Sunday, August 08, 2010

Epic

This one will be talked about for years. The 2010 edition of the Soggy Bottom 100 tortured a record number of riders with off-the-chart terrible conditions. After a glance at the list of finishers in Hope, I estimated the drop-out rate at 50 percent. Someone told me they thought it was higher.

No one can be blamed for abandoning this beast. People came in covered with mud after multiple crashes on slimy trail. By the time they reached Devil's Pass trailhead, some were in the early stages of hypothermia. Those who cracked included some of the toughest riders in Southcentral Alaska.

Here's to the toughest and fastest in each solo division: Peter and Darcy.

Darcy Davis, first female finisher, riding
out of the first checkpoint at Cooper Landing.

Peter Butt, first male finisher,
savors the finish line in Hope.

2 comments:

Julie said...

These two photos show the contrast between having a front fender and not having one.

I think I figured out how to finish next year, train with Darcy! She was smokin' fast even in the mud.

sean said...

I'm definitely getting one of those fenders. Looking through my photos of the finishers, there were four or five that had that style fender, and all of them had clean faces and chests. Every other finisher was covered in mud, head to toe.