The last day of the Ultimate XC brought the most fear with it. We’d survived the previous two days of torture, and the finish line was only 100 km away. The day started on some brilliant single track on private property that burned up the first 25 km of the day. If I hadn’t have been so tired from the run and paddle, I would have been a bit more aggressive with my pace, but I knew the last 30 km was to be the hardest and had to save something. Luckily, the first 70km or wasn’t too terrible, there were even a few flat spots that were used to connect the maze of cross country skiing, snowmobiling, and single track.