Thought I'd throw in my thoughts as well. I completely agree with Clif, some of those hills were absolutely lethal. I was honestly starting to get irritated with the whole ride after about 2 hours, lol. Just endless, endless steep hills with little to no rest in between. It was definitely the hardest ride I've ever done. I didnt return for day 2, had to work. But I wouldnt have done it even if I'd had the day off, I was just too tired after day one. And Clif actually rode up from Eugene a couple days earlier for this ride, which is quite a ride on it's own, so I was definitely impressed with his abilities.

If Clif does the ride again next year I may just join him again though, believe it or not, lol. One thing I'd highly recommend for this ride btw, is low gearing. Neither of us was very well set up for steep hill climbing on our sport/race bikes. So if anyone here plans to do it, ride something with a granny gear.