with a huff and a puff

This past weekend I had my first experience riding in Eastern Washington, we had a large group so is was not a race, we hiked a bunch, there was a lot of steep hike a bike sections and a lot of loose talus to be dealt with. My friend Brett, who will also be at the Creampuff was our ride leader, the scenery and trail conditions were vastly different than the Western side of the Cascades, think extremely dry, rocky and loose, although I have said since living here who ever put in the forest service roads here looked where they wanted to be and went straight up. we climbed 1000 ft in the first 2 miles of the ride, most of that in the last 3/4 of a mile. The views were worth the agony, my favorite quote of the day goes to Keith, who after 2 plus hours of riding and hiking and hiking some more was overheard saying, "the only thing that will make all that worth it is if this ride ends in a field of beer and handjob." To which the rest of the guys responded, "handjobs, I prefer blowjobs." There you have it. While the ride didn't end in either, the last half of the ride was much better and the last descent was fantastic. Thank you Brett.
On to my fear about the Puff, I just want to finish and not be destroyed, with all that life has been throwing at me I think that this is all I can hope for. I could list all the stressors, but that just isn't the point. I feel as though I am making excuses, but they are not excuses just the truth about what has taken priority this year. Riding has mainly been a utility to and from the daily grind. Training, was limited and my health has been an ever present challenge. Nuff said. I am going to go out and have some fun and see what the day brings. It is a race, but I plan to ride it, if I feel like racing later in the day, I will, if not I will just try to maintain a consistent pace, eating and drinking so that I stay away from the dreaded bonk. This is a large challenge and I pray that I am not taking on too much with all the health issues I have faced. I think that I have the physical fitness, the mind is a terribly hard monster sometimes. I would just like to have a good ride, and finish before the cut off time in good spirits. Funny how goals change from year to year. The biggest challenge for me is knowing that I am going back to a race that I have done well at and that I most likely will not beat my time from the previous year. Not impossible, but not very probably given the shape I was in that year. The goal is to have fun. Not regrets, I will have lots of time to converse with myself, somewhere around 11 hours I hope. thats all for now. as always keep pedaling.