Tahoe Sierra 100

Here is my response to Matt Chappells questions on the Tahoe Sierra 100...

What was your most memorable experience during the TS 100?
The last mile.......after a grueling 104 miles in the saddle the finish line was the end of an emotional battle which was getting the better of me.
What was your feed strategy and what will you change next year?
My strategy was eat consistently and drink all the time. I never did eat properly. I drank well and that was no issue. I was battling all day to get food down. I will most likely experiment with HIGH calorie pre-race drinks and train on them in the summer and actually do some long training rides on my mountain bike (that might help) as opposed to the road bike.
Did you make any last minute changes to your bike/gear setup and was it helpful or not?
I was going to race SS and in hindsight I think I should have. I never had any bike issues other than a major leak from the tubeless valve on the front wheel. That was easily fixed with a tube. However I realised after the race that I had not put the wheel in properly and also failed to check this by doing a simple wheel spin before carrying on and rode 99 miles with a bad brake rub. After the race I spun the wheel just out of interest and could not get a half rotation out of it. Nice Job!
Did you see Tinker Juarez? Did he say anything to you?
Yes, I saw him with his bike upside down and I think he was crying really hard, oh and by the way he is really really skinny!
How was the event?
Very well organised. A small error by myself and a bunch of others (leading women) took the arrows that sent us on the start of another loop. After 2 miles of heavy descending I realised that this was not right and turned around. Turning my race into 104 miles. Otherwise this was one of the best managed races I have done. The aid stations were incredible! I camped out at the 69 mile one for a while. For those wanting to know, my ride time was 9:28 and my course time was 9:59. That is 29 min at aid stations, they were that good or I was that messed up!
Just say no to single track? Thoughts?
100 miles of jeep track at altitude is hard, 100 miles of single track at altitude is very very very hard and 100 miles of either one is insane when you have completely blown your wod! I think Breckenridge might be the real deal, lets see in 2009.
How about Lance Armstrong? If he was at the TS 100 would you give him a run for all of his money?
Yeah for the first 30 sec's then I would have dropped him!

I woke-up shortly after having that dream.