Clam, Fish, and the Soggy Bottom

8:00AM - Clam Gulch, AK

Two epic days and I am totally wrecked. It hurts to move. Zach and I woke up Friday at 5:00 to head down to Clam Gulch near Homer. The tides were low this weekend and perfect for catching some razor clams. We absolutely killed it and limited out in 3 hours ... that's 120 clams in the bucket by 11:00am. We then went straight to the kenai to try and catch some silvers. I caught a trout and a bunch of pinks while Zach nailed two delicious silvers. We cleaned the clams with a vengeance in Kenai before heading back to Girdwood for a clam fry / salmon bake and an early bed time.





Yesterday I woke up at 6:00 and cooked up a massive omelet in anticipation of the soggy bottom. The course tackles 3 major climbs over 100 miles of single track.


The temperatures on the way out to Hope were in the mid 30's but by the start it was 45. The course climbs immediately so I doubt anyone got cold up there. Chuck DiMarzio and I created the early selection and rode a solid tempo to the top of Resurrection pass, where he pulled away from me after I wiped out and had to ride backwards for a bit looking for my sunglasses (which I never found). After a disgusting descent to Cooper Landing Chuck was 4 minutes ahead of me. We were 4 hours and about 40 miles in. Mark Elfstrom was only a few minutes behind us and we had a good race on our hands. I ate a handful of oreos, some frosted animal crackers, a french bread pizza, a half pineapple, and a red bull before I left the turnaround and I was feeling strong.



I lifted the pace a bit to catch Chuck on the climb back to Devils Pass. I caught up with him after about 30 minutes and we rode together for a while before I pulled away on the steeper section of the climb. I got into a good rhythm and thought that I could try and put a big gap on him on this climb and hold it to the end. I did not want to go to the final descent with him because I could tell he was a better technical rider than me.

The descent from Devils pass was also muddy and damaged from horses at the top but the lower half was in great shape. I arrived at the trail head at 3:00, 7 hours and 70 miles in. I took a bit longer at this turnaround as I recalled the last time I did the soggy. That year I was putting on a light and fighting off tears and I was about the head out into a dark trail after about 9 hours of riding. I felt much better this year but was still a bit nervous about the final leg.



I didn't see Chuck for a while and I knew something had happened. Sure enough, I finally saw him with a broken seat post and a stripped crank. His race was done. I still had to hold off Mark, who was maybe 20 or 30 minutes back. He was riding a 5 inch Turner and was descending well. So I made sure to keep the pressure on up Devils Pass. That climb hurts after 7 hours but it is steady and about 60 or 90 minutes long so you just have to put your head down and grunt it out.



The descent back to Hope should have been easy but it wasn't. My fork wasn't working very well and I only had about an inch of travel. That combined with my weak upper body meant that I was hurting bad. My arms, neck, wrists and back were all screaming. I wiped out in mud holes a few times and my bike was really starting to struggle mechanically so I backed off a bit and just tried to stay smooth which was not very successful. I just wanted to get done. With a mile to go to the trailhead there is a fast rocky descent. I was going really fast and nailed my rear wheel on a rock. I felt the rim hit and sure enough the rear tire shredded against the rim. My C02 inflator was full of mud from riding in my pocket and I could not get it to work. So there was no fixing this flat. I rode the final mile of rocky trail and then the 5 miles or so of dirt road on the flat, most likely trashing my rim. I rode hard to keep my speed up always looking over my shoulder to see if Mark was going to come past me but he never did and I got the W. It took me 10 hours and 49 minutes, or 3 hours and 20 minutes faster than in 2005. Not a bad improvement, but still 95 minutes behind D-Mat's record.

After the race I was talking to this guy and I said something like "yeah it's a good thing Chuck's bike broke or else he would have smoked me." The guy says "Hey, I'm Chuck by the way." I love how you can spend hours with someone on a bike ride but still not know what they look like without their gear on!

Mike Vania and Joe Pollock finished strong in 3rd and 4th. Check out what Vania did in a face plant near the end of the ride:



Now I can barely move and I am in full on recovery mode. Like clockwork, D-Mat was knocking on my door in Girdwood at 10:00AM to make sure his record was safe for another year.

thanks to mjshea for the photos!