Lost and Found 2016

It's awesome to see an event gain moment and get people stoked. I know a bunch of people who have been talking about riding Lost and Found literally from the time they cross the finish line in 2015. And this year, the number of customers we have from the shop who have been prepping is really cool to see.

The route is awesome, the views are awesome and the entire thing is so much fun to be a part of. The Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship has put on an amazing race with the Downieville Classic for over 20 years and now they are doing the same thing with Lost and Found. For 2016 they upped the ante with the High Sierra Triple Crown. A 3 race overall champ for the king of the sierras. It includes LnF, the Downieville Classic and the Grinduro in Quincy in October.

So with the prospect of being the true king of the mountains, this year our lead group was filled with heavy hitters. Decker, Wicks, and Myself were probably the only 3 going for the overall title but we had Tobin Ortenblad, Lance Haidet, Matt Lieto and a bunch more fast dudes rolling the pace at the front.

My goal was definitely to crack the top 5 again and even get onto the podium this year. I knew I had to make it to the base of the final climb with the leaders and more or less hold on to the top climbers wheels and see how the cards fell. Well, I got popped off around mile 55 and was riding alone until I regrouped with Lance and Barry from 65-72 miles after they flatted. Right before the climb begins there is a long-ish road stretch and the 3 of us were rolling across it around 27/28mph and I knew that I wasn't going to be able to hold the pace and then roll a similar pace on the climb so I backed off with the hopes to catch some dude on the climb who got popped.

...Well that didn't happen, quite like I was expecting. With the work I was doing early on and then the pace later in the race, I had spent most of my matches and found cramp city on the climb about half way up. Had to take a brief little pause in the shade to stretch it out before rollin again. Crossed the line in 6hrs and fully spent. There was not much more I could have done. The last thing to do was enjoy the rest of the weekend up there and relax and refuel!