First DFL of the year!

This is me at the finish of Single Speed Arizona, a 45 mile hell-ride near Tucson, Arizona last Saturday. There was a 6 mile neutral roll-out to the "start" and then a 12 mile gravel road climb up Reddington Pass, before turning onto a 7 mile single track loop, then another 1.5 mile gravel climb and a left turn onto the second loop. Lots of technical, rocky singletrack, before descending Milagrosa Canyon, with such features as "Tequila Tree," "The Gauntlet," The Slide," and "Triple Trouble." Swervy, Moffit, Krazy Dave, and I rode together for the last section.
Larger than Jim Backus...

We all bonked, in staggered (staggering?) formation. I bonked last, and hardest. This occurred shortly after realizing we had missed a turn and so we back-tracked about 3 miles to the large arrow dug in the sand by another unfortunate rider. The descent was a rocky, ledgey, cactus-strewn technical challenge. I had zero energy and walked a great portion of this section. I'm not ashamed. It was fucking mental. The four of us rolled in around 5:30 pm, a full 8.5 hours on the bikes. With a lot of pushing. The winner, Fuzzy Neckbeard, did it in about 3.5 hours. Go figure. I know for a fact that he didn't stay up until roughly 4 a.m. the night before, drinking tequila and a few cases of New Belgium products. But Jake Kirkpatrick did, and he finished second, 10 minutes behind Fuzzy. Thanks to Deejay Birch, Jake, Fuzzy, Steph & Ryan in Tempe, Peter/Rage Cycles, and all the locals who showed us a good ole time.

Deejay, getting hammered the night before the race. Nick is possessed in the background.