Out

150 miles clocked in and a broken saddle caused me some massive chaffage problems. I tried chamois lube and some lotion, along with my fleece sweater on top of the saddle. Even rested for 3 hours with gunk on the sore areas, no luck.

Race started off pretty calm, a few of us were up in the front, switching off who was pulling. Blair and Troy pulled over for some water as Scott and I pulled ahead and chatted a bit only to be later joined by Mike.

Scott, Mike and I continued yo-yoing at a pretty reasonable pace for the next 15 miles, until Mike flatted before the paved road into Patagonia. I got to Patagonia in front of Scott and Mike about 2pm, exchanged a few words to both of them at the market before setting off solo. I never saw anybody else after Patagonia.

Toward the end of Salero Ranch, my saddle broke, although after about 10 minutes, I managed to fanaggle it to stay on. The high for yesterday was in the high 80s, although with enough water I didn't feel very overwhelmed by the heat. I stopped at the Smithsonian for some water and a quick bath before descending Elephant Head and managed to sneak out most of the Madera Canyon section before getting filtering water at the stream in Madera Canyon (water faucet is still broken). Box Canyon was a little windy at times, although it was nice to have some dirt road riding. More gates on the AZT turnoff, but some sweet singletrack riding. I love riding at night, especially on the day before a full moon. It is always eerie to ride into camping areas so late, camp fires are dwindling, everyone is asleep. These are the times that I think it is time to go to bed, then I realize that I did not bring my sleeping bag or pad to force myself to keep riding. Although, there were times when I had wished I brought a sleeping bag even went so far as to doubt my decision to another multi-day race. Bad thoughts seem to creep in when your mind starts wandering after 18 hours in the saddle. No Ipod yet since I was saving it til the section after Tiger Mine Rd.

I kept rolling into the night, but the saddle became a huge issue and started rubbing me the wrong way. I had an emergency stash of lube (frankly, I have never used the stuff although I carry it around jic). No luck. I got to La Seville Picnic area just before the sun starting coming up on the horizon, aout 530ish. Time was flying by quickly. The road ride to Basha's was hard and painful since the chaffing was becoming ever apparent, although I arrived just as planned, 730 a.m. 135 miles of hard mountain biking in less than 24 hours.... I was content and ready to ride some more, although my saddle and shorts needed some more attention.

I thought some lotion might do the trick. Only made it worse. I rested at the bench on the side of Basha's for 3 hours thinking that might help. It didn't. I pressed on into Reddington after one amazing pep talk from Max. Road riding was hard, riding the dirt road up Reddington was damn near impossible. Time to face the inevitable. Thoughts of the secluded sections after Tiger Mine Rd would be hard enough to ride tired let alone in the shape I was. I turned around and came back down off Redidngton to the Circle K. Coffee and pull out time.

Chris is back home. Jefe is recovering. The rest of the crew, as far as I know, is still out on the AZT.

Next project... changing my bike setup drastically. About a year ago, I had to decide between a road or a mountain bike. A chose an expensive road bike over a descent mountain bike. Big mistake. Frankly, the mountain bikes that I currently own are not meant to be ridden for 24+ hours at a time. The Tucson Bike Swap is tomorrow.