Puzzler Pics

[LCdaveH]

A beautiful, sunny day with a modest breeze and lots of rocks.




The leader - I need to work on my focus skillz









Rigid bay-bee



















































They'll be comin' o'er the mountain when they come







Air support



4 hours and 25 minutes - first one in












29 rolled out at 9am - 17 went the distance.
(That's time of day posted up - not ride time)

Mark your calendar for next year!

[supramk388]

Nice pics How many miles was that?

EDIT:

Originally Posted by LCdaveH

The finishers did 44 miles - 6,900 feet of climbing.

THX

[LCdaveH]

Originally Posted by supramk388

Nice pics How many miles was that?

The finishers did 44 miles - 6,900 feet of climbing

.

[Mtn. Biker123]

Originally Posted by LCdaveH

The finishers did 44 miles - 6,900 feet of climbing

.

Impressive!

[Rotmilky]

Originally Posted by LCdaveH

The finishers did 44 miles - 6,900 feet of climbing

.

Wow...nice weather for that. I saw shorts, short sleeved shirts and even a few argyle socks.

[tribebabe]

It was an awesome event and everyone that did it seemed pleased and stoked just to survive. Many people rode beyond what they believed they were capable of doing and were rewarded with killer chili and potatoes at the finish.

A race report will be posted later today. Times shown in the picture were the time of day finished. Race started at 9am. (If I had known my husband was that close I would have killed myself to catch him!)

Our only regret is that we had to mark part of the course with ground paint. This was only done because a "sour grapes" kind of person pulled up a lot of signs in the NorthEast section. We will be restoring the trail back to it's normal state this week!

Thanks to all who came out!

[fastmtnbiker33w]

Here's a small race report:

http://fastmtnbiker33w.wordpress.com...u-were-warned/

Very few complaints. Most people who complained basically accused me and Jen of being kind of twisted...possibly mentally ill....but in language unfit for MTBR.

Props to the only 2 women finishers Jen and Susanna. Jen rode like the SS National Champ that she is. Also props to Mark and Pablo for cranking out the entire course on the rigid fork. No thank you. I ran the WW 2.55's, the moxey, and even a fat set of Ourays....in blue!

[ep-henry]

Now that was a tough ride! Thank you all so much to those who put this race together and to all the sponsors--hats off to you. I was also very impressed with the support we had from the park rangers. The ranger at the peak of Mundy's gave me a good laugh when he said some guy hauled ass up and over the mountain in about 5th place "on a green bicycle with no gears, no shock, and that looked like it might have been his grandfather's bicycle". Singlespeeders...
Descending Mundy's was an eye-opener with both Adrian and myself flying over the handlebars in that very rocky section. This was after Adrian warned me that he had done the same thing about a week before and to be careful!
It was very tempting to throw in the towel and not complete the last 10 mile loop after rolling through the start/finish, but Erich, Adrian and myself decided to give it a go. It was pretty stokin' to finish the race. Great chili, by the way--nothing more lovely than some hot spicy chili on my chapped windburned lips!

Henry

[yogiprophet]

Hey, thanks for the pics DH.

I might have won, but not without a price. I'm limping around today from endoing on the rocks comin' down Mundy's. Those guys with their 29ers seemed to roll down it nicely. I needed to be going faster to roll over them better, but it is soo scary I know how you feel Henry.
Got a big bump on my thigh and the last 10 miles was not as much fun as I was hoping because of it. I usually look forward to that last 400' climb, but not this time.

Anyway, it was a buttload of fun and thanks again to all how put on this great event.

Looking forward to next year. Did I hear you correctly Dave, you said you guys are gonna make it harder next year. Good Luck...

[C Cow]

Thanks to all for putting on a great event! I'm looking forward to next year. The route was great, with all the rough stuff, and that climb up Mundy. Well, I'll say that I've pushed my bike up many climbs, and Mundy just didn't look like a pusher on the approach, but either the incline was deceiving or I was a little used up by then.
Great support crew for the entire course, and the finish line amenities were excellent!

Add another 50 miles to it next year and put in the NMES. The group could double. Maybe we could run the first lap in reverse after completing the Coyote loop. I guess the park hours govern start and finish time requirements, so that would drive the distance/timing.

Great job to all who started the race, it takes a big dose of confidence just to pull up to the starting line for an event of this length. Congrats to all finishers, some of you need to slow down.

Maybe next year, I'll get some sleep the night before.

We had a great ride at the Horney Toad course Sunday. The entire weekend in the tropics was great! Got my sunburnt body up to snow this morning, danged groundhog!

C Cow

[Eddick]

Awesome race, I'm glad I came out to do it, and I'm just happy to finish. Toughest MTB event I've ever attempted.

Did I somehow inadvertently take a shortcut? Adrian and Henry passed me on the last 9 mile loop, yet I somehow finished ahead of them. They both passed me and I never saw them again until the finish. I collected my last puzzle piece and continued on the course as marked. I remember that the end of the 9 mile loop was the beginning of the dirt trail, just ridden backwards. Once I made it to the picnic area I just took the paved road back to the start/finish area.

[LCdaveH]

Originally Posted by Eddick

Awesome race, I'm glad I came out to do it, and I'm just happy to finish. Toughest MTB event I've ever attempted.

Did I somehow inadvertently take a shortcut? Adrian and Henry passed me on the last 9 mile loop, yet I somehow finished ahead of them. They both passed me and I never saw them again until the finish. I collected my last puzzle piece and continued on the course as marked. I remember that the end of the 9 mile loop was the beginning of the dirt trail, just ridden backwards. Once I made it to the picnic area I just took the paved road back to the start/finish area.

Ruh-roh! After climbing the dirt road up to the pavement, you were supposed to follow the prominent signs and BRIGHT ORANGE traffic cones to the single-track that parallels the paved road through the picnic area.

Bad. V-e-r-y b-a-d. You now have to ride a do-over.

.d.

[fastmtnbiker33w]

Originally Posted by C Cow

Add another 50 miles to it next year and put in the NMES. The group could double. Maybe we could run the first lap in reverse after completing the Coyote loop. I guess the park hours govern start and finish time requirements, so that would drive the distance/timing.

C Cow

NMES is free. We had to pay the park. No way they'd let you stay after dark either unless you paid the camping fee.

You could do an NMES, but you couldn't tell the park about it. I'd do it that length, but I don't think anyone else in town would give it a go.

I do have some killer ideas for some full day rides as we've already put together quite a few that were well into the 8 hour range....at that 5 hour pace for the Puzzler. All participants would have to register at the park entrance though in order to be legal.

[ep-henry]

Originally Posted by Eddick

Awesome race, I'm glad I came out to do it, and I'm just happy to finish. Toughest MTB event I've ever attempted.

Did I somehow inadvertently take a shortcut? Adrian and Henry passed me on the last 9 mile loop, yet I somehow finished ahead of them. They both passed me and I never saw them again until the finish. I collected my last puzzle piece and continued on the course as marked. I remember that the end of the 9 mile loop was the beginning of the dirt trail, just ridden backwards. Once I made it to the picnic area I just took the paved road back to the start/finish area.

With the sun on the horizon and in my eyes by the time we finished I didn't see the sign for the last little stretch of single track and started heading down the paved road too. I soon saw Adrian up on the singletrack and suddenly remembered what Wilson had said before the race about one last singletrack at the end. So, back up the paved road and down the singletrack I went. Adrian was cool enough to wait up for me and we rolled in at the same time. Seeing as how you trekked all the way down here from Dallas, I'm sure you were just ready to be done and head out. Great meeting you and riding with you by the way.

[tribebabe]

You missed some good trail, but that was awesome all 3 of you went out to complete the race! Hope you had fun and will come back next year for a better and more brutal course. Anyone going to Terlingua?

[Eddick]

Well that explains it. Yes, I skipped that last piece of singletrack. Dang. Sorry guys... I SAW the sign, but for some reason, it didn't register. Oh, well, I was out of water.

The results should be changed...Henry and Adrian finished ahead of me, they were at least 5 minutes ahead. That's why I was confused about them rolling in after me. Sorry about that, and thanks for being good sports about it. Hope we can meet up in the future...

Anyone going to Terlingua?

I probably won't make it, unless one of my team mates has an extra seat in their car. Lots of Dallas-area people go because it's a race in the TMBRA series. Sort of wish I was going now, the the Terlingua 50K is a ride in the park compared to the Puzzler.

[ep-henry]

Originally Posted by Eddick

The results should be changed...Henry and Adrian finished ahead of me, they were at least 5 minutes ahead. That's why I was confused about them rolling in after me. Sorry about that, and thanks for being good sports about it. Hope we can meet up in the future...

No problem with me whatsoever and Adrian is such a cool cat I doubt he's the least bit worried about that small mixup. Dang, I think this is a case of "nice guys finish last".