Well done on completing the ride - 100 miles on those roads is a huge accomplishment. One of my biggest lessons learned was to be in the front for the start, I just underestimated how many people would line up so quickly as did you. Room for improvement for next time. As far as the wafer goes, I’m a fan of riding less than 5 hours with 4-1/2 being my max as far as enjoyment goes. I highly recommend the wafer.
Yeah, much at 4-5 hours I start to lose interest and just want to go home. I also don’t really have the time to train for 100+ mile gravel race and hit the numbers I think I should be. My goal was to have an 240-250np for the race and I ended up with 219np. I was 240np for the first 4hrs45min and then dropped down to 195np for the last 2hrs or so.
How did you do, @sasa ?
Oh also, another thing that slowed me down were the switchbacks. I had 3 people crash in front of me lol. That sector was absolute carnage for so many. I heard several others crash behind me on my way up 
Must have been the lack of MTB tires. 
Tl;dr - wheels came off with 1.5hrs to go. Finished 2nd in AG at 6:18. Happy with my result.
What a course, much more dirt and technical stuff than last two years. It may have been shorter, but it hurt a lot more!
Going into it, I didn’t feel as prepared or confident as last year. Busy time at work meant less training - closer to 7-8hrs average. I didn’t do a winter training camp either, and only had 3 outdoor rides leading into the day. To make matters worse, our inbound journey was delayed to missed one day of pre-riding.
Showed up early and lined up with maybe 20-25 people ahead of me. I didn’t want to be on the very front, but I didn’t want to be far behind. The beginning took more effort than I wanted, and I had to put in a short dig to stay with lead group as we split cresting the last witch, but was glad to have done so. No issues on the Lusardi dirt, but once I got onto the road I already felt like I dug too deep.
Lemontwist, Hodges, etc. went great - I was in small groups until the HV climb, but making good time and feeling like I recovered a little. I was solo the entire way up HV, seeing nobody in front or behind, which was mentally taxing. I figured my way into Ramona is going to be terrible, I saw no groups I could latch onto. Just as I started to descend HV, an Elite came up behind me like a freight train and I latched on. Carried me to a group just before Ramona who I stuck with all the way until we made it to the pedestrian bridge on the way back. We weren’t moving extremely fast, and I was on the front for most of the HV reverse, but I was happy to keep a reasonable pace which increased my chances of survival.
Wheels started to come off on the dirt back. Stopped for a quick pee, and Amy C (finished 3rd) caught up, so we stuck together until I first wiped out, made a wrong turn, she made a wrong turn, and I finally dropped my chain on the steep pitch before Lemon reverse. Given I was seeing triple and overcooking every single corner, I really backed off the pace until the switchbacks, so as to avoid a disaster. No further issues from there, put my head down and went onwards. Caught a guy on the switchbacks but he disappeared on the descent as I was extra cautious. Had a very mentally exhausting final bit of road all to myself, but plugged away at it and cross the line alive and mostly intact.
First thing I did was to get in the beer line, where @Stevie_Dee instantly recognized me! We caught up for a while and that was that!
Well done, sir! Super impressed with both of you @Stevie_Dee @sasa.
You both got podium photos too…did they happen to have a podium that extends out to 17th? Looking at your guys times to the first checkpoint…It took me 1hr5min to get to it compared…insane. I walked for 5min11sec before the first aid station
Hey, podium was open for the photos all day just gotta do what you gotta do!
That’s a lot of walking, too much traffic?
One of my friends said she was in the line for 5+ minutes waiting to get going. Long enough that she comfortably took a few photos, and it did not look fun!
@Stevie_Dee caught this on Instagram.
Honestly, I’m not too worked up over the walking. Was it a little frustrating, sure. But in the grand scheme of things, let’s say I finish 10minutes faster. That’s difference between my 140th place and 123rd. Outside of that section, everything went great for me. I wish I could have been in a group of more than 2 coming back from Ramona in that headwind, but c’est la vie.
That headwind was soul killing. I did the last section of road alone, and it took all I had to not call an Uber
I was at the last aid station from 2:30 till course close. Looked like everyone had had a tough old day by the time they got to me
I would say so! That’s a long day.
I really liked the new waffle course! I hadn’t been on my gravel bike much lately so didn’t have high hopes for myself and started way far back. Other than that, my only mistake was opting for the hike a bike vs the water crossing. I hadn’t done any research as I signed up last minute so when I saw the 2 riders in front get off and start hiking I figured they might know best. About half way up I lost momentum, slipped and scraped up my knee on a rock. I later heard the water crossing was the move. My favorite part of the course was probably that flowy stuff out by Pamo. Least favorite were those crazy switchbacks towards the end. I was hoping to be done around 7 hours but with all the walking was at 7:20 ish and won my age group! Loved the weather and new start location.
The hike a bike was the right choice. You chose wisely.
Sorry you slipped .. however, hiking was by far the right move. I opted for the hike, and the two guys that took the water route never saw me again. The trick was to be reasonable and not try to run up - pick your steps carefully and hit the brake if you feel the bike or yourself slipping for extra grip. Then all you have to do is make sure not to go over your limit for the first hill - second hill was basically a recovery effort in comparison, and then third was short. And then the next one wasn’t so bad, and then the one after that wasn’t too bad either, but the last one sucked Yeah ok, damn, that was a lot of short hills!
I was glad for the course change - pre-riding made me nervous about the technical aspects of it, and I most definitely paid for going so hard early on. But as it turns out, everyone else paid just a little more than me, so I actually moved up in spots. My placing was 48th at Aid station 1, 55th at bottom of Pamo, 50th at Aid station 4, 48th at Aid station 6 and 48th finish. In hindsight, I think if I had chosen to be more conservative at the start, I would have lost 10-15m+.
What’s the consensus on tire choice for the new route? Road bike with wide tires or take the gravel bike?
100% gravel bike for last years route. I’ve read that this year is supposed to be a throwback to the days of 32’s being ideal.