Golden Loop

I put in a good 89 miles of paved road, dirt road, bike path, and singletrack last night with Ben, Brandon, and Eric one of Ben's friends.  In short it was a lot of good sustained effort endurance training pushing a steady pace for 5-6 hours.  It went something like this:

Myself, Ben, Brando

Bike paths. Better than anticipated.

Found some rippin' singletrack down south.

Gatoraide != Endurance fuel.

I threw all 8 rods the last hour with stomach cramps from drinking something I hope to never see again. I was in a pinch for time and had to grab this stuff from the roadside store after work. I soft-pedaled for the last 5 miles into Golden completely blown, and on empty, dreaming of everything from Redvines and Snickers, to burgers and fries.  In short my nutrition plan (or complete lack of one) was absurdly inadequate for this adventure. I have only blown this bad once before that I can remember.  It was last year while riding the Breckenridge 100 loops (pre-ride) and like last night, I was having fantastic dreams of junk food.  In stark contrast, Brandon was drinking CarboRocket 333 and rode my legs off the last hour.  Ben was drinking jet fuel or something and rode my legs off the last 6 hours. 

* Brando is credited for the photos, except for the first one.