Nothing like a short ride at Warda and Rocky Hill ranch to start the new year. On January 2nd, 2010, S&S Trails sponsored another installment of the Excruciation Exam. Against my better judgment, I signed up again. The full course is 87 miles. My goal, finish the whole thing.
I got to Warda a bit under dressed for the race. It was about 30 degrees when I got to Warda. Luckily it was about 38 by the time we started. One thing was sure, by the time I finished the lap at Warda, I was making better time than the year before. I started the road portion with a small group. I was able to keep up with the group for a while, but eventually it turned into a solo ride to Rocky Hill Rance. I got to Rocky Hill and refilled the water and took in some snacks. I had about 3 hours to finish the long lap a RHR. With my last race out there, that should be doable. As the day wore on, I was poised to almost make it. I started getting tired with about 5 miles to go at RHR and noticed that I was going to be close on time. As the miles ticked off, I noticed the time was getting closer and closer to the cut of. In the end, I missed the cutoff again this year, but the good news is that they moved the cutoff up by 1 hour over the previous year I did this race.
Over all I was about 45 minutes faster for the same distance, but this year it counted as a DNF. I think I will wait until I am a bit faster before trying this race again.
