The Hei Hei's best version

 I got my hei hei cr in 2020 and since then I've changed or modified basically every component, mostly in the search for lightness and more speed on the race course. Sometimes that search went a little too far but for the most part it's trended in generally the right direction. I mean, who doesn't like a lighter mountain bike?

That is just about the best a Hei Hei CR can get, in my opinion. Right about 26lbs flat for an XL, 120mm travel bike on somewhat real tires with pedals and bottle cages and a dropper that works. There are a few things that could make it a touch lighter but some things were chosen due to availability at the time or price or both.

The highlights are that it's a hei hei. DT swiss carbon wheels, X01 axs drivetrain. guide rsc brakes, bikeyoke divine sl 125mm dropper, Industry nine a35 stem with raceface carbon bars, and an assortment of fancy little titanium and carbon bits. I also swapped the standard grip damper in the fox 34sc for a fit 4 which has more control of low speed compression, and then revalved the shock to a firm digressive tune which makes it more responsive while pedaling hard but still pretty smooth over rougher stuff (I think).

The tires are the biggest variable, and depending on what I'm doing they might be something very flimsy like the thunder burts I used for the butte 100, or the minion dhf/aggressor combo I rode for awhile but decided was just a little too heavy and slow for a bike like this. What makes this bike ride the best to me are an aggressive XC or light trail tire. This spring I started out on 2.35 racing ray/ralphs because I had them, and now it's on Vittoria Syerras, which I also rode last fall. The syerras manage to be pretty light and fast while offering better grip and durability than your average XC tire. I also have an insert in the rear tire.

It's basically a bike I can ride just about anywhere, and it'll go pretty fast and be fun while doing it. So now that it's just about perfect I'm considering a new bike of course. 

If anyone wants a list I guess I can do that

Frame: 2020 Kona Hei Hei CR
Fork: Fox 34 step cast performance, 120mm, fit 4 damper. 78psi, 10 clicks rebound, 14 lsc
Shock: Fox Float DPS, Digressive rebound firm, digressive compression firm, 0.4 in^2 volume spacer. 210psi, 5 clicks rebound
Wheels: DT Swiss XRC1501 with 54t ratchet
Tires: varies, currently vittoria syerra, 18/19 psi f/r
Cranks: truvativ stylo carbon, 34t chainring
Cassette: X01 10-50
Derailleur: X01 AXS
Chain: XX1 copper
Brakes: Sram Guide RSC w/ carbon blades, 180/160 clx rotors, ti caliper bolts, ti clamp bolts
Handlebars: raceface next R. 780mm, 25mm rise, esi chunky grips
Stem: Industry nine A35 50mm w/ ti bolts
Seatpost: Bikeyoke Divine SL 125mm
seat clamp: bikeyoke squeezy
Dropper lever: Wolftooth light action
Saddle: Shimano pro stealth offroad
Pedals: shimano XT race
bottle cages: arundel mandible carbon w/ ti bolts

A new bike - Trek Procaliber

 Last summer the shop started carrying trek after open road closed. I had been trying to get a new XC race hardtail for awhile at this point but the Cannondales and Orbeas were out of stock. Although strangely, the exact Alma model I wanted was available on the pro's closet, in my size, brand new. Don't really understand how they get those bikes when we're told none are available. I think the cannondale would have still been my preference because it's a little lighter and a little slacker.

Anyhow, with Trek they have a great and easy to use EP program, allowing you to order or backorder whatever you want. The more videos and quizzes you finish, the better the discount, so I chugged through a whole bunch to get the highest level, which is significantly lower than wholesale pricing. Cannondale only lets you EP a bike when there are a certain number in stock (but at a similar discount to trek). Orbea does have a program but it's a little more difficult to navigate and the pricing isn't as good.

So anyway, I filled out the form and ordered myself a trek procaliber 9.6, which had the shortest ETA and the best frame color. It showed up in september.

Not quite the build I wanted though, with a pretty heavy and bad fork, mid range shimano drivetrain, and narrow aluminum wheels. No dropper either. It also weighed slightly more than my hei hei, which was very much not the point of getting this. So all that stuff came off

By november, I had pretty much all the parts I wanted for it but then it was winter.

I kind of went all out. XX1 with a rainbow cassette (although mechanical not axs), Sid SL ultimate with a lockout and the shiny blue lowers, the new Kovee RSL 1200g wheels, a transfer SL, level ultimate brakes with 2-piece rotors, rainbow ti bottle cage bolts, rainbow valves...

So yeah, that made it weigh about 21 lbs. I also ditched the 2.2" XR2s for 2.4 pirelli scorpion XC/RCs with the bright yellow hot patches.

(the kendas went on for the mullet climb along with a rigid post)

short answer: it's light, and it's real fast uphill. But riding downhill makes me really appreciate the hei hei, even in an XC race.

Depending on the course I'm still riding the Kona, even on a few that went all the way to the top of marshall, where the procaliber might be faster overall. I just didn't want to ride it down the full descent at race speed. The kona was the right choice for the Spirit bear race in kalispell and the Butte 100 as well (for butte I borrowed the wheels from the trek). 

On the plus side, it is pretty good for a lot of missoula riding. Last week I just went up the road to point 6 and back. It's also ideal for my regular quick trips up to the overlook and our recent "death ride graveL" And it turns out I've actually ridden both MTBs about the same amount this year. I did also still race this bike quite a bit on wed nights and at scratchgravel in helena. Pretty ideal for that course. Also, I wasn't super thrilled with the fancy fizik 3d printed saddle I put on there. So now with what seems to be a more comfortable ergon I'll be happier about riding it?

It is still a very different experience downhill and at higher speeds. head tube angle is 68.75 degrees, which, not great, not terrible for an XC bike, but that number creeps up when you're actually riding it and the fork is compressed. The hei hei is 67.5, and longer overall, and with more reach. Both have similar stack, and I put a 20mm longer stem on the trek to get the bars in about the same spot. Little more drop though, and you're more over the front of a bike with a steeper hta. I find it a little harder to stay balanced on it and the pretty low handlebars probably don't help. I suppose that just comes with the territory of an XC hardtail, and I did ride one for many years with a tall seatpost just fine. But I still find myself wondering what the cannondale would be like, as it has a 67 degree HTA (or 66 something on the himod with a 110mm fork). 

So I'm contemplating what I really want for both MTB riding and racing. Maybe a racier and lighter full suspension bike like the new oiz or a scalpel in place of both bikes. The hei hei has been really solid all around but it's getting up there in miles and is just slightly heavier than I'd like as a race bike. I'll probably stick with both bikes for another season though.

2023 butte 100 race report

 I did that dumb 100mi mtb race again. it was hot and I still feel bad. My 5th time going so i thought maybe the'd make me a little copper mug or something for the "500mi club." Steve has done this 9 times now and last year they gave him one with his name on it for doing 8. But first i did have to actually finish.

I need to figure out a better night before sleeping situation. I thought i had it figured out by driving up there before the race meeting to grab a spot down the road a bit away from the highway but it was all full. I also thought my new giant air mattress that barely fits in the tent was going to help. But then I wound up on the ground and basically not sleeping at all so welp, fucked that up I guess. Ate breakfast in my car in the dark at 5am, managed to poop before the start, and off we went. First climb is about 10-15min in and goes up for awhile, I found myself sitting in 3rd behind last year's winner who is a real pro bike racer and is going to marathon worlds and then Adam, who finished 4th ahead of me last year and used to be a real pro bike racer and is also a pretty good nordic ski racer. But Adam was in sight and I was comfortable. John, who won the helena race and is also pretty good ultrarunner was back there, along with some younger kids like Aiden from Butte and Elliot from team stampede who has moved up to racing in u23 and elite categories.

Then we ran into either a mis-marked part of course or someone fucking with the arrows, because we get sent up this like steep rocky thing that doesn't seem right and we're all walking and wandering around. Like a dozen other people are there and going up higher and I'm like no i don't think this is right and go back down and by ignoring the arrow I get back on track with some other people. There's a group in front of me now and I have no idea how far ahead Chris or Adam are and it cost about 10min. I'm going up the regular course and John comes out of the bushes so it worked out for him and we rode together for awhile. But I'm kind of thrown off, pedaling harder than I should because of the panicky "must catch up" feeling and am thrown off a bit but I guess we're all in the same boat.

Throw my vest at AS2, I didn't plan on stopping there and didn't really need to wear the vest and it makes it harder to get stuff out of your pockets. I had some snacks in cargo bibs plus about 500cal in my two big water bottles so I mostly just needed to drink them both and have a few shot blocks before AS3 at mi 25. Stop at 3, get two more big bottles of mix and cram two gels in my face. am now with John and another guy (matt?") who don't stop but catch back up to john and we're back riding together. 3-4 you descent some actual singletrack instead of endless up and down sandy moto doubletrack. I had generally been a little all over the place on the thunder burts in the sand. Rode off trail a few times but stayed upright. John is descending faster than me and that I find a bit annoying because he's a runner and on a hardtail. I'm climbing faster though and on the sandy slog up to AS4 I leave him behind and then go by Matt who is stopped there. Get to 5 and grab a quick splash of water and then see someone up ahead of me. Oh hey it's Adam, I thought he was gone. He kept pace and didn't want to have me just go by but I put in a little bit of effort up a moderate climb and get some space going into the start/finish. We leave together, then you descend down from the pass to the butte valley on this ridiculously steep doubletrack full of huge washed out ruts. I let Adam go first and then get back to him on the road. You climb through a neighborhood then up a trail then drop down to the highway and climb back up a bit to AS7. I leave Adam on the climb, another quick half bottle of water at 7, and I'm on the way to basin creek. By now it's over 90f and the course only gets harder.

At AS8 I get two more full bottles of mix, one insulated, plus a 3rd bottle of just water in my jersey pocket. I needed it. You climb like 3k feet to get to the next aid station and it seems endless. I had been carrying two bottles of mix up to here but kept one full of just water the rest of the way just to pour on myself. Legs are starting to feel unhappy and the heat is unpleasant. I get off my bike and walk a few times. Start catching the tail end of the 50mi race. Start getting some light cramping. Get to AS9 feeling not great wondering how in the fuck I'm going to get up the next climbs and to the finish. It's still 20 fucking more miles. Two more bottles and maybe a gel and some blocks or something, plus salt cap chews and a tylenol. Legs work a little better but right out of the aid station is steep as fuck and starts to get a little more rocky and technical. This is the highest point of the course on the CDT, generally over 7k feet, and fuck it's hot. I feel like I'm barely moving. Misery. I think my max HR for the last 4 hours was 153, so tempo-ish. Keep looking back, see no one. Tell myself if I feel this bad they all do to. Kind of have fun on the descents, hei hei is ripping through the rocks and the thunder burts are much happier on the packed dirt instead of sand (i also let some air out at the halfway point because of the heat, and ran my suspension a little softer than normal). Thankfully the rocks are all pretty rounded. At one point I clipped a rock with my foot/pedal and tensed up and my legs cramped so hard hard I couldn't move them for like 10-20s. But then you just try to pedal and ignore how bad it feels. Finally get past limekin hill and have a pretty extended downhill to the last aid station. Have a shot of pickle juice, have a cup of coke, get a bottle of water and a bottle of mix, and just have to make it the last 9mi. Again, you're climbing off the bat, but the grade is more reasonable. It's not exactly a continuous climb and then a continuous descent but it's close. Couple of breaks on the way up, couple of short rises on the way down. It takes about 40min to get to the point where you're generally on the way down. Then 20 more to the finish. I see the R1k crew from town, say hi, and yell "this fucking sucks." but seeing friends out there is a nice pick me up. I think I went through about 14 bottles, most with 200-250cal of tailwind in them. And then about only ate shot bloks and vanilla gels. I tried a bite of a honey waffle at some point, and did put a few bars in my bags, but it's just really hard to chew and swallow things.

Get to the finish almost 20min slower than last year. My goal was to be faster and I had the fitness to do it, but the early detour, slow and sandy conditions on the first half, and really fucking hot weather conspired against that a bit. Surprisingly from the bottom of basin creek to the finish I was only 8min slower over 4 hours compared to last year. That shit really sucked and I didn't want to keep going. But uh, I did get 2nd overall so there's that.

For some reason they didn't do awards or a podium and then ran out of food before like half the 100mi finishers were done which was kind of shitty. Maybe they'll mail me something.

Tire review - Pirelli Cinturato Gravel H

 This spring I was looking for a replacement gravel tire for the Schwalbe G-one Rs that I ran last year. I did generally like those tires and would buy them again but there's so much out there I felt like trying something new. The schwalbes also seemed a little slow rolling so this time around I was going for speed. I did consider trying a g-one RS on the rear, and those do test real fast.

Anyway, with the shop having trek now and trek kind of pushing pirelli and having the race team use them I thought I'd try some out and ordered the Gravel H, for hardpack. There's also a M, for mixed, S, for soft, and RC, for "race" I guess.

Very low profile and tightly spaced center blocks, getting a little taller and more spread out as you go toward the edge knobs, which are low profile, but do exist.

These come in 35, 40, 45, and maybe 50mm, and black or tan. I got the 40s, and black because the black tires were listed as slightly lighter. Mine were like 485g which is not all that light, but when it comes to gravel tires I'm finding a little extra weight is worth the added durability. I also have vittoria air liners in there, plus a hookless "MTB" rim with pretty wide sidewalls to hopefully all help prevent flats. On the 23mm IW rims these come out way bigger than listed at just under 44mm. They just barely don't rub in the chainstays and leave no clearance for mud or an out of true wheel. I put some aluminum foil tape in the potential rub spots and so far it's staying pretty clean though.

The first test for these tires was day 2 of the montana gravel challenge, a loop that goes from ninemile toward town on mullan, then along the south side road to petty creek and back over to ninemile. So a good amount of pavement, not much for big climbs, and then 20 miles of pretty rough gravel road. This year we were flying and I was way on the back of the group after being in poor position at the start of the dirt climb toward deep creek and then after losing some more spots when i realized my brake hood was loose and slipping (I pulled out of the line and thought about trying to tighten it on the move and then just decided to ride the rest of the way in the drops). So I was back there, just having to stay on wheels, not getting a good view of line choice of what was coming, and being in all the chaos as people had flats or mechanicals or just got dropped. It was a long time before I actually felt like I was "in the group" and not just barely hanging on. We probably had 20+ in the front at the start and by the time we hit petty creek there were 8.

So the tires made it through. And they feel fast (and test fast), and are high volume that lets me run pretty low pressures. I've been doing like 32.34 in the front and 37-38 in the rear. The low pressure aids grip but they are really low profile and I guess we'll see how they go on drier and looser stuff. Liking them overall though. Be nice if they measured closer to listed as my major jake doesn't have the best clearance.

 

Out with the transfer sl, in with the divine sl

I really like weight of the transfer sl, and also that it has a simple mechanism that will probably keep working with minimal maintenance. However, the thin tubes made it hard to get the post properly tightened and it had a tendency to either slip down in the frame or bind up depending on clamp tightness. I think possibly the hei hei frame wasn't helping either. the upper part of the seat tube is pretty short and also just a touch oversized, so the post doesn't have a good tight fit in there, which means the clamp has to be tighter to keep it in place and creates a higher force over a smaller area. Recipe for making a lightweight post unhappy, and in fact my old regular transfer liked to stick a little when cold and I think that was also due to the frame and clamp. Additionally, the stock kona clamp is bad and has a sharp edge that broke the rigid carbon post on my cross bike. The bikeyoke squeezy and wolf tooth clamps are much better.

In addition to it's finicky nature, only 100mm of travel and only up or down doesn't really suit the hei hei. So I ordered myself one of the next lightest posts out there- the bikeyoke divine SL, in 125mm. It's not that much more, but it's the longest drop it comes in.

So yeah I have added a little weight to the bike but that post does work better and the extra 25mm of drop makes a difference. The saddle clamps are not great though, I think because the hei hei's actual seat tube is pretty slack due to the bend. The front bolt is tightened down all the way and the rear bolt jammed up against the upper clamp and I broke it. So I wrapped my rails in fabric tape and dremeled a groove in the clamp and now i can get the saddle level enough so hopefully that does it. Kind of annoying that most clamps I've experienced have to be pretty much maxed out in the nose down position just to get the saddle level.

Also I put some new tires on there- vittoria syerras, which I am liking so far. And a new hardtail showed up last week. I think the transfer sl will be a better match for that bike.

Shock revalve

 In june my shock made a loud bang and started spraying fluid out of the adjusters. Damper shaft had just snapped, apparently a common issue with these things. Not covered by warranty as that is only a year apparently.

While it was being repaired at fox I thought I'd try some different valving. The stock tune from kona is a linear curve, which means that as shaft velocity increases, so does damping force. I've felt like this was part of my issue with the bike as it felt very squishy under pedaling forces, which is low speed shaft movement. A digressive valve means there is much more low speed force and then it levels off in the higher speed range.

Every fox shock and fork has a 4 digit code on it somewhere and you can look it up on the fox website to find out the details of your suspension. Mine spits out the following:

2020, FLOAT DPS, P-S, A, 3pos, Evol LV, Kona, Hei Hei CR, 190, 45, 0.8 Spacer, LCF, LRM, CMF, TC-6265/PMS-447-C Logo

The year, model, bike it comes on, length, stroke, air volume spacer size

LCF stands for Linear Compression Firm
LRM stands for Linear Rebound Medium
CMF stands for Closed Mode Firm

So now instead of linear I have digressive valving, firm, on both rebound and compression sides. I also previously swapped the 0.8 in^2 volume spacer for a smaller 0.4 which allowed me to increase air pressure to make the shock firmer while still using most of the travel. I have been at about 215psi.

The revalve resulted in a pretty big difference. At the same shock pressure it feels like the suspension barely moves when I stand up and pedal hard, yet if anything is more comfortable over bumps and rocks and roots while descending. It also uses less travel because of the extra low speed support, which keeps it from compressing as far and blowing through travel when loading the bike or pedaling hard or even landing on jumps.

I've actually been dropping the air pressure a touch, as previously I was only sitting at about 18-19% sag which is on the low side and then still not ever using full travel. Down at 200-205 I still get a good balanced feel and pedaling support but below that it starts to feel a little too squishy again. I had my rebound pretty well figured out before but now am at about the same spot with a different curve so probably need a little further adjustment there.

In conclusion it feels really good though. I'm not really sure why it wasn't this way out of the box, but I suppose they were going for a more supple feel and progressive curve where I'm looking for more of an XC race bike pedaling feel. But on the other hand it's still pretty smooth and rides nice so yeah, seems way better. Now that this bike is lighter and pedals well I'm starting to question my new bike order. But I think a hardtail will still  be nice to have, and then I can do things like keep more aggressive tires on the hei hei and put on a dropper that goes down farther and works in the middle spots.

Another butte 100

 Did that butte race again, it was really hard the whole time.

At one of the friday night races my shock blew up and I finally got that back on Monday after playing shock musical chairs with a few of the lbs owner's bikes for a few weeks. In addition to the repair I had it revalved from linear to digressive valving, with the hopes that it would be more supportive under pedaling forces especially out of the saddle. Turns out yes. Feels great, I don't think I locked it out once yesterday, maybe on a paved road for a bit. So yeah monday I get my bike all prettied up, install the shock, pull the cranks and suspension linkages and clean everything out, new chain and chainring, go to coach nica and fucking crash. stick through the spokes at low speed sends me otb, broken shifter, bunch of new scrapes on frame, dent in helmet, torn glove, ripped up grips, wheels out of true. Cool. But generally everything is fine. apparently I can't make it through a July without crashing. I needed new grips anyway but that was a new poc ventral so I got to buy another one of those last week which was pretty annoying. Thankfully I get a good discount.

Fitness wise this has been kind of a weird seeming year for me. It feels like my riding and training has been pretty inconsistent but I've been seeing some decent results and some good strava segment times, have some good bunches of high volume weeks, some intensity although not as much or as structured as I'd like. Still mostly just riding a lot and not really "training." Went and rode my local trail climb as openers friday and set my fastest time on the hei hei without even really going for it. Also PR'd the xc course climb and a ~4min road climb somewhat recently. So I guess I'm pretty fit. I figured I could improve by a good amount since last year I had a bad crash in early july and then a mini blowup through the middle of the race. I finished 8th in like 10:50, and thought I could be a little closer to 10 hours flat and the podium.

This year to be faster at the aid stations I put drink mix in empty bottles at every one, so that I could just get it filled with water and be ready to go. Last year I had little ziplocks with it and that was kind of annoying and time consuming. I was able to just stop and be like, "please fill that bottle and this bottle thanks" cram a gel or something down my face, and keep rolling. I also skipped a few more this time. I went with tailwind so had about 150-200 calories in a bottle so I didn't have to try to eat quite as much and mostly relied on gummies and gels. I think I also took a bite of a skratch rice bar, had a honey waffle, a handful of chips, some coke, some gummy bears, and a pickle along the way. Plus electrolyte tabs and some ibuprofin.

6am starts are not my favorite. I camped at the start area but then didn't really sleep. Lying on the ground for 8ish hours is rest though right?

This race always starts out absurdly fast and once we got to the first climbing part I opted to not chase the fastest guys like last year and watched what seemed like 10 people ride away from me. No Tinker or Josh Tostado this year, and Max raced the 50 instead, but still a few pros lined up. I felt like I was going pretty good and actually got through the first 2 segments in about the same time as last year without pegging my HR (well not as high). So I was kind of surprised at how many people were in front of me, plus there were more breathing down my neck. I was going back and forth with this one guy for a bit who was climbing faster but going slower on the descents. I was never really being held up for long and he let me by once or twice but it's race of mostly trying to go your own speed so it's a little annoying to have someone around you and having to pass and get passed constantly. I caught him going into AS2, stopped for a refill and took off my vest, and then was back on his wheel like 2min later because it was downhill for awhile. So I got past, pushed a bit to stay ahead of him on the next climby bit, got on an extended descent, and was clear. Then could see the next guy in front of me and then passed him at aid station 5 by not stopping. First half is so sandy and mostly moto/atv trails so you're just kind of slogging along, have some annoyingly steep things, have to walk parts, and then trying to surf through sand at high speed on the descents. It felt extra sandy this year.

Got to start/finish/AS6 and was feeling pretty good, unlike last year, because I'd been a little more reasonable early on and had eaten and drank more. Took a minute to eat and refill and catch my breath then that guy rolled through without stopping as I was leaving and we rode together for a bit. We got to the next climb which is fairly mellow on singletrack, I'm behind him and comfortable, then he just kind of slows up and I feel good and can see the next guy so ok I guess I'll go by. Get by the next guy before the top, hit the descent, skip the next aid station, get to number 8 which is at about mile 67. Think, "huh I got here pretty quick," and trying to calculate how long the rest is going to take.

Still feeling good, clean chain, eat a little more, drink a little more, fill bottles, and now it's the shitty part where you climb up to the continental divide trail. I was there for awhile, get on the trail, see guy behind me roll through and not stop. I think, uh, that's not a good idea dude it's like 13mi and 3k feet and 2 hours to the next one. But it encourages me to keep the pace up. Start catching 50mi racers. Pass a guy walking, see a red 100 plate which means, oh, actually he's in my race. Legs start getting unhappy twinges. Get to next aid station, guy had got back on his bike and chased me and rolled in pretty much right after me so I hurry up and get out of there. It would have been nice to stick around for a bit- they had hot dogs and bacon and beers and a fun party vibe going.

This is like mile 80, and there's still a big section of climbing to do where you hit the high point of the course at about 8k feet and are on the CDT to the finish. it's fairly rocky and has various shortish climbs and decents along the way back to homestake pass. Legs are unhappy. This is hard. it's hot. I'm yelling fuck you legs, fuck you rocks, fuck you sun, have to walk up some things, but at least on the downhills I can kind of rest and go fast. Probably faster than I should given the level of fatigue but it's free time as long as you stay on your bike. A lighter hardtail would be nice on a lot of this course but on the last 20mi when you're tired and sore and the trail gets rougher the hei hei is perfect. Passing lots of 50mi racers. Looking at distance, time, avg speed, and realizing I'm really close to that 10 hour even pace. Keep it going, fly down to the last aid station, people are getting out of my way. Quick stop, one more climb before you descend to homestake and the finish. Pushing the limits of cramping, backing off, standing to use different muscles, actually breathing hard. Pass my friends Andrew and Mike doing the 50 and get out a "hi". Get to the top and it's like, oh shit this is going to be close. Like 25min to go 5mi, but mostly all downhill. Pushing the descent even harder, pedaling out of corners, out of the saddle on the slight rises. Ignoring my HR page, ignoring my legs, just watching the time get closer to 10 and the distance get closer to 100 and wondering what's going to happen first. And trying not to crash. Come out onto the pavement, sprint more, cross the line in what appears to be about 9:59:40. But got a chip time of 9:59:06 somehow. 5th overall.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7517578121/

Compared to last year my riding parts were definitely faster but not by as much as I though, especially the middle when I was feeling like shit and thought I was barely moving. Only a few minutes here and there across the board, but I suppose that still adds up over a whole day. Time difference was about half from stopping less, and half from going faster. I only had like 18 minutes stopped time compared to 45ish last year. Still felt like I was going way too slow on the climbs in the last 20mi and could barely handle HR over 145ish. So maybe there's more time in it with a few more calories and electrolytes and drink mix. Skipping aid stations meant I did not get a fresh bottle of mix at those and having some electrolyte tabs along early would have helped. REI had these saltstick fast chews which are kind of not really great, it's like a salty chewable multivitamin and I think i'd rather just have the pill format. But having two of those at all the last aid stations was definitely helpful. I also kept picking up gels and then not really eating them so I had like 5 of them stuffed back there by the end. It was also annoying that I couldn't get my standard salted watermelon shot blocks. The long sleeve format is a lot easier to eat while moving than the bags like skratch or gu, especially when you cut then in half and have two pre-opened sleeves of 3.

Winner was this guy Chris who is some sort of a pro that mostly races gravel and recently got 4th at unbound xl. 2nd was Carter, a pro mtb racer from bozeman, 3rd a guy Matt from Michigan who I don't know anything about but seems to have real sponsors and travels around racing, 4th Adam from bozeman who got 4th last year and apparently used to be a pro roadie and also does a lot of ski racing.