Quick race report: Larry and Kevin were riding like animals and were off the front of the pack a lot. They were riding very strong. But weird things can happen in these long races. And it was 96 degrees according to my Garmin and the heat didn't let up until the sun went down. Then it got a little chilly, probably in the low 60s. A lot of people were riding with sleeves, jackets, and some with long legged pants. I thought the temps were a welcome relief, and not too chilly, so I just kept on riding with bib shorts and a jersey only. There were a few clouds, but the moon was out all night and moved across the sky as the night progressed. There were pockets of warm and cold air, so the temps changed on the fly. Before I got to 100 miles, I started in on my Starbucks frapps. I had 8 small bottles and the last one was empty with two loop 3 laps to go before the end. I never planned on drinking that many, and brought 8 to make sure I had more than enough. Wrong. And I was stuffing Pringles and peanut butter crackers in my face every time I stopped. I was so hungry. I was drinking infinit like crazy, almost two gallons, plus a lot of straight water. I kept urinating and the color was good, so I knew dehydration was not too bad. I easily hung on to the lead group on the first loop (121 mile loop) but got separated at the first check point (34 miles in) by trying to get a bottle swap from support. Then I spent the next 34 miles chasing the smaller lead group, almost catching it, and just burning loads of energy unnecessarily. The chasing was a bad, bad decision. It was a carrot on a stick right in my face for a long time. I caught up to Larry on the second loop (24-mile loop). He was already 24 miles ahead of me from riding with the lead pack. He said he couldn't put out the power anymore. The lead pack had toasted him with the hills. So we had a bunch of fun slingshotting the hills and blowing past DFs on loop 2. I got 4 of those 24-mile loops in. Then something went wrong and he wasn't behind me anymore. I heard from the support crew that he was having back spasms and may or may not drop out. So I just went on at my own pace on the third loop and passed a million DFs all night long. I only got passed once, and it was a pair of young guys working together. I followed them for a lap, but they were cooking and I just went back to my own pace. After a long night, the sky started to lighten up. I had under an hour to get in my final laps and busted my butt to get in two laps. I ended up with about 10 extra minutes. One guy almost made his final lap, but got to the final checkpoint a few second too late, so he didn't get credit for his last lap. So I had a little time and I went and showered. My stomach felt great, unlike last year when I had intestinal distress after about 8 hours until after the end. But I was so tired, I could barely stay awake at the ceremony. But I got on stage! 423.1 miles and second in my age class, men's 55-59. I climbed 12,021 feet. My max speed was over 39 mph. And my average riding speed was 19.2 mph. Other than the voracious appetite, I felt great all day long. I'm sorry Larry and Kevin had to drop. I'm sure the would have had medals.