slightly stoopid 50

State college riding is burley! Almost 50 miles of it, mostly singletrack, is dashingly strenuous. The good old 4-H camp was the hostess with the mostess once again for some epic riding/racing in the Penn Roosevelt/Rothrock Forests. The usual suspects were out in full force to lay it down on some of the most technical, shall I say rocky, terrain there was to offer. The mood was set on Saturday night, which it was almost too hard to stop drinking beer in order to rest up for the next days adventure. I guess that is part of the mistique of the 4-H camp. Needless to say, the race was going to be fun. Figuring on some aide stations, I rolled out with two bottles on the horse and one in the pocket. Quickly, on the first downhill, I realized why I should have put new bottle cages on my bike. After spending some time in the woods looking for the magical elixir, I got on my way. Perhaps another downhill or two could solidify the stronghold or lack there of, of my bottle cages. I pressed on moving through the woods on familiar trail and just staying hydrated the best I could bewteen water stops. After the second water station, on the third half of the race, I started to amp it up a little. Rolling through the final section of singletrack I was relieved to give my plush rigid fork a break from smoothing out the bumps all day, and was on my way to the coldest warm beer I was imagining for most of the ride. Rolling through the finish I had a time of 5hrs 9min. My traveling mate, Amy, rolled in with 6hrs 40min. Pretty sweet indeed! On terrain like that, anybody who stuck it out to the end is a true victor! Props go out to the jackass that didn't race and led his girlfriend in after she spent 9hrs out in the woods. He looked fresher than a peach!