Of all the stories I wish I had time to share about my twelve days and nights on the Arizona Trail this fall, this one screamed the loudest to be told. It is a story of brotherhood, and the night bikepack racing as we know it almost ceased to exist…

Often, the hardest part of an ultra-endurance race is the part we don’t talk about; the part that comes after the finish. These races take a huge toll. Sometimes they take weeks, or months, to physically and mentally recover from. Ten days after my Arizona Trail Race finish, I arrived at a lonelier place than I have ever been in my life. It felt like a bottomless hole that I was stuck in for nearly a week. Fellow racers helped me climb out.

Yes, I am proud to have completed the 800 mile edition of the Arizona Trail Race. Yet I also feel humbled and unsatisfied. It’s ok. I'll learn from it, and get over it. Fortunately, there are other, more important, reasons I do these things. Their names are friendship and community. This community. Your love. That is what kept me going. And I’m very grateful it did. So, charge up the iPhone and head for the throne because it’s time for an epic love dump…