Diablo Junction, the Hurl Ride - 20 miles

The idea behind the Hurl Ride is that we estimate our best time to the Junction and stagger our starts so hopefully we'll all finish at the same time. Nicole's goal was the longest so she started first but Adam, JB, and I had almost a half an hour to kill before starting so we rode part way up and then turned around. I was aiming for a 38 minute ride (haven't been anywhere near PB times this year) and that meant I didn't start until 6:15 or so. JB started 2 minutes after me (today is his 50th! birthday so he was hoping to prove something),and Adam was going for a 30 minute attempt (his all-time PB is 32).

The heat was definitely a factor although it wasn't killer - probably in the low 90's F. I started off fast but holding some back. The last few Hurl Rides JB has passed me way below the finish because he sandbagged his estimated time. This ride though I kept looking back and didn't see him until much farther up. At the top of the Upper Washout -I was at 18m30s and usually that's about half the total time so I was on track for a 37 minute ride… maybe I was sandbagging my estimate this year? Nah, I was starting to struggle and my heart rate was in the mid 170's the whole time. I could see JB now but I still had a good distance on him and I stood a good chance of keeping it.

Near the Upper Ranch I heard sirens and then I saw a ranger pick-up coming down. The ranger stopped a couple times to talk to riders who had pulled over and it looked as though he was asking them if they were OK as if he was looking for an injured rider. When he came by me I pulled all the way over but didn't dismount so he didn't stop. I heard later that someone had crashed on the descent and maybe broken a collar bone but no one was really sure.

That mile from the Upper Washout to the Lower Ranch wasn't as fast as I needed to go - the heat was getting to me and my legs were feeling kind of dead. I passed Nicole in this section and she said she had stopped a couple times to rest and I told her JB was right behind me. With 2 miles to go I was about 30 seconds behind my goal. Then the mile from there to Big Shady Oak was even worse and with 1 mile to go I was about 90 seconds behind. JB passed me between there and Chainbuster so I lost my motivation as well as more time and I finished in 39m43s. JB was about 45 seconds in front of me which meant he was a minute slower than his goal. Adam came in at 35 minutes, Amanda did a PB with 63, and Nicole didn't finish at all.

It was good to do a ride where we were all going hard, but it was kind of disappointing too.

At the Junction I could really feel that the hard effort in the heat had taken a toll - it took me longer to recover and get ready to go down and I felt a little dehydrated even though I did everything right in the fluid-replacement category.