Mission Accomplished! My goal, to improve on last year, was to not have to walk any of the climbs or descents, especially Olmo Fire Rd. And I did it!!! It was such a sense of accomplishment conquering that steep descent, that starts off with loose dirt and then with thick gravel. I did have a slight "crash" on Olmo. It was really low speed, my front wheel got washed out by the thick gravel and I couldn't unclip in time so I fell forward. It felt like a face plant but Jenny saw it and said it was "graceful". :) And I managed to ride up all the steep climbs including the epic final climbs. On the very last one I could feel my legs start to cramp but I wasn't going to come this far to have to walk and luckily I made it up! It was sunny and warm right from the beginning. I ended up drinking 6 bottles of Skratch. The first part of the ride, I was going sort of hard, sort of racing to catch Jenny and Nikki. I gotta say, I didn't like it. I was gassed from the climbs and then I would be going down descents faster than I wanted to and not fully focused because I was still catching my breath. Extra kudos to everyone racing OGC for realz. It wasn't for me. And this year the trails were way dustier, the sand and gravel was thicker. One guy saved a potential "tank slapper"/high side going into a turn with thick sand. All the dust also made it really hard to see the trail - not great during the descents. I'm still coughing from all the dust I breathed in. I caught up to Jenny right at the start of the dirt and the plan was to ride with her but she was walking and I was riding up the climb so I kept going because it's easier to ride it than walk it. I slow rolled but we didn't meet up until the first rest stop. From there we rode together all the way until Gazos Creek Rd. On the climb she was on the verge of bonking and she dropped off. At the last rest stop I continued on while she went at her own pace with her new friend Sarah, who went to school with Alice's brother but had never met before. Small world. About two thirds of the way up Butano Fire Rd. We saw two marshals attending to someone lying on the ground. At first I was thinking, "an accident going up hill?" Turns out it was a guy severely cramping. I gave him a salt tablet and we would meet him again later, when Jenny gave him another salt tablet. I was pretty tired at the end but so stoked to achieve the goal I set out for the ride. It felt like a win to me. :) Kudos to all the Huck/Fatcakers that crushed it out there. So much respect. I can't imagine riding as hard as they did. Once again, they were at Aid Station 2/3 when we were there as #2 and they were there using it as #3 on their way to the finish!