u/TDiddlez

The heat index was 110°. 18 miles of gravel, and 12 miles of single track. It was brutal. I couldn't catch my breath after the aid station at mile 15. I ended up hiking the bike up several of the hills in the second half.

Moving Time: 4h25m

Total Time: 5h 23m

Avg Pace: 8:43

This is a triple leg race. While I ride 30 miles, my buddy runs a half marathon, and then we paddle the last 12 in a tandem canoe, for a total of 55 miles combined.

I made so many mistakes... I brought the wrong food (not enough sugars). I rode way too high of tire pressure and didn't realize until over halfway through. My derailleur was improperly tuned and high gear kept missing the first cog and getting stuck.

I didn't drink enough water in the days leading in. I probably should have drank way more electrolytes day of. I pushed myself WAY too hard in that first 8 miles of gravel out of the car, especially the first 3 miles of climbing.

But...with the help, food, and encouragement of an amazing sweeper, in the end I rode across my finish line as the staff cheered me on and it felt amazing! I stripped my clothes and put on trunks and immediately dunked my entire body into the creek for 15 mins.

My running buddy got confused by some directions and got lost on his leg and ran an extra 4 miles on accident (2 out and 2 back).

About mile 3 of the paddle he overheated and had to keep stopping to cool down in the creek. He made the tough decision to call it off. I took his paddle away cuz he would have kept paddling, kept splashing him with cool water, and solo paddled us to mile 6 where they were able to pull us out and get us back to base camp. Several ice packs and cooler water towels later we get a ride to my car with A/C and within an hour he was eating and recovering.

This was the furthest and most elevation I've ever ridden. This was his most elevation ever ran.

We will be back next year, smarter and more prepared!

Total combined mileage: 53 miles

Edit to add time.

Kind of hard to see with the white mulberry crowding and killing it. I plan to cut that down soon, as I realized it's highly invasive. Wondering what this small tree with whitish bark is though.

I just love coming across beautiful stuff like this on the course.

I have gotten into MTB the past year with my kids, mostly easy XC dirt riding.

A buddy of mine is a runner and talked me into this three legged monster race. He runs a half marathon while I ride 28mi, we meet and canoe the last 12 together.

I am 40, 215 lbs and in decent shape, but a little bit of a gut. I play keeper in an indoor soccer league on two teams every Wednesday, and hike 2-4 miles every weekend playing disc golf. I grew up on dirt bikes.

I ride a Polygon D6 now.

Edit- the first two pics are the race details. The rest are my recent rides.

The ride is 7.5 miles on gravel, 10.5 single track, then 10 on gravel back to the start. Two aid stations, one of which gets passed twice.

I have been training once a week to get ready for this but am a little anxious. Time is limited so my dad I can only go out on a weeknight for about 2 hours. These rides usually mirror the race, a bit of gravel, jump into trials, and return.

I plan to ride with a 2L Camelback backpack, packed with snacks, multi tool, tire levers and patches that all came with a 10in1 repair kit, and an electric pump. Thinking I should probably bring a tube too.

Based on my past few rides how much am I going to struggle with this? I am aiming to finish in 4.5 hours.

Any suggestions or things I need to know?

Ladue has the best prices and a decent selection. A table and shelf to the left of customer service opposite the main game area. Some RPG stuff over there too.

Chesterfield had the best selection(where I got mine), but it was only at 30% on everything. She said they will drop what doesn't sell to 50% at some point. Table is right by the main board game area.

All I really wanted was Arnak, but I went ahead and splurged on the others.

Not much luck at West County, St. Peters, or Galleria, but they have a couple games on sale.

Got about 88 miles day 1 and another 80 day 2. There was a crazy amount of riders as they apparently took walk up registration, but promised they won't do that again. Team 44 seemed a little overwhelmed but they put together a pretty great ride.

All for a great cause to help the community. We donated $10k to the Country Music History Museum, and another $3k each to two fire stations and the local high school!

Some gnarly trails and the expert section was truly expert level. Just the normal course provided some great challenges. Beautiful scenery and some neat cave formations along the way.

Glad to be able to have checked this ride off the list and look forward to coming back again in the future!