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Saturdays Rapha Prestige Los Angeles as recalled by Susie  According to Rapha, The Prestige is not a race; it's an unsupported, unsanctioned, and unmarshalled, invite only adventure across stunning terrain, designed to bring out the camaraderie and suffering of road riding.  The rules were simple, and the course was tough. Teams of 4 must RIDE and FINISH the 124 miles and 14k ft of elevation gain together.  Just when the course started getting good Murphy's Law showed up to laugh at us  In the middle of a steep and sandy dirt descent around mile 15 Martha's brakes decide to take the day off (insert lots of four letter words here)  This is the last time we saw any of the other teams that day  We head 2 miles out of the way to Montrose bike shop and wait 15 minutes for them to open. At this point we are 3 hours and only 17 miles into the day.  After 25 minutes of the bike being in the stand we make the tough decision to send Martha home and continue as 3 even though we need 4 people to technically "finish" the ride and have absolutely no chance of ever catching up to any of the other teams. We could have quit at this point. We may have felt like quitting at this point. We probably should have quit at this point, but we didn't.  As we chase a Fred mirage under relentless sun up Mordor we really begin to question that decision  Roads Less Traveled  These dudes were rad. Thanks for the Gators and Velodrome stories.  Cloud 9 was it real or just a dream?  Flat Times in Hell aka Santa Clarita  Everything between that flat and this tunnel was a long hot desert pain cave that I'd rather not remember except for that we got through it  She Wolf Attack Team p/b Red Vines  Familiar Roads. SO MANY FEELS!!!  Can't stop Wont stop Sunset Chasin' Mile 100, still climbing  This is the happiest any of us have ever been to reach Clear Creek and the best pizza that ever existed. We watched the sunset and descended the 2 at twilight. It was peaceful and magical and I didn't stop smiling the whole way down. Another successful day of doing what we do best, pushing out limits and having fun riding bikes. Mad love for these ladies.  Blood, Sweat, and Grit. Thanks for the sufferfest and concerned voicemails Rapha. It was real.
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