Yesterday I finished one of the hardest races of my life! It was called the Las Vegas Gran Fondo it consisted of 8000 feet of climbing and nearly 100 miles of pure unadulterated pain and suffering. My Dad signed me up for it about 2 months ago because he was somehow talking into it by Tanner (one of the guys that we ride with here in Vegas). We got to the start line just before 7am and started to prepare ourselves more mentally that physically for what was in store for us. The first part of the ride went through red rock, then we had to climb Mt. Potosi (which is often refered to as the last great giant of souther spring mountains of Southern Nevada) then climb Lovell Canyon. Once we reached the summit of the canyon which consisted of 22 mile of pave and had 2 dirt sections we had to turn around and then re-climb the back side of Mt. Potosi then ride through blue diamond and then back into the valley. I rode extremely well and was able to get into a break of 3 guys at the base of Mt. Potosi we worked together the entire race and were able to put about 6 minutes into the chase group when we reached the turn around point which was Lovell canyon. I was the first rider to reach the summit and when I got there the guys at the aid station said "what are you doing here so early?". It was kind of funny because they were completely unprepared and didn't have anything set up for us. The ride back down Lovell canyon was some of the roughest most shaky road I have ever experienced in my life and Im from Idaho where we take our bike on dirt fire roads. The roads were so bad that my water bottle cage fell off my bike! After suffering the heinous winds of the backside of the last great giant we started the long decent back into town. With about 8 miles to go I realized that the chances of me putting up a sub 5.5 hour ride were very likely however, in order to achieve that goal I knew I was going to have to drop the hammer. I conversed with the 2 other guys that were in the break with me and we decided that we were going to give it our all even though one of the guys wasn't looking to hot. After my first pull one of the guys fell off the back and then there were only two. We raced through the city at top speed throwing caution to the wind. I finished first with a time of 5:23:30. Not only did I win the race but I was able to set a new course record.Here are a few pictures from my race along with my gamin info.
Enjoy
53:11
Props to Tanner and my old man for putting up great times!
