First ever recorded sub 3-hour Charleston loop!! I didn't think I could go this fast so I’m super pumped and I’ll be riding this high for a couple weeks ?
I wanna point out that David Sinclair is an incredible athlete: he just missed out on sub-3, doing it on-sight, in the snow, and getting lost. If he came back and did it with the route knowledge and weather that I had, I bet he would wreck my time.
I also snagged the CRs for the coveted Trail Canyon Climb and Charleston Summit vía Trail Canyon and north loop, but I’m kinda sad bc I missed breaking my South Loop descent CR from last summer by 2 seconds haha
The temp was almost perfect, but it was very windy. I crossed the summit to be instantly hit by gale force winds that ripped a gel out of my hand and another out of my open gel pocket thingy and blew them off the side of the mountain. Other than that, I think the run went about as perfect as could be hoped.
I carried 4 gels and ~10 oz in a handheld waterbottle. I took a gel right before starting and intended to one more every 40 minutes. I ended up taking probably 2.25 total gels instead. I also intended to drink ~2 oz per gel, but I just wasn't thirsty and drank maybe 5 oz total.