I know, I know! I only made it to Crystal Lake before I turned back. I left the base of GMR without a plan and only had 240 calories (in the form of Accelerade) with me. It was a last minute decision to hit Crystal Lake and I figured I'd be okay since I hadn't touched my bottles by the time I passed Camp Williams. Not smart...I started feeling the calorie deficit right away, but then tried to conserve my bottles so I would last on the climb.

There were two snow plows at the bottom gate and after I lifted my bike over the gate, the Cal Trans guy says "there's a sign right there that says no pedestrians, bicycles, etc." I said I knew and would assume all the risks. He was just doing his job and warned me that I'm on my own out there, but he said he understood why I'd want to be out there so "have fun!" They were doing construction on the bridge before the second gate and then I passed another Cal Trans guy near The Narrows.

When I hit the 5000 ft sign the Cal Trans guy stopped to ask me how far I was going and suggested turning around soon because there was going to be heavy equipment coming down the mountain soon. He was really sweet, he told me he had already warned the guys at Crystal Lake that I was up there riding and that they needed to watch out for me. We ended up talking for about 20 minutes, the weather was turning though, and I was freezing so I finished the last little bit and headed down. He is the manager of that area and is really cool. He was telling me about all of the projects they are working on and the political pressure to re-open 39. There's still a lot of work to be done though...there's a $44 million rock net going up in The Narrows IF they can find a place to anchor it. The road is also washing out there so that needs to be repaired first too, but the plan is to open it up to Crystal Lake at some point.

Yes, I'm talking about Colleen! She and Chris are great...according to facebook she's already hitting Oak Glen. Beyotch!

Everyone says she's a sweetheart, though. Sarah rode with her for a few miles at the Bear last year until Coleen took off. Sarah built a 20+ minute lead on her friends until she got stopped by a car crash.
Coleen finished just behind Keith at BA!

On 39, the 5000 foot sign.

Absolutely, she is!

Good girl.

Thank you, my two pb&j sandwiches hit the spot.

Yes she did. She always gets up and makes me something to eat or at a minimum coffee on my early morning commutes or training sessions even for my 2am roll times.

Yes she is... unless she wants to be a bad girl.

Seriously, I wouldn't be able to train for my Ultras if it wasn't for Brandy's support. Of course the fact that she rides Ultras as well helps her understand the necessity for the long hours on the road.

^^ My wife does the coffee; I take care of the dogs (of which we have 6 temporarily-- friends out of town for a funeral). It's a whole team effort in the mornings, haha!

I got nuthin'...

Yeah that was 2007 when I was training for Furnace Creek 508 Fixed Gear. I would roll at 2am on Wednesday from Huntington Beach-- get to Rancho Santa Fe (San Diego) for a client at 6:30am then get to work by 830 am. I'd already done a century before starting my 8 hour work day. By Thursday night's commute I was a zombie.

I can only imagine. What time did you have to go to bed?

I would commute home from work (65 miles) and get to bed as soon as I showered and ate FOOD! Usually by 830-900pm. Brandy would use "the stick" on me as I fell asleep. It was really tough (165 miles fixed) but it was only Wednesdays. I still can't believe I used to do that. I haven't done more than 25 miles on the FG since the 508. (Oct '07)