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The hills were over and it was off to the flatter section where heat and the wind would be our enemies. This part of the ride was absolutely desolate. There were no spectators to see, no other riders to see and barely any civilization around. Many times I thought I might be on the wrong road until I reached an intersection where a lonely traffic cop was directing us to make a turn.

At about mile 70, the guy in front of me - the one who would not let me pass him - got a flat. I passed him and sincerely told him I was sorry that this happened. He thanked me and I told him I would send the maintenance van around if I saw it.

I was not drinking a tremendous amount of water on this ride, but I did end up taking about 5 salt tables along the way. As the day got warmer, I started taking water at every water station. They were stationed about 10 miles apart. Many of the water stations had large hand drawn pictures of Osama Bin Louden with a bulls eye drawn on him and a large cutout for a mouth. The idea was to throw your used water bottles through this hole. It was pretty challenging as you whizzed by. I failed miserably.

Coming up to the 80^th mile, I was in need of some more water. When I got there all I saw was white paint of the road indicating where the mile 80 water station needed to be placed. I guess they did not have enough volunteers this day.

At about mile 90 several things seem to hit me at the same time making the ride become miserable.

The first was that my calories started to run out. I had spent too much energy at the beginning and since I could not eat with my heart rate so high I was now paying the price. I was 4 hours into the ride and had about an hour left to ride and knew I had to tough it out. My Gu flask with its 600 gelatinous calories was empty by now. I had eaten 1 and a half Cliff bar and nothing but water. I would suffer to the end.

The second was the wind. The wind always seemed to come from the side or front. It seems I never had a tail wind. Tough winds are mentally difficult to get through.

The third was the heat and humidity. I could feel my self starting to dehydrate and dry up as the sun beat down on me on the wide open course.

At mile 100 small rolling hills were added to the mixture making me scream out in exasperation a few times. There was not a soul around, but it just felt better to scream. My heart rate was dropping significantly, indicating that I was running out of fuel. My body was starting to consume itself for energy. During the race I ended up losing about 6 lbs.

It seemed I would never reach the end and nothing was looking familiar, but I knew I was close. Before I knew it I was back into town and had less than a mile to go. I feebly stood up and rode as hard as my legs would allow me to. I cruised into the transition area and was so delirious that I tried to give my timing chip to Joe - the runner for the other team. The race officials directed me to Kevin - our runner. He said something like. "Take off your timing chip." I was so exhausted that I could no even move and I told him he would have to get it off me himself. He did and was off. I lay down in the grass for a few minutes unable to move. This was one of my hardest bike rides ever.

I had 5:04:57 ride time with an average speed of 21.7 mph. This FAR exceeded my expectations and I was ecstatic.
Kevin's and Joe's Run:
As watched as the other riders gradually came in. Don ended up going out on the bike 13 minutes after me. Thirteen minutes passed then he came in only a couple of minutes behind that. Joe had 16 minutes to make up on Kevin. This was totally doable as Joe was a fantastic marathoner who has run this distance many times before.

The run was 3 laps around Lake Mineloa. After lap one Kevin reported he was in terrible shape and had already walked. At that point I felt Joe would catch him. Joe's first lap was about 5 minutes faster than Kevin's - meaning he was catching up. Kevin showed up for the second lap and was trucking along. Both Kevin and Joe were hoping for sub 3 hour marathons today. Joe did not show up for more than 30 minutes after Kevin on that second lap.

We waited at the finish line for everyone. It turns out Kevin started to go around for a 4^th lap, running an extra mile before someone on the course told him he needed to go back and make the turn. He ended up crossing the finish line with a total team time of 9:39:xx.

Kevin's marathon time was about 3:39:05 and our Turtles team time was 9:39:58. On this day the Turtles beat the Snails and we were happy to take first place in the Male Rely division.

Joe had a tough day on the racecourse and got the Turtles a 4^th place overall Male Rely win. Joe ended up cramping badly on the run. Joe bunched back quickly however, because the weekend after this race he clocked a another sub 3 hour marathon in Washington DC.
A great race and a great time by all. THE END!

Thanks for reading.

Adam Langley
Atlanta, GA