LOTOJA - 5317

Translation? LOgan TO JAckson. Yes, riding a bike from Logan, Utah to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It's 206 miles in one long day. 5317 was Fogg's racing number.

Three friends raced the LOTOJA on Saturday, September 6. They started in Logan at 6:58, which meant getting up at about 4:30 to leave to drive up there and get ready. The three riders were Michael Hart, Andrew Branaum and Mike Fogg. Here they are at the start


As you can see, it was early in the morning and they were sort of bundled up, it was pretty chilly as they got ready in front of the port-o-potty.

There were two feed zones before we saw them again. The temperature was just about right, sort of sunny with a slight breeze to keep the heat off. The first FZ was in Preston Idaho, 34 miles in. One of our support guys, the mechanic, went to that FZ to check in. The rest of us skipped to the third FZ. The second FZ was called a neutral feed zone, meaning that outside support was not allowed to go there. So we saw them at FZ3, in Montpelier Idaho, 80 miles in and after one major mountain pass.

This is Michael Hart coming into FZ3.

Andrew looking a bit grumpy at FZ3.

Fogg is eating a PB&J at FZ3.

Then they were off again for two more mountain passes. FZ4 was another neutral, so we saw them again on the road climbing up the last mountain pass.

This is Andrew climbing up the last mountain pass.

Andrew cresting the final climb!

Fogg topping out!

We caught up with them again at FZ5, in Afton Wyoming, 125 miles in with 81 miles to go. They were all feeling pretty good but also pretty tired. We took off again and caught up with Michael Hart at FZ6 in Alpine, Wyoming. Michael had for fitted his attempt at the finish there in Alpine because he neglected to put his sunglasses on and actually sunburned his corneas. He couldn't see a thing and felt that it was unsafe to continue to the finish. By the time we got there, he was a couple of beers in and was feeling fine. We motivated Andrew and Fogg cause they had only 47 miles to go and had already completed 159 miles.

Fogg and Michael at FZ6.

Andrew getting stocked up in the pockets by Greer at FZ6.

Andrew, Michael and Fogg at FZ6 watching more riders come in.

If I do say so myself, the beautiful support crew. Greer (Andrew's girlfriend), me, and Patti (Michael's girlfriend). We had a lot of fun supporting and watching.

The boys had one more neutral feed zone before the finish. We skipped all the way to Teton Village (the official finish and where we were staying). We quickly checking into our beautiful hotel only steps from the finish line, got some warm clothes for both ourselves and the boys, stocked up with snacks and beer then headed to the finish. We waited about 30 minutes before they showed up to the finish.

We headed back to our sweet three bedroom suite at Teton Mountain Lodge (thanks to Greer's amazing negotiating skills) and ordered in room service for dinner. We got to just hang out and tell good stories the rest of the evening.

This is the kitchen in the condo, Fogg is making coffee on Sunday morning.

View of the living room from the loft bedroom.

This is the view from the living room in our condo. Not too shabby!

I'll let Fogg post his thoughts, I can't speak for his part of the experience. I'm very proud of all three of them, it was much harder than it even looks. It is a huge accomplishment to finish LOTOJA!

Here are a few more pics from the trip!

This is Fogg prepping his feed zone bags ahead of time. See London in the back "helping"? Fogg was starting to get nervous about Wednesday night before the race, the day he started doing his prep.

Here is Fogg at the start. Pretty dark at 6:30 in the morning.

Patti and Greer waiting for the riders to reach FZ3.

This is Mimi (Greer's sister) and Greer at the top of the last mountain pass. Mimi did a relay for the race, she rode the first 80 miles and the last 47. Both Mimi and Greer are all but signed up to do the full race next year!

This is John Thomas, a coworker for all of us at backcountry.com.