LOTOJA

[pronounced lo-tuh-jah]

= 206 miles from [Lo]gan, UT [to] [Ja]ckson Hole, WY

Start line - day before

Four years ago Andrew Tappe came home with a story of an epic ride from northern Utah to Jackson Hole.  206 miles with 10,000 feet of climbing – all in one day. 

I love epic rides.  I’m not really built for them, but love the challenge of getting pushed to my limits (and then pushing back). 

Three years ago, I entered the lottery for a spot.  No dice.  Second try, still no entry.  This year in March – payday!

Then I begged my family for a hall pass – they were totally supportive (thanks gang!) and this became my big goal for the season. 

It turns out, Andrew is kind of a local star in town.  We enter the local bike shop and first thing we hear is “hello Andrew.”

Sunrise Cyclery's #1 Customer

Epic rides tend to come along with epic experiences.   This one starts with bizarre. 

After doing this six times, Andrew’s got a well-tuned itinerary.

On Friday, the first stop is dinner at an Indian restaurant the night before.  When he broke this to me, I sort of scratched my head – then decided to go with the flow. 

That is until we pulled up to this (in a rural Utah town):

Yes, that is a gas station.  Yes, it is also an Indian restaurant (??).

One side, fill ‘er up.  The other side Vindaloo.  My first thought was “he’s trying to kill me.”

Turns out this was the top-rated Indian restaurant in Utah.  Hold your comments, the food was awesome.

Andrew’s friend Tai was our host for the weekend and his team were a bunch of really good guys:

(from left) Tai, Andrew, Dave, Bryan, Chad and Todd

Organizing support is just about as intricate as Leadville.  Tai's wife Vickie, his daughter Laykan, and Andrew's son Christian weren't in for a good time, they were in for a long time.  They supported us for 13 hours on the road, hopping from stop to stop.

Saturday meant up at 430a, breakfast, pack and get to the start.  I was super-nervous about biking 206 miles.  That’s 46 miles longer than I’ve ever gone on a bike.  As a result, I couldn’t wait to get started and slept in until 315a (argh). 

My start time was an hour ahead of the rest of the guys (rookie registration mistake=Rookie Mistake #1), so I had to quietly “tuck in” to their group (at risk of a DQ). 

Here’s a quick run-down on the race:

·      First 46 miles:  Flat, windy and, as grandpa used to say, “smells like money to me” (lots of feedyards). We hammered (and tried not to breathe in the feedyard smells too deeply).   We pull out of the first stop here and Andrew says, “Only a B2B to go!”  Thanks.

·      Next 64 miles:  home of rookie mistake #2.  Most cyclists see 10,000 feet of climbing and think, no big deal.  If it’s spread out, it won’t hurt that much.  At LOTOJA, it’s not spread out.  How does 8,500 feet of climbing in 64 miles sound to you?  That’s right it hurts.  3 big climbs (Strawberry, Geneva and Salt River).  I had no idea how tough this this section was going to be.  Trying to pace myself without knowing what was coming up was tricky.  We climbed for 30 miles from the first rest stop to Strawberry.  That went OK.  Just took it a bit easy.  The second I felt a bit more than the first.  By the third climb, I was suffering like a dog.  Here’s how fresh I was at the top of climb #3 (Andrew snuck up behind me to capture this inspiring moment):

"Dear God, please, let this be over."

    Bonked.  Tai’s friends Todd & Chad saved me here – “the big climbing is done.  You’re gonna make it.”  That was all I needed to hear.  Short of a lung and leg transplant.  

 Luckily, a 10 mile downhill followed.  I'm really good at not pedaling, so this was right up my power alley.

·      Next 65 miles – Rolling flats.  Thank God, or I wouldn’t have had a chance.  We hammered.  Actually, Bryan, Dave, Andrew and Chad hammered.  I hung on and tried to find a happier place.  

We made it to the Wyoming border in under 5 hours.  Later, we met our support team for the first time at mile 125 – happy place found -- it’s amazing what a can of Coke can do to bring you back to a happy place.  That and a ham sandwich.  

·      Next 31 miles – Turning into the Snake River Canyon is beautiful.  It’s hard to describe the beauty – turquoise water of the Snake, gorgeous canyon, 2% climbing.  Then, the skies went dark, the temps dropped 20 degrees and the rain started.  Cold, hard.  Soaked.  We rode for about 20 minutes until this showed up for us at the last rest stop.  End of the rainbow?  (just over the porta-potties)  Jackson!  We were 20 miles out. 

·      
     Thanks to Bryan and Dave, we hammered the last 20 miles, including the final climb to pull into Teton Village.  Andrew led out, I followed and then Tai came around me to take the silver medal in our group. 

All smiles to be done (we’re fried, really). 

Tale of the tape:

206 miles

10,000 feet of climbing

19.1 mph avg. speed

15,000 calories

Thanks Vickie, Layken, Christian, Tai, Andrew, Bryan, Dave, Brian, Todd, Chad, Tanner and the rest of the Utah crew -- you guys were awesome.

See you next year (you've got to come do this race with us next year)!