Prerode part of the course today (ouch)

I prerode the first 35 miles of the course today, from town up past Turquoise Lake, over Sugarloaf Pass, and back into town via "the Boulevard."

Of course, Turquoise Lake was beautiful first thing in the morning. Here are a couple of scenic overlooks:




On my way back down from Sugarloaf Pass, I came across this runner. There are lots of ultramarathoners up here for the LT100 run, which is August 19th. If you think what I'm attempting is crazy... try running the course. Blows my mind.


Strangely, I only encountered 2 runners and 2 mountain bikers on the course this morning. Is preriding not cool? My guess is it's just too hard to recover from a strenuous preride. I'll admit, when I got back to the house I was pretty toasted. Let the self-doubt and -loathing begin! Good thing I have two full days to recover.

This was kind of a sweet spot to stop for lunch on my way back into town. I used that rock as a table to spread my picnic out on:


The descent from here was a blast. Full-suspension bikes with slicks and hydraulic brakes rock for two-mile curvy paved downhills! I was able to catch and pass 4 road bike riders who'd blown by me going up.

Then, I checked out "The Boulevard." Instead of taking the nice paved road back into town that you take on the way out, the course diverts you here for one last, 3.5 mile, bitch of a climb. To make things worse, the first part of the climb is covered with huge, loose rocks:

(note: This pic doesn't really do the rocks justice. The ones that look like pebbles are actually fist-sized. The ones that look fist-sized are much bigger. And none of them are packed into the dirt... they're looser than the Hilton sisters.)