The Ozark Mountain High Ride

This morning I had the pleasure of riding the Ozark Mountain High Ride--which allows up "normal" bicyclists to ride the time trial course the pros rode later today.

The ride was a heck of a lot of fun and the course was definitely very challenging. About 75 riders rode the course. The fastest time on our ride today was about 50 minutes. Lots of us were coming in about 1:20 to 1:30. The best time among the pros today was somewhere under 40 minutes--so they are just about twice as fast as we are . . .

The ride had some really amazing climbs, followed by equally amazing descents. In the last 10 miles, there is a long, very fast descent (where pro rider Blake Caldwell was seriously injured during the time trial--I could see how that could happen as I was easily pushing 40 MPH even on my knobby tired mountain bike), followed by a long climb, then another long, fast descent followed by an even longer, harder climb.

Then you see the sign, "Shepherd of the Hills exit". Great--the race ends at Shepherd of the Hills. We're done!

Nope. There is one mile left and it is the hardest and steepest of all. I counting three very steep grades, with the longest and steepest leading up to the finish line. The final mile took me at least 15 minutes.

The good news--I captured first place in the "Knobby Tired Mountain Bike" Division.

Unfortunately, the ride crew was forced to inform me that I had also captured last place in my division at the same time.

So I'm the yellow jersey & the lanterne rouge all at the same time . . .

Ride photos: