The beginning was spicy!! As I got caught behind with no water at the start of the ride (WTF). Caught up with Edwin and Oxx and then set fire to catch up to Robin, Serena, Bzzy, Mo, and Senat. The average speed 17 miles in was HILARIOUS!! Loved it but the lack of a warm up meant my legs were SCREAMING!! So much spice!! Caught up and then took a smallish chill pill. After getting water at the first rest stop continued on and then started breaking away on the climbs, and hit some hard climbs and set a reminder of holy hell there’s some intense ones before the main event devils kitchen. At the approach to Devil’s Kitchen I was taking it easier because I was assessing other climbs how gearing I was using. I was a little worried given I was in the easiest ratio. Once on Devil’s Kitchen the spice was unreal the hurt was even more but kept it pushing. I only stopped two times, an improvement on the 3 times I stopped last year with easier gearing (50/34-11/28). Beat my previous time by about 7-9 minutes depending on how long it took me to ride to the start. Lovely ride and a highlight of the year!!