GoPro Games (luke jay)

GOPRO games was awesome. I raced the Ultimate Mountain Challenge again and although bettering my times from last year I dropped a spot and finished 4th place. Its cool though because the three dudes in front of me are all real deal fast ass pro athletes. Josiah Middaugh won again (for like 5th straight year) and Travis Macy as always was right behind in 2nd...and Adam Wirth (xterra buddy) from Idaho brought his fast cycling legs to Vail to claim third. So sat morning starts with the 4mile downriver kayak down gore creek (class 2/3) ...20:00 min later and its over. No swimming or major mistakes and I'm stoked. A few hrs later all 8-9 Pro UMC guys lined up behind the huge PRO mtb field. Its a brutal course of 3x6mile laps...lots of climbing. I felt ok but lost enough time to Adam that I knew a podium repeat would be tough. Early sunday morning at 8am we are all lined up with a very fast and large field to race the 10k trail run (11k) ...its at 9,000 feet and we climbed 2k in just 6.5-7 miles...its brutal. I felt strong on the run and could tell all my running helped (weird huh?) I finished 16th overall (with some very strong pro runners) and beat Adam by 5min. (54min finish time) Next was the classic Vail TT up vail pass. 9.8 miles up to 10,000 feet. Once again my legs felt decent but no "snap"...I finished 4th place overall Pro after the 4 events. It was a great weekend with Becca and Ryder. Ryder had a blast at the games doing the zipline, slackline, free stuff, biking, and watching pro BMX dudes jumping. Its rad to see him hyped on this stuff and he yelled at me to "drop the hammer" a few time during the races...so good!  Got home late on sunday from the games and was pretty tired ...but Monday I had a 3hr trail run as Patrick told me I had to run on tired legs...it went solid and I did 20miles with 3k+ of vertical.

A few "gear notes" ....For tires I have been running the GEAX AKA and really like this tire for 95% of Colorado conditions. GIRO aeon helmet has been awesome! super light and comfortable. I'm running the GIRO code mtb shoes this year and have been super impressed with the fit, comfort and stiffness. I used swiftwick socks for all the events and will be using these socks for all my Leadville races including the Leadville 100 run. Don't underestimate the need for good socks and swiftwick is the best in my opinion.  The badass dudes at Adrenalin cycles keep my bikes running smooth and have everything you need for cycling or racing.