Shortly after the Bear I still had a racing itch that needed scratching so I contacted my Patagonia teammate Clark Zealand about going back east to participate in the 30th running of the Mt. Masochist 50 near Lynchburg, Va. I had some points accrued for a ticket and my sister Taya, who lives in the DC area was gracious enough to shuttle me around and crew during the race. Before I knew it I was on the plane and headed back for one last race before shutting it down for the winter. Fortunately Hurricane Sandy didn’t delay any of my travels and I made all my connections. I arrived at Reagan Thursday evening and Taya and Jon took me to their favorite Chinese restaurant. Their specialty is roast duck and it was spectacular. The next morning Taya and I began the drive down to Lynchburg. On the way we stopped at Manassas to visit the battle grounds and see the visitors center. It was my first visit to anything Civil War and I was amazed at the reverence it inspired. Eventually after our traditional pre-race stop at 5 guys we made it to Lynchburg. After a little trouble we found the pre race meeting. It was good to see Clark, AJW, Krissy,my Patagonia teammates and Mark, and George who were there on behalf of Patagonia and Patagonia footwear. <\/p>\n