Alex Broekhof // Big Epic

Was very excited about this Epic, since it covered a lot of ground that I had never ridden. The only overlap with last years seemed to be some of Almaden, but even that quickly traversed into new territory. The Woods Uphill KOM was very tough, needed to walk up parts of it. And that downhill into Los Gatos was pretty brutal on the brakes, which are now fully glazed I assume! John Nichols trail was also brand new to me, and was a joy to climb—very happy to have done that. Topping out, I thought we were mostly done climbing for the day, but the Skyline trail is constant up/down, so slow going. We refilled water at CalFire, but didn't have coins for a soda... After a final push up Black Mountain, it was smooth sailing to the finish. Thanks for organizing!