Black Mountain Side 300k

Finally, the inaugural ride of the 300k Black Mountain Side that Lizz and I have been planning for the past year has been ridden, by only 7, but finished by all. This route was a good mid-fall fitness test and maintenance ride. The weather really cooperated with temperatures 10° above normal and little or tailwinds outbound. A pre-dawn start got us out of TorC and up past the airport and into Monticello in civil twilight. Matt and Donnie pulled away from me early on and I saw no one behind, so a solo ride was in the making. With the warm temperatures, light clothing was all I rode with during the daylight hours after shedding arm and leg warmers. If I had just remembered my i-pod, but during a ride it seems there's orchestral manuevers all the time anyway. The countryside was beautiful all day too, changing from low desert to ponderosa forests of the Black Range. A large herd of elk was spotted, as if they knew it was now deer season. The low pass over Continental Divide at 7670' or so was ridden in short fingered gloves, short sleeves, short riding shorts. Short also was the length of the day, so when I came up on Matt and Donnie just after they had gone out a bit further than the end of the pavement at Beaverhead where the Checkpoint was supposed to be, we decided we would ride the finish in togehter. Three guys trading pulls. This made for a fast return. Lizz could not catch the first three of us after checking the last riders out of Chloride, so Matt and Donnie road to the
Beaver Creek Headquarters for water. (We had a volunteer lined up but my apologies to Matt and Donnie for not coordinating him in time). We are still learning here and we now know that with two or three volunteers, we can make this eaier for everyone in future years. This course is a keeper...we saw very little traffic and they were all very friendly and supportive. As Matt pointed out, there was no trash on the side of the road. We were starting to wonder if we had passed through some time/space portal. We made it back to the Winston General Store in time for some chow and re-hydration before burning into TorC. The finish was fast despite the only real wind factor of the day. Sunset was setting up nicely for our post race brew, awaiting Steve, Cheryl, Jeni, and Paige. All seven of us finished within the time frame - 100% completion and that is what it is all about. Finish what you start. I think we are starting to get something good going here.