The Tahoe Sierra 100, the last race in the NUE series took place in a remote part of the Lake Tahoe area. Under perfect sunny skies the race went off at 7am and the pace started of pretty mellow but about halfway up the first climb it started to pick up. A lead group of about 7 (which I was a part of) soon formed. This group by the end of the first climb had a 20 second gap on me I just staid steady and kept them in sight, on the first down hill I came up on Jeff Shalk, he was dusting himself of from a crash he was up and standing so I figured he was OK, a little farther down I came across Tinker with a flat then I caught the lead group again the pace slowed a bit, then on the way up the next big climb the pace picked up, I slowly started to get dropped again.
By the first aid station (mile 41) the lead group was just out of site, going hard on the next downhill I misted a turn and went down for about 5 miles and came to the 79 mile aid station where I was told I had gone the wrong way. For about 5 minutes as I started my climb back to the turn I had missed, I felt like dropping out, but this soon turned into determination to finish. Without the pressure to win I took in the scenery and got to chat with a couple of racers along the way and had a great training ride.