It's a lot of miles at one time in April, but it is LATE April, so you gotta stretch a bit. Not particularly fast, and there were spots where the SW wind was a struggle (the mile stretch starting at 21, on top of a levee with zero trees around) but otherwise, it was mostly about conditioning ... Warmest day of the year so far and above normal for late April, but nobody is complaining. The route is pretty aggressive for early in the year, mainly because of the climbing in the first 5 miles. There's another kick-you-butt climb at 14 but then it gets a lot easier after that. Felt pretty good until the gorge at 28, and that was even after a rest stop at 27... Grateful at that point for the sorta-tailwind. Wasn't a complete death march but certainly coulda been. Discovered broken spoke at the end (love well-built disc wheels that wobble only a tiny bit with busted spoke) so that'll take some time to fix. Back to dirt! From Dans w/Dan