I'd like to begin by opening with two comments; 1) A special thanks to Vicious Cycle for hosting a great event! 2) OUCH!!! That was painful. The maximum number of riders came out yesterday, (200 in total), to participate in an event that will test and challenge riders at every level. Early season or not this course is extremely diverse with 30 miles, (at least), of dirt, sand and rocks in addition to roughly 49 miles of asphalt. It kicks off from the Ephrata High School and within about 2 miles your climbing on dirt. Even though it's not a race, (so to speak), it is timed so everyone is pushing with all they've got. At first it feels good and the scenery in the back country around Ephrata is breathtaking! As time goes on a rider not only becomes more fatigued but the course has some real challenges thrown in. In addition to some fairly loose sand / gravel along the dirt roads throughout there is one section that skirts through an area that is utilized by ATV's, motorcycles etc. Believe me that section, (although fun), can send any rider for a loop. We hit sand through there that was 6 inches deep and, (from my first hand experience), can send you flying! Fortunately the ground was soft so I didn't get banged up. After flopping around a bit trying to get my feet out of the clip-ins I stood the bike up and managed to get going again. That's harder than it sounds with a skinny tire road bike! Anyway, coming out of that section you're on asphalt for quite some distance until the road just turns to dirt again. At this point a rider is tiring and beginning to feel the effects throughout the entire body to include shoulders and neck. Then, at about 20 miles out from the finish you begin the journey over what I believe is referred to as "Three Devils". Trust me, those three climbs live up to that name. The first is a wall, so steep that you can barely stay on the bike to climb it. You have to stay seated due to being on dirt and if you stand the rear tire will spin and your done. Fortunately, this climb is not long lived. At the top of that you get a little reprieve until arriving at the second devil. Not nearly as steep but long and exhausting. After this one you hit asphalt again which feels pretty good however, still attempting to make time you push as you're able to all the while fighting the wind a bit. And finally you reach devil # 3. If you're not completely gassed when you start this climb you most certainly will be when you reach the top. There are several of those, (tops/false flats), by the way! The downhill from there is all asphalt and quite a relief but your legs are shot and the upper body is hurting so it's not as glorious as you might think. When you reach the bottom you have about 5 miles to go and those babies seemed to take foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrr!! All-in-all, a fantastic time amongst great people! Bob F and I finished together and our buddy Michael H was back a ways but finished successfully as well. (Bob & I actually finished in 4:17:55. I didn't turn my Garmin off for a couple minutes after the finish line.) The sponsors fed us some incredible lasagna, salad, bread and cookies at the end and all of them were of the friendliest nature. This event found it's way to my annual events list!! Hopefully we can get a few more of our members to take on the challenge next year! Below I've included a link to the results site if you're interested. http://rideviciouscycle.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/gfe.pdf P.S. - if you look at the metrics tab don't trust the max gradient. Not sure what happened there? Until next time, keep it upright!