good job, man.
right there with you on racing vs race culture. I did Lajitas a few times, plus the Mas-o-Menos 100k (50k for us singlespeeders), as much for the road trip as anything. plus a couple localer races. good times. but you'd these guys who would get all upset. 'hey, man. don't get pissy with me. I'm in line behind these roadies who can't handle a pretty simple step-up, just like you.'
I was searching back through my Strava for the South Boundary Trail ride I did some years ago, and it was kind of telling how much my rides have decreased in length, lately. used to be like 10mi, minimum. now 10mi is like an epic. my fitness decline was very much on display this week at Angel Fire, with Your Mom. was gonna do the climb from the highway up 76 to Osha Pass, but my legs were done from 2 days of downhilling. so I came home a day early. weather forecast was sketchy, anyway. they're getting a decent monsoon, this year.