the pylons do moab

so it was way back in march, while we were in virginia, that the captain and digger informed us we would be doing a road trip to moab in the fall. something about a 50k on the mountain bike trails. we would fly into vegas, spend the night there doing whatever, and then head to moab the next day. the race is on saturday, and once completed, we would drive to arizona and run down the grand canyon. we'd stay overnight at havasu falls, and run back up. what could go wrong?

well, let's see.

• first of all, we read the following on the race site: 'BEWARE: no baby allowed. most of our distance advertised are wrong. for instance our 50km was in reality a 56km.' okay.
• then i read: 'the ultimate xc moab edition 50km is considered as one of the hardest 50km on the planet.' interesting.
• and further: 'most of our participants will attest that this is as hard as a 50 miler.' hmmm
• i then checked out the elevation: total gain = 10,174 feet
• finally, we received this update about a month ago: 'november is unpredictable and therefore you could have rain or even snow on the ground. therefore if heavy rain or snow is part of our lives on race day, we will have to dramatically change the course as some of the section that you will be racing on would send you to a sudden death. No this is not a Joke.'

and so, on wednesday, november 11, me, captain, digger, cy, onions and the beaver are boarding a plane for las vegas.

like i said before, 'what could go wrong?'

www.ultimatexc.com/MOAB.html