Hunter and I bike the crazy 80 mile Rock Cobbler race in Bakersfield, CA, with 4 of our friends. Slippery mud, impossible climbs requiring hike-a-bike, cows, and over 8,000 feet of climbing insanity with 1,000 riders. This is the longest and hardest dirty ride of my life!

I was hoping to finish by 6/7pm – rolled in just after 5pm, averaging 8.9mph factoring in all stops. Thrilled! This is my 3rd bike race.

Hunter did the 53 mile variant – I decided to change to the 80 mile monster, last minute, while registering (stupid? strong? stubborn?) 😜

Vegan Cyclist’s great video review of last year’s Rock Cobbler – first 45 seconds is a perfect overview :)

My Race on Strava

More stats:

• avg heartrate: 132.7 bpm
• moving avg speed: 10.3 mph
• elevations: [375..1900] feet

Great breakfast burrito and coffee pre fuel The ponies in the stable, itchin' to go We're going to race different lengths, leaving in separate waves, 20 minutes apart. Giddy!! I’m wave 2 of 4, hoping for the ride of my life. ✅ My printed cheat sheet. All 11 climbs (miles, percent grade avg and max), rest stops. Soooo critically good. And it rotated real nice. 3 days of 20 mile rides. 3 nights of good sleep. Feeling great & in the best shape of my life, thankfully! First hike-a-bike too steep a hill. This Enchanting Ride. Private farm lands replete with horses & cowboys. Ireland. Or Scotland. Wow.

A super muddy cattle trail up, got too steep again, 0 traction, everyone hiking. This backside is a slippery mud & grass mess, but about to get back at it.

That View… ❤️ ❤️

I just crashed, for the first of 2 times. Slippery tricky steep downhill. Was too hard to jump over a deep rut, so I tumbled over at ~1mph. Thankfully OK, just twisted leg slightly. Incredible jeep ridgeline trails Rest stop two OMG beautiful 🥰 Hike a bike *INSANITY*. Like…. 50% grade uphill ?! OMG. The heights and views of these private jeep trails…

I’m deep into the extra 27 miles “upgrade” from the shorter ride.

I nicknamed this abandoned beauty “Stinky”. As in: “oh you know Stinky and me are gonna have a little talk, see” Candy likes Stinky, too. Mazes of jeep ridge trails, that go on and on forever. Blissfully lost in the clouds. Holy shit. I have fever dreams for this kind of canyon single track! Final rest stop #4. Getting jacked on sugar crack with GU caffeine too! I could practically cry right now. Second surprise long canyon single track heaven. All for me. I’m a good goooood girl. I mean… I made the longest ride of my life! 9 hours and the 44th woman overall. We did it! These four waited hours for me to join them & got me a beer. Six of us from our weekly "Thirsty Thursday" group ride (and part of East Bay Gravel Bikers), all finished and had an absolutely amazing time! First time for five of us. We all plan to do it again.

Drew, center, finished 15th in the 53 mile Pebble Cobbler. This race brought the top riders in the world to it. Drew crashed hard early, but managed to still finish that fast. I’m speechless 😲 🙇‍♀️

My Bros!! 🥰😻🚴🏼‍♀️🚴🏼 My results. 44th of 55 women who did the full 80 mile Rock Cobbler (where 9 did not finish). FKYA