With rain in the forecast for the umpteenth day in a row, today seemed like a great day to go put women on the board for this variation of the route. Hats off to the ladies who have done the standard route - so freaking fast!!
Despite the forecast, it didn't rain on me at all today. The climb up to Moriah went well. There is a tree that looks like it has been struck by lightning last night or the night before and is down in the trail. It's a little challenging to get around. The trails are wet and muddy (shocker) but not too tough to move through. I cruised through the ridge and down to Zeta Pass... then had a minor panic attack when I thought I had missed Mt. Height. Turns out my mental map of this place is a little off, and I found the junction shortly after Zeta. I'm glad I'm doing this now and getting familiar with the ridge. This effort is training for The Big One.
Water is plentiful, and anytime I needed some, all I really had to do was crouch down and take some off the trail. The steep descents are good fun. The sun even started coming out as I came down to Carter. I found a nice flat rock next to the lake, filled my filter, lay down on my back, and dumped it all on my face. Cool water is such a blessing.
On the climb up Wildcat, I started getting hungry. I'd eat a snack and immediately be hungry again. I ate another two snacks, then realized I needed to ration because I had one granola bar left and I still had to do this dang bike ride. I told my stomach to shut up and kept moving. I ate that last granola bar when I reached the ski area summit, and crossed my fingers that I wouldn't need to dip into my gummy cluster reserves.
At the bottom, I made the choice to ford the river instead of trying to rock hop it. Like I said - cold water is such a blessing. It no longer mattered that my feet were wet. Pretty sure I wasn't going to get blisters from biking 11 miles.
I am not a strong biker. My bike isn't even all that high tech. I mean, I'm still rocking BASKETS for gods sake. Maybe that means my transition times are faster because I don't have to change my shoes. Anyway. I was hell-bent on finishing this in under 8 hours, and this was the hardest I have EVER biked. I screamed at myself all the way down Rt. 16. Things like "LET'S GOOOO" and "STAY DOWN" and " XX MORE MILES YOU GOT THIS". I was not expecting a headwind, but that's what I got. I stayed on the drop bars and in the big ring for 90% of this ride, and I am so, so proud of it. It did help that it was mostly downhill. I pushed all the way through to the finish.
I think it's possible that if the bike ride were done first and in the opposite direction, the speed gained on the run might outweigh the speed lost on the bike, but that's for the next person to figure out. Good luck!