DNF

I thought as long as I was going to die, I should do it honorably, so I got as far as Schooley's Mountain General Store before pulling the plug. When the numbers say you need to average 14 miles per hour in order to finish, and you haven't averaged better than 11 all day, it's time.



But at least you can finish the biggest climbs first, and call it quits around mile 120 at a general store where they make pizza instead of, say, standing on some rural highway, dispirited, out of Gatorade, eyed ...