Every now and again we all have one of THOSE days and today my number was plucked.

I knew today’s stage and knew that it would be a tough one. 41 Miles with significant climbing and not too much recovery. Most bad days are spent in the hurt locker so to speak. Somebody rides by and asks “how ya doin?” where you reply “tired”, or “cracked”. Today there was nothing to be said except maybe some internal conversations.

Friend and old roomie Kiel Reijnen and I refer to this dark place as hanging out with penguin. You see penguin is the voice who replies to you when you talk to yourself. Penguin is the only person who understands your pain. Penguin is really the only person to help talk you though these rough times. And well, Penguin and I had a long, overdue chit chat today.

Thanks Penguin.

Shattered and a little demoralized I sat in self pity for a few hours. Then at the racer meeting it all clicked. I had a bad day, big whoop. My friend Colby triple flatted today. Another friend Colin collapsed his lung yesterday, needless to say things could be worse. I’ll drink to that.

Tomorrow’s stage is sure to dish out some pain, but I’m pretty sure my talk with penguin and mental reboot should serve me well. Mt. Guyot was last years toughest stage in my opinion and this year it might be again. After crossing the continental divide….twice, you are forced to climb out of a valley via the steepest roads in the county.

“The climb back-American Gulch. You’re going to turn a corner about 3/4 of the way up and what you see in front of you is going to crush your soul.”

With that being the case, better load up.

Dad has been a champ the last couple days. While I’m out racing, he’s navigating maps that might as well be drawn with crayon to the aid stations. The places they have these aid stations would challenge an eagle scout to find.

I think dad might be the only support member batting 100% on making all the feeds…Thanks, a ton.

Tomorrow should be an adventure if nothing else. Time to race hard and enjoy the sweet trails.

Big Black