Outlaw Trail 100 (well, 23)
Monday Oct 22, 2007
That's me in the Sun Microsystems jersey in the foreground on the left, and Nick on the right.
On Saturday 20 October 2007 my son Nick and I set out on the 25 mile course of the 20th annual Outlaw Trail 100. Things started out well, but after a while we were out in the country and things got windy and we encountered hills. We made it to the first water stop at 10 miles without any problems. A ways after that, maybe around mile 12, Nick started saying his leg hurt and wondering if he could take the SAG wagon back. We had hit some hills and wind by this time, and I think it wasn't much fun for Nick at that point.
At around mile 16 or so we hit a point where the 25 mile route went north, west and then south. But one of the longer routes skipped that part, so we decided to do so also. While it looked to me this would cut off at least 3 miles, we ended the ride at 22.98 miles, according to my Garmin Forerunner 305. So I think the 25 mile route was actually a bit longer than that.
The longest Nick had ridden in the past was 14 miles, so this was a lot longer. It took us nearly two and a half hours, and I think part of the problem was Nick just wasn't used to sitting on a bike for that length of time. Also, I think Nick may need a larger bike, as his seat post is out pretty far already, and it really ought to be higher for better performance.
I'm proud of Nick for hanging in there for 23 miles. For a 9 year old on a mountain bike (with fairly slick tires), that's pretty darn good!
