MoCo Epic 2015

I've ridden the MoCo Epic twice before, in 2013 and 2014.  There were some differences in this ride as opposed to the prior two.  Let's start with the obvious, I don't think I've ever been thrown down as hard as I was yesterday.  25 miles in the ride I approached the bottom of a descent and had to make a sharp left turn to ascend.  I don't think I even saw the little sapling of a tree with really mean intentions.  That sapling hooked my left handlebar end and turned my wheel left .. and yea, I kept going straight.  Right arm extended I was body slammed down on the packed rock surface.  OMG, it took a few seconds to figure out what happened.  Fortunately no one was around to see the charade.

70.11 miles in 7 hours and 45 minutes.  Pretty good days ride.  I'm legitimately sore today from not only from that smash-down but the 70 miles of banging over roots.  It's the equivalent of operating a jack-hammer.  In hindsight, it would help to train on mountain bike trails for a mountain bike ride.

I'm pretty happy with the effort.  In 2014 I was so tired I bailed and only rode 50 miles.  And surprisingly, I rode a little bit faster this year than in 2013 ... go figure.  There is nothing about these events that makes me think I'm getting faster with age.

Start of Ride

Ride started at the crack of 7AM.  It was a gorgeous day with a hint of a brisk fall in the air.  The first few miles were a little chilly on the fingers, but as the sun came out it turned into really nice day.  I think I started near the start of the pack.  I didn't finish at the end of the pack, so all is well.

Sunrise (which I normally don't see)

I was a bit nervous about this ride because I knew how hard 70 mountain biking miles can be.  I've been training this summer for the Reston Olympic Tri so hopefully that would help out on this ride.  As the miles passed I didn't have any issues, except that mile 25 debacle.

Pickles and pickle juice, ew!

About mile 40 my phone pocket-dialed someone.  So I had a quick call with Michelle.  I think she panicked a little bit because she answered and I wasn't saying anything.  I was struggling to get the phone out of my pocket.  She's probably picturing me at the bottom of a ravine, making my final dial.

One of several creek crossings

The dude in the picture above didn't have any issue crossing the stream.  However, the guy behind him started yelling expletives as I was riding away.  I chuckled, because it was pretty slippery at the end of that crossing.  I'm sure he took a small bath.

Here are a few videos taken along the way.

Garmin Statistics (click me)