and to follow-up:
What fun! Getting to participate in this relay race was quite exhilarating, a good time with good friends.
I dragged myself out of bed at 4:15am to rendezvous with the mountain part of the relay team (skier, snowboarder, runner) and was the first to be dropped at the holding site (photo above). I spent the 3 hour wait time looking like a total nerd, wearing all my bike stuff plus other warming fleeces, hats, whathaveyou and reading for school. When the runners started to come in and pass off to their riders, it was impossible to not get caught up in the excitement.
Everyone before me rocked their leg of the event, I saw runners coming in that looked like they'd rather have been force-fed poison then ever run again, but Holly was amazing. I took off on my 40 mile adventure down the mountain...it was glorious. I got passed. a lot. but I passed some people too (one of them on a hill!). And I got cheered on by my teammates who, I think, were proud of me, and that meant a lot.
I know that I brought the team down significantly for my time, but I must say, being competitive is not my strong suit and frankly, it was a personal achievement. 40 miles in 2 hours 28 minutes including: 3 downhills (topping out at 37 mph) and 5 significant hill climbs (scraping the barrel at 4 mph at my lowest) with an average of 15 mph.
...and then at the end there was a shower, a nap, some margaritas and all the amazing gourmet tacos you could possibly eat.
