Larmie Enduro

We drove up Friday to partake in the Laramie Enduro. Camped out and got rained on all night. Thankfully the tent held up considering it was brand new. Having the larger tent this year made for a more pleasant sleeping experience. I failed to seam seal the tent and it leaked a bit, but we stayed dry. The morning was crazy, it always goes by so fast at that event. I get so anxious there I think because someone is constantly announcing the count down time to the start. I started boiling some water on the ol' Coleman 2 burner, fortunately it did pound rain last night, because I thought I was going to start a forest fire as the flame on the stove reached to 2 feet high, sometimes higher, but eventually it petered out and the blue flame finally boiled water for the morning coffee. "30 minutes until start time..."

Laramie Enduro was kind of a last minute decision. I did it last year, but when Will asked me if I had registered back in late Feb. or March, I turned my nose down on the event and racing all together. Funny how my attitude changes when summer comes on and ski season is over, I am ready to be on the bike. Luckily I got in a couple weeks ago. I had to go to Houston the 2nd week before the event, when I would normally log on the miles and intensify the rides, but oh well, Houston was great and still overwhelmed about the opportunity to show art out of state.


"15 minutes until start time." Rushed to put on my bike gear get everything sorted, I am not a good morning person. Headed over to the line up and ended up at the very back of the start, which sucked because it was a bike traffic jam into the single track, great track standing practice, but jeez could it go any slower.

I tried hard to get out in front, but my legs were so cold and stiff, my back hurt 45 minutes into the race. Not feeling so great, but thought maybe when it starts to warm up I'll feel better. The Aleve and Sport Legs kicked in and made me feel a bit more energized. I had no idea where I was in the pack of single speed riders, my main goal was to beat my time from last year. There was a larger than normal and strong group single speed women riders this year. The first place woman got 3rd overall, she switched categories from Pro Open to single speed last minute I guess. She has a nice life, from El Paso, she and her husband travel around all summer racing in the Rockies.

The water crossings were epic, waist deep in some sections. Luckily I did not get off course, like last year. The last 10 miles seemed to go on for an eternity. So ready to be done, I could hear the drone of I-80 and knew the finish line and beer was close! I saw Will at the finish all clean and changed. I asked if he won, and he laughed with a beer in hand and told me he got lost, spent about 10 miles off course, bummer. He got 3rd last year and I bet he would have had a podium finish if he didn't get off course.

I ended up getting 4th place in single speed and 2nd in the 40-49 State Ultra Marathon Championships, and I beat my time last year by 20 minutes.


finish photo by WFS 2