LOTOJA

What is LOTOJA?  It's the longest one-day USAC-sanctioned bicycle race in the country and was set up to resemble the difficulty of a one-day European classic.  In short, it's kind of a big deal.  It starts in Logan, UT and ends in Jackson Hole, WY (hence the name LO TO JA).  It is 206 miles long, has grueling hill climbs,and moves through 3 states: Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming.  Every year people come from all over the country to ride it.  How long does it take to go 206 miles on your bike up and down a few mountains?  Well, if you're me it takes about 13 hours. 13 very long hours sitting on a bike seat.  It means starting your ride at first daylight and praying you make it to the finish line before they shut it down at 8:30 p.m. I may not have been in a racing category with other cyclists, but I was definitely racing against the clock.  A lot of people never make it to the finish in time. 

I signed up for LOTOJA in March and was informed that I was awarded an entry in April (not everyone who wants to do it gets to do it).  I put in over 2000 miles on my bike this summer and did 4 or 5 "century rides" (100 miles long)  I went into the event with a team of 6 ladies and felt like I was as ready as I would ever be.  I had heard it was crazy hard but found out that it was actually CRAZY HARD!!  I've run an entire marathon on an injured leg, but that was NOTHING compared to the pain I experienced yesterday.  I'm not going to sugar coat it, it hurt real bad.

I feel like I could write a book about how not to ride LOTOJA.  I made all the rookie mistakes and I paid for it big time.  What went wrong?  First of all I was too aggressive on the hill climbs.  I'm a good hill climber and I was feeling great so when a men's team passed at the start of the first 20 mile climb I hopped on the back of their pace line and let them pull me up the mountain. ("Pull" meaning I drafted off of them and used less energy than the lead rider going just as fast)  I was feeling great and loving every minute of it.  At the summit I stopped at the feed zone and waited for all of my teammates to come in so we could re-group.  On the second major hill climb I was already feeling it.  I had used too much energy on the first hill climb and I was hurting.  By the time I hit the 3rd major hill climb, which was the steepest one a good 100 miles into the race, I knew I was in a lot of trouble.  Like I said before, it hurt real bad.  At the summit I was 100 miles from the finish line and already I felt like I had absolutely nothing left to give.  Yeah, that is pretty much the worst feeling the world.

I have absolutely no idea how I managed to get to the finish line.  My teammates rallied around me and instead of taking my regular turns to pull the others they let me sit on the back of the pace line.  I was literally hanging on for dear life and they knew it.  We teamed up with several riders during those last 100 miles so there were a lot of people taking turns pulling, this was key in getting us to the finish line in time.  When we hit the feed zone at mile 120 I cried.  I had 80 miles to go and I felt absolutely awful.  The key to a race like this is to eat and drink the entire time so even though nothing sounded or tasted good to me I stuffed my face at every chance and filled my water bottles at every stop.  The next leg was only 33 miles, but it felt like it would never end.  The last leg was 47 miles and was mostly uphill. It was pure torture.  I've never felt like that before. Never. I honestly don't know how I was able to hang on. 9 hours is a long time to be that miserable.  As we neared the finish line our team was down to 4 women . One dropped out at mile 120 and the other was 45 minutes behind us. We crossed the finish line just after 8 p.m. 30 minutes before they shut it down.  I don't often get emotional,  but I cried like a baby. It was so hard but somehow I finished with a vow to NEVER EVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES DO THAT TO MYSELF AGAIN!

Adam came to cheer me on the last 80 miles of the race and when it was all said and done we had to turn around and drive over 3 hours to get back to the starting line.  I wish I could say I felt better when I was finished, but the next 5 hours were just as terrible as the 9 before that.  I was very sick.  We weren't that far out of Jackson before Adam had to pull over so I could get out and throw up.  When I got back in the car it hit me, "you are dehydrated!"  Believe me, I know all about dehydration after living through 3 HG pregnancies.  It was all starting to make sense!  Yes, I had taken in a lot of water, but my body probably needed double or triple that amount to make it through an event like this.  To be so incredibly nauseous and sick was a sign that I wasn't just a little bit dehydrated, I was severely dehydrated.  It had been a vicious cycle. The worse I felt the harder it was to drink from my back water bottle while trying to maintain the pace so I mostly used the front water bottle.  Another rookie mistake.  I felt so sick on that 4 hour ride home through winding roads and canyons that I declared I was never going to ride my bike again and I hated LOTOJA and I even hated the entire state of Wyoming and especially the town of Afton and I couldn't imagine how I would every feel normal again.  Ok, I might have been a bit dramatic but that kind of misery can do that to a person.

Now that I am hydrated again and am in my right mind I can say I'm genuinely glad that I had the experience.  I learned a lot and have decided that Wyoming probably isn't such a bad state after all.  My brother Taylor had a very similar experience with LOTOJA a few years back so he'll know exactly what I'm talking about and is probably getting a good laugh out of this post.

I may have made peace with the state of Wyoming, but I'll never ride LOTOJA again. You can quote me on that.