Going big, again

The soggy Old Bannack Road (photo by Chris Plesko)

Well, let's have this serve as some sort of motivational (for me) announcement that I'll find myself back in Banff in June with my wheels aimed southward toward Mexico. Plans have been in the works for a while, but all the pieces have now fallen into place with good certainty. After I finished the race in 2009, I was sure I wouldn't bother doing it again. There's virtually no singletrack, I already saw everything once, aside from what I rode through in the dark, and I met my goals of (1) finishing, and (2), finishing with a sub-20-day time.

But Dave Harris was quick to point out that no one does it just once, which is actually a disturbingly accurate statement. A year later, I was jonesing to ride it faster. And after carefully probing the limits of my endurance, tolerance of sleep deprivation, and what distance I can cover after running out of food during the the AZT750 last year, I feel like I have a much better feeling of what I can do, but it'll require substantial luck with weather, gear reliability, not hitting towns in the dead of night, knee happiness, and avoiding mental meltdowns. And with some other strongmen rumored to be joining the festivities, it could be a very exciting race.

There's no gold at the end of this rainbow, just Idaho. But get to Idaho, and you'll almost certainly make it to Mexico.