Huh? What? Trying to slip something by me? This is a good ride. I'd do it again if not for that altitude problem I have. When doing it in 2005 I found out for the first time that I am crap above 6000 feet. Sucks. Of course by the time I got back to the finish I was fine.

Mentally speaking, I am burned out on rides longer than 100 miles. Just don't want to do them right now. That will change. Memories fade.

The big mental challenge came for PBP in 2007. At the start line, 9:00 pm on the Monday evening, I thought about how I had to do 7.5 centuries (ok, 7.7) without the clock stopping, and that I'd be on the move (or sleeping or eating) until Friday afternoon. Couldn't wrap my brain around it, which is probably a good thing.

On my first double, the 2003 L.A. Wheelmen Grand Tour, as the dawn was breaking a guy I was riding with (we were all double century newbies) suggested that we turn our lights off right away to save battery power for the evening. That was when it dawned on, ok came crashing down on me, that we were still going to be out riding when the sun went down. At the end of the double I said the same thing as when I finished my first century: "Wow, I'll never do that again." What a dumb thing to say.

At the 2005 Fall Death Valley Double (I said it was a dumb thing to say) I was talking to a newbie the evening before the ride. I mentioned how I was going to carry my lights instead of using a drop bag. His response? "We need lights?" Why yes, unless you are going to finish in 11 hours, beating everybody else (11 was the course record for the northern route, and is when dusk hits). It just didn't occur to him that he'd be out riding when the sun went down. Never saw him again.