Yeah, I survived... I dropped at mile 276 in the fierce headwinds. Reportedly, gusts were up to 70mph. Just not fun to ride a bike in that! But I learned some valuable lessons... Next time the wind does that, I'll wait it out for a few hours if I have to. It's not worth killing all that energy if the wind is going to die down soon.
I did the first 200 in 11:40. For miles 100-200, my time was 5:10. So the tailwinds were nice from the start. I had two flats in there as well, so those times would have been at least 10 minutes faster without those! And I had some derailleur issues that were solved by the neutral support mechanics in the first 20 miles of the race. That cost me 10 minutes as well. The 23 miles from Furnace Creek to where I dropped took 6 hours. It was just brutal! Oh well, I'll be back next year!
For now, I've got one one more double this year. This weekend in Clovis. That's going to be fun!
