Lotoja 2009 was quite the ride. I have waited a week to post so all the emotions could settle. After being up for about 24 hours, 12 of it on a bike and the rest in a car driving home the same day I had had enough. This year we had probably one of our fastest ride times, yet slowest race times. I think it was the STACHE curse that caused all the break downs and problems. You don't see DZ riding with a stache now. He will not be riding the world championships with a hairy lip. Besides I used his DZ Nuts and thought my vitals were being burned off. To hot for me. This was a very stressful ride as we started in the dark with make shift lights and many inexperienced riders and fast speeds, not a great combo. We had been in for about 30 minutes and four guys in front of us hit wheels and went down hard. I dodged between a shattered bike (Carbon wheels broken 90 degrees) and a face planted and sliding rider. That was the ugliest crash I have seen. Then about 15 minutes later on a 90 degree turn the guy right in front of us takes the corner to fast and goes down hard as he slides across the road. It is still to dark to see if the group is together and you don't darn look around for fear of crashing. Finally it got light enough to pull out and look around and Brady and I saw no one, so we soft pedaled and it took awhile to get everyone back together. We had a great climb out of Preston and all stayed together and enjoyed to view and chatting. Russ broke a spoke at the top and tried to ride down but broke another so we called Betty to drive back to us and change wheels. She was alone and not sure where she was, but finally decided she could follow the riders to us. It took at least an hour and then we got on our way. The king of the mountain went well but as we headed down following the tandem, Brady and I were right behind Adam and Mindy and doing about 50 miles an hour as a SUV was trying to go past a rider going slow and we were flying. The tandem doesn't brake very well and Adam could only go to the riders right and hope for the best. Brady and I had to follow, but as we get just past the rider Brady hits a gust of wind and his Carbones start to wobble and I thought he was going down, but he rode it out and we dodged another bullet. The ride from Afton to Alpine was a free for all! Riders everywhere. Trying to pass slower riders with the rumble strips and trying to stay out of the head wind it was quite the section. The tandem was to long to go in and out of the rumble breaks so Adam and Mindy had some pretty bumpy section. The ride up out of Alpine along the river was beautiful and fun to see our support groups along this section. We finally made it to the finish with all of us having different feelings about the ride. It was by far the best ride I have had and I felt strong to the end. Retirement does have its advantages. Who knows about next year! Kim had some issues later so there will be some definite changes. For all the cost, preparation, travel and energy one would have to wonder why anyone would do it. But after six years for me and seven for some of the group it is still something I think about all year, for good and bad. I am glad I have ridden it. Ride Safe
Doug
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