resupply point the race would break wide open and I’d likely be riding alone, which was honestly welcome after the hectic beginning.
Mile 55
Apple springs, tx
I stopped at Brookshire Brothers by 10am, and all the local ladies were standing outside to greet us with a smile and help us find snacks and water and offered to make us Subway sandwiches. They’d come to look forward to having all the riders there over the years, providing a tick of excitement to small town living.
I’d already run through my tailwind nutrition in all three bottles, and even though I hate them, I had two gels, which is exactly what my plan was. but, I started to get this creeping doubt that my bottles were going to be small for the whole ride, and that I’d have to stop more than I wanted to to keep them topped off. I also knew from my route planning that after the next resupply point, there was a remote 80 mile stretch with no water, so I needed to be strategic about how I paced my hydration.
I pushed aside projections of bonking, and by the time we got to the next stop, I drank a 32oz gatorade, Dr. Pepper can, had a Bon Apetit, Oatmeal Creme Pie, refilled my bottles and set my mind straight to go through the 80 mile off-road section where the real climbs began.
By this time we were fully exposed to the sun, as we hadn’t yet reached the huge pine trees of the deeper forest I knew were ahead. I looked down again at my small bottles and my handlebar bag and mourned the decision to carry all that extra weight.
This section was the worst part of the entire ride to that point. The race had completely broken apart, and a front group of 6 riders had taken off together, and the rest of us were alone on the route. I had gotten cut off by someone who yelled “there’s only one line” which confused me because she was in the front. Anyway, this is where my ride really began. I started dialing back my watts to conserve some energy and treat this as endurance. I again looked down at my bottles. By mile 60 of the 80 mile section I was completely out of water, but my only option at this point was to get to the next resupply completely dry.
I limped into our third resupply starting to question what was actually driving me to do this. I tried really hard to access some mythology about my purpose there. It was too early, though; I’d find it a bit later.
Nutrition
6 Scoops tailwind
2 Honey Stinger gels
Mile 75
ratcliff, tx
The next resupply oasis was a turn of the century general store with multiple generations of ladies working, excited to see me. At the store, I saw the first riders I had seen in 2 hours. Everyone else was covered in dirt and sweat and looking as messed up as I was. Something about that gave me a litle hope that I wasn’t actually in a worse spot than everyone else. I bought 6 bottled waters, two gatorades, a 20 oz Dr. Pepper, a BLT, and huge order of tater tots.
I sat with a few guys who I didn’t know at the time would be who I ended up pacing with the next 150 miles. For the first time, we all looked at the trackleaders and realized we were in 14, 15, and 16th place. I got a big boost of energy from this, and our conversations after being in isolation, and all the food and water I’d taken down. Each of us took off from the store at different times, and I was encouraged that there were stops every 40 miles for the rest of the route, until the next morning - just as planned.
Nutrition
6 Scoops tailwind
2 Honey Stinger gels
Mile 121
maydelle, tx
It was after this stop that I really settled into my real pace, and my goals started shifting. I stopped caring about the front, I stopped caring about my power, and started looking around a lot more. I entered the forest here and the beauty was stunning, and I was so thankful that it was 75º and dry. i sent out a prayer of gratitude.
I started to find a groove, and decided my real goal would be to keep my heart rate under 150, my speed at 15mph average through the rollers, and potentially finish the entire first 330mi loop in under 24 hours. I started toying with the idea of that being my ride, and not doing the additional 70 miles at the end after you roll through the finish. The whole ride was a succession of me choosing my own ride. The more I made these decisions for myself, the easier it was to tune out the strategies of others. I also reminded myself that this was such a huge feat, despite not being on the leader list.
Somehow, I maintained my position in the race a lot more easier when I stopped thinking about it, and started thinking very small and what was in front of me. MOre life lessons, apparently.
I’d started yo-yoing with a guy named Kyle, who seemed to have some sort of similar pace philosophy. I’d never met him, but I knew him through stories around town. He’d raced the Tour Divide, Doom, Stategcoach and other really aggressive long-distance mountain biking routes.
Unintentionally, we started alternating stops. I’d catch and pass him, then he’d catch and pass me. We kept ending up at the same resupply points and even though we weren’t riding together, it was a good litmus for how I was doing outside of my personal goals.
By the time we started emerging from the north forest around 120 miles, the sun was starting to get lower and the shadows longer, and the beauty of my surroundings and my small internal pacing goals started to make it all feel a little less overwhelming. And when I looked down at my computer and we were at mile 133, I felt like real progress was being made; the fact that we’d done a third of the race by 4pm was another dose of encouragement.
Nutrition
6 Scoops tailwind
2 Honey Stinger gels
Mile 140
jacksonville, tx
At mile 138 was a huge resupply point and milestone, at the top of Lake Livngston. The route took us off rough jeep paths onto beautiful rolling curvy roads by expensive lakehouses, and the descending sun had begun to cast golden beams of light across the road. I got a surge of energy just from the light and scene change, and finally Kyle and I were on the same exact pace, ripping through the descents and climbs with ease, the carrot of a Whataburger chocolate shake right in front of us.
Kyle knew these roads well — this was his third or fourth time doing it, I think. He’d just won the West Texas version of this race, and so while trusting myself and my fitness and efforts, I could also look to him for cues. We yo-yoed back and forth until Whataburger.
My original goal was to make it 150 miles the first day, and 150 miles the next day, but after Whataburger, the sun had lowered across the horizon and we were on remote paved roads at the top of the course. I could see that all the next sections started going south, which, although there was 230 or so miles left, I got a second wind, which could have just been the whataburger shake and fries.
Kyle had left a good bit before me, and I stayed behind to contemplate where I’d stop. I mourned the thought of unloading my handlebar roll with my sleep kit, and then I mourned the fact that I brought it at all, imagining how much lighter my bike would feel, and how much faster I’d go with the same effort. I had to stop thinking about it.
I’d planned to sleep behind an old church at mile 148 that first night, but as I got close, I found that all the walls were gone, and there was a huge construction crew there restoring it, so i couldn’t stealth it.
at this point, it had become my favorite part of the day: blue hour. I turned on my headlight and helmet light for the first time since the neutral rollout 12 hours earlier. The roads started winding and turned into fast descents. I was hitting 30-40mph on some, able to recover, and grateful I wasn’t climbing through sandy, remote stretches. The wind switched directions and I caught a tailwind. Through this section I was averaging 22mph, and I hadn’t been passed by another rider in hours.
I got to the bottom of a huge descent and found Kyle there changing the music on his phone. The sun had set, and we were reentering the national forest. At this point, it was pitch black, and the only light were the orbs coming from our headlights and helmet lights. Without planning on it, we kept going. Kyle seemed to be planning to go straight through, but I tried to focus on my original plan, which was to sleep around this point. But it was 8pm, and I’d recovered quite a bit from all the descending and gotten a surge of energy.
I noticed that our next resupply was only 10 miles away. I’ll sleep there, I thought, and Kyle will go on.
Nutrition
6 Scoops tailwind
2 Honey Stinger gels
Mile 186
palestine, tx
We came out of the national forest onto some of the smoothest pavement I’ve ever ridden. Looking around with my helmet light, I could tell the pine trees were towering 100 feet above me, and I imagined what it might look like during the day, slightly bummed I’d miss that, but somehow this was the first time I’d have the feeling I was still in my twenties on this whole ride.
At some point on this section, Kyle’s and my pace reconnected serendipitously. I was focused on getting to the resupply, where I’d eat and sleep on the grass. The humidity was pretty nonexistent and the bugs weren’t a problem, so I knew I could probably just sleep behind the restaurant without bivy, and potentially grab breakfast when they opened.
unfortunately, We’d missed 4J’s being open by an hour I think, though, some other riders from the front of the race had bought chicken wings and left them there for friends. I sent out a WhatsApp message to the group thanking them for the gift, and glad we didn’t eat the food they were saving for a rider that was after us.
Kyle rolled in a few minutes after me, and we had a bite, put our legs up. Another rider on the shorter race rolled in silently, looking destroyed, said nothing to us, and immediately fell asleep on a bench.
I was still thinking about sleeping, but Kyle said he’s gonna try to make it to Kim’s, the biggest and best resupply of the route after Whataburger. I was surprised I had the thought that I could probably make it the rest of the way there that night, but I knew it was open 24 hours and would be a much better stopping point. I’ll sleep outside the gas station, I thought. I looked down at my sleep kit and thought about unpacking it.
Nutrition
6 Scoops tailwind
2 Honey Stinger gels
Mile 198
elkhart, tx
I’ll remember this section the most. It had been dark for 3-4 hours at this point, and a cold front was rolling in. I put on all the layers I had, as I was starting to shake. The holes in my merino jersey had gotten bigger from pulling it down to cover my wrists, and I’d lost my gloves somewhere around mile 90. I thought about blisters on my palms, but quickly got rid of the thoughts because, whatever.
I had been eating well and hitting my calorie goals, but inevitably was in a deficit. After layering up and committing to get to the next checkpoint, a resupply Kyle promised was the Mecca of the route, I started pushing my biggest watts of the ride to warm my body up.
Kyle seemed to have a similar second wind, as we ripped back through the national forest at 35mph, the only illumination the rays of light from our handlebars and helmets. This was one of the most invigorating moments of my life, and all the thoughts of holding on to a mythology and “why I’m doing this” faded as I just pedaled and enjoyed being alive.
Kyle fell asleep on a bench and I once again thought about my sleep kit and if I should sleep behind the gas station. My headlight and computer were at 10%, so I plugged them into a wall by the booth. I thought about getting at least four hours of sleep like I planned, so I set my alarm for 5am, thinking I could get a lot of work done alone before the sun rose. Just before my eyes closed, I set my alarm for 3am, just to see how I felt at that point, knowing I could snooze it.
Despite planning to stop at 148 miles, we rolled into Kim’s at mile 195 that night at 11:30pm, where our friends Eric, Hannah, and Alex were waiting for us after watching our dots. All three of these people compete in and WIN thousand mile races across the world, but Eric and Hannah decided to just be part of the media team for this one, and they seemed happy about that. earlier, we’d ridden with Alex, a singlespeed mountain biker, but I hadn’t seen him since Whataburger, where we found out he’d gotten sick. He ended up scratching and cruised around in the car with Hannah and Eric.
Seeing them there was a huge lift, and the store was incredible compared to all the other small general stores. I had a protein shake, TGI Fridays Jalapeño cheddar chips, a Bon Apetit, Peanut butter M&Ms, nerd clusters and two coffees, and tons of candies and snacks for my frame bag for the next morning. I stashed a little debbie brownie for any moments of desperation coming up, cause i figured there’d be a few.
When my alarm went off, I realized I’d slept in my rigid shoes. I stood up to find other riders there, but Kyle was long gone. My knee could barely hold my body weight and I knew that was troubling, since I still had 200 miles to go. But, the goal was just to cover about 130 that day, since I’d done the extra mileage the day before. I can do that, I think; just take it easy and listen to my knee. I had brought an extra change of clothes in my kit and while I fully intended to change here and go into phase 2, I ended up just getting on the bike in the same sandy, sweat-stained clothes. I worried about introducing a new system and chafing in a new way, so I stuck with what I had on.
Nutrition
6 Scoops tailwind
2 Honey Stinger gels
Mile 217
grapeland, tx
By 3:30am, I was back out on open roads. I went by an old railroad track for what felt like an eternity (it was 45 minutes, but it was pitch black and i couldn’t see anything else around me), and came on the first gravel section, which meant I was getting back inside the national forest. About 1 mile into this section, all the gravel turned into a beach - sand 8 inches thick.
This is the exact point where I saw the tracks of bike tires stop and footsteps in the sand start. I knew my fate. I dimmed all my lights, and got off the bike, and hiked for what I think was about 2 miles. I’ll never forget how excited I was when I saw the footsteps stop and tire tracks start again. I hopped back on, and at this point, some serious chafing had set in, I assume from breaking my pedaling rhythm and walking awkwardly through uneven sand. My shoes were completely full of sand and had started to collect under my arch and toes and things were getting extremely achey.
During that 2 mile hike, I saw a red blinking taillight through the black that was keeping the same pace. I followed it to an unofficial resupply just off the route. When I got there, I met that other rider and we complained about the sand in frustration, and I noticed he was wearing sandals and I felt really bad for him.
I decided to grab two more 32oz gatorades, chugged half of one, and refilled my bottles with the rest. At the counter I picked up a cream cheese donut and it was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten.
Nutrition
6 Scoops tailwind
2 Honey Stinger gels
davy crockett national forest
Mile 235
I rode on another 50 miles without resupplying, riding again alone through the national forest. Fatigue started setting in, and I wondered if I’d ever see another rider. Then, there were 4. then 8. riders from another route had accumulated here as I assumed they camped in this area, and my pace was much faster than theirs so my morale was lifted. I looked at my cue sheet an realized I was only 5 miles from the next resupply point, so that excited me enough to pedal a little more. Maybe I’ll sleep there, I thought, knowing I wasn’t losing any positions and my pace was better than I thought.
I hadn’t seen Kyle in many hours at this point, and figured he was probably getting on into the top 10 again.
After the next resupply, the route starts going back east toward sunrise, and that timing was helpful, especially since that’s when I usually ride before work back in austin. I forced myself to think I was just on a normal mornig ride, despite the fact that I felt disgusting and the pain was starting to really accumulate in my knees. I lowered my saddle a centimeter, emptied the sand out of my shoes again, and finally made it to a stunning paved forest road. It seems every time I got to a section of pavement, it was perfectly timed. I knew that was where I could recover from the rocky and varied surfaces.
This was arguably one of the most beautiful moments of the ride. I was surrounded by trees that felt like they were 500 feet high, and i was feeling extra small, in the best way.
I was holding a pretty good pace and somehow still holding 200 Watts through, but my drivetrain sounded like an old freight train, and the clicking sound and feeling in my feet was about all I could think about even with music on.
Nutrition
6 Scoops tailwind
2 Honey Stinger gels
Mile 263
Pennington, tx
I had brought lube, but for some reason forgotten it in my car back at base camp, 200 or so miles away. I had brought one t-shirt in case I got tired of my kit layers, but it was still pretty chilly and windy out so i decided not to change. Plus, it looked like it was about to pour rain. So, without lube, I tried to clean my chain, cassette and jockey wheels of all the sand with the dry t-shirt. I also rewarded myself with the Little Debbie brownie I’d bought at Kim’s the night before. I was smart to buy this back then, I thought.
Just as I’d gotten everything cleaned up, a car pulls up. People are laughing and shouting, and there’s a camera pointing at me from the passenger seat. It’s Eric, Hannah, Kyle and Alex. Kyle was done. He’d stopped somewhere I’d passed but I didn’t see him. They all seemed in good spirits and glad to not dealing with whatever I was. We chatted for a bit, and that’s exactly what I needed at the time to get going. Alex let me drip a bit of lube on my chain and my drivetrain was healed. After 60 miles with a crusty, sandy drivetrain, my bike felt like new.
I knew I only had 35 miles to the next checkpoint, and seeing these folks and having a smooth bike was what I needed to push through. Maybe I’ll take a nap there, I thought. I could still get the 330 miles done in under 24 hours even with a 2 hour nap. We’ll see.
The paved roads turned back into some of the most chunky, rocky gravel roads of the entire course. Thinking I’d done all my sandy hiking for the entire route, I got off my bike again and hiked another mile in disbelief. The chafing had really started here, and I contemplated changing clothes, but still wasn’t sure if that would be better or worse than staying in the same clothes, so I just stuck with what was working.
I rode another 25 miles solo, passing multiple riders from the next race category, trying to hold on to feelings of positivity that gave me.
Nutrition
6 Scoops tailwind
2 Honey Stinger gels
Mile 278
Lovelady, tx
The next stop was in a small town, and after being isolated in pain so long the sight of other people doing normal-life-things gave me a bit of hope and perspective. I’d long forgotten about worrying about my career, about competing in the race, and just focusing on how impressive this effort was for me personally.
At this point the mileage I’d done in 18 hours was way more than double any ride I’ve ever done at this point. That gave me sort of a superhuman surge of energy, even though my body was starting to be in shambles and my knee pain was pulsing up my leg into my lower back. My left shoulder was also cramping from riding on the hoods for so long. I feel like here I switched hand positions into the drops and flats and hoods every thirty seconds just to keep going.
I loaded up on two more 32oz gatorades, and found a new Bon Appetit flavor (lemon and cream cheese) I’d never had. It was heavenly. I’d been doing a bad job topping off on sodium and knew this was a missing component, hoping it would help things feel a bit more normal in my body
While laying on the concrete, a couple chipper guys from the shortest route pulled up on hardtails and I mourned not sitting in an upright position with a suspension fork with a 52T cassette. I was surprised to hear they were almost done. I hadn’t looked at the route in quite a while, so that the distance wouldn’t overwhelm me and I could focus on each pedal stroke and just keep moving. But when they said that, I looked down and realized I was at mile 275 and it was only 11:45am. I could hardly believe it. If I could just get to the next two resupplies — 25 miles apart each — I could finish my race.
Nutrition
6 Scoops tailwind
2 Honey Stinger gels
Mile 306
trinity, tx
As I got closer to the end, my goals got smaller and smaller. one pedal stroke at a time. After that resupply, the route took me on the last gravel section of the route. If I could just get through that, the rest is rolling pavement through the forest, to the end, i thought. Chafing and knee pain were so extreme at this point, but somehow all the extra carbs and sodium helped me keep going, and I knew I didn’t need to worry about conserving hydration since there was a big town coming up. I could feel civilization returning around me as I emerged from the forest and knew I was almost done.
I passed a number of riders from the shorter courses, and the thought that I had done 120 miles more than these people but we were at the same point carried me a little further.
The last 30 miles were the hardest. my body was dying. The guy who had held 2nd place the entire race scratched here earlier that morning, and now I understood why. I’ve never felt my knees hurt as much, and I started pushing the pedals quite a bit with only my left leg. I looked down at my computer and I was putting out my lowest power of the entire ride — 70-80 Watts. the silver lining was I could keep my HR at 130 or so, so physical panic was reduced. I just had to endure the pain. I remembered that this final part of the route was generally a descent into point blank, so I was amped that I could maybe just freewheel limp to the end.
I was wrong, though. I was just zoomed out on the elevation profile and didn’t see all the small climbs accumulating. Although the grades weren’t crazy, this section with my horrible knee pain and chafing were some of the longest sustained uphills of the whole route. They weren’t difficult, but there was just no way to maintain speed without pedaling.
Honestly, this section feels like a total blackout I was in so much pain. At least it’s on pavement, I thought.
Nutrition
6 Scoops tailwind
2 Honey Stinger gels
Mile 322
oakhurst, tx
When I got to the final 5 miles, the gravel started again. roads were rough and rocky, and the gradients alternating. I had to keep pedaling, but being on a rigid fork, I was feeling every single bump and rut and pothole and I could honestly not imagine sitting on my seat another 5 miles.
My knee had completely stopped working at this point, and I was really just trying to push with my left leg only. The downside to this is that my left knee took on all my body weight and started to feel like my right leg, so the extreme pain was in both legs. I zoomed in and out on my map over and over to see what would help the last 3 miles not feel like an eternity, but that never worked. So I just switched my computer to the clock and stared at my stem, trying to keep the bike moving.
To my surprise, it was 3:15pm. I had ridden 325 miles in 21.5 hours. I’d hit my goal, and would by two hours. This alone gave me what I needed to get to the last two miles. Just before the finish was one last climb and I felt like shouting out loud but kept focused. When I got the final paved road, I heard screaming from a megaphone and bells ringing. I couldn’t believe it — I’d made it:
Nutrition
6 Scoops tailwind
2 Honey Stinger gels
FINISH
point blank, tx
329.3 Miles | 14,319ft
21:57 Hours Moving
32:56 Hours Total
15MPH AVERAGE PACE
81RPM Average cadence
179W NORMALIZED POWER
13,507 calories burned
11,000 calories consumed
2 gloves lost
Not sure I remember much from the next four hours, and while I know some of the people I spent the most time with have done thousand mile rides in much tougher conditions, I couldn’t be more proud of myself for finishing MY ride.
Not sure there will be a next time, but this milestone is so important to me as I enter one more year of sobriety, which is the true mythology that made all this possible.
Nutrition
6 Scoops tailwind
2 Honey Stinger gels