The Cyclethymics, made up of the Quick Mickener, Kurt "my bottom bracket won't stop clicking", and LEWIS, simply dominated the Porcupine Hill Climb. With 14.7 miles of climbing and almost 4,000 feet of elevation gain the stakes were high for the scrappy trio as they rodeout to Big Cottonwood Canyon as a warm-up. The Quick Mick and Bottom Bracket raced in the Masters B category while LEWIS took his chances in the Cat 4s. A stiff head wind rolled out of the canyon and it was clear that the key to the race would be making sure to be in good position to draft for the flatter 3 mile section in the middle of the climb.
Despite being troubled by hamstring difficulty, the Mickener took 3rd in the Masters followed closely by a fast finishing Bottom Bracket in 5th. LEWIS, in the first race of the season where he has not been overcome with existential despair, finished a respectable 5th in the Cat 4s in 1:07:33, beating his time last year by about a minute. Their plans of riding home were complicated by Mickener's protesting hamstrings and his escalating and increasingly desperate pleas for sympathy. After distributing the growler of beer that the Mick won for 3rd place among their watterbottles, spirits were lifted all around and they began the slow spin homeward.
The next day LEWIS hiked Timpanogos in what was one of the best days of hiking in his young life. After the long ascent the quartet of hikers were rewarded with about 1000 feet of sliding down steep glaciers on their behinds, the only casualty being a lost I-phone by Adam.
LEWIS!
