Celebrating JayP’s GDR, the Targhee Hill Climb, and a flamethrower

The weekend kicked off Friday evening with a party for JayP over in Jackson at Snake River Brewery. Jay looks great and has been eating like a machine to replace the ten pounds he lost during the GDR. The “meat & potatoes” pizza was no match for Jay.

Jay had a great story about how he got his bike home after the race. Have you seen the giant cardboard boxes they use for watermelons in the produce section? Picture Jay unloading watermelons from one of those boxes in the Super Wal-Mart in El Paso, walking out of the store with it, and then riding back to his motel while carrying this giant box under one arm. Once back at his motel room he went to work with his knife and duct tape and crafted the burliest cardboard bike box you have ever seen. Greatness!

Sunday was the Grand Targhee Hill Climb road bike time trial. This race is a local favorite and most folks like to measure their times to previous years. The race had always started at Stateline Rd and had been an 8 mile climb. This year the new organizer decided to start the race in town which added 3.9 miles to the course and another 400’ of gradual climbing at the beginning. Many people showed up with clip-on aero bars to maximize the new beginning section.

I think I nailed my pacing as my average HR was 175, my threshold, for the entire race and I was able to ride the last ¾ mile above 180 to finish strong. My time of 45:57 was good enough for 4th in my age group and 14th overall in the men’s. It is amazing how much a 45 minute can hurt! Local pro Kris Lunning laid down an incredible 38:19 and won by a good margin.

I am always interested in what's happening in the world of LED lights and I just read that Lupine Lights is about to release their latest LED light which will almost double the lumens of their already insanely bright Wilma. This light will not be cheap but mounted on a helmet it would be the only light you would need.



There is a thread over on MTBR about Lupine's yet-to-be-named light and more info is trickling in.