Grand Tour Triple (300 mile)

I signed up for the Grand Tour Triple knowing that I could always cut it short and do the double instead of the triple. I knew a couple of great double century riders (Marc and Brook) were starting at 5:30 so I decided to roll out with them. These guys are so good, if we had decided to do the 200 miler in under 10 hours, it would be very possible. They had a buddy they were riding with for the day so we took it relatively easy throughout the day. This worked out perfectly for me to be fresh at the 140 mile mark. The 140 mile rest stop was the point I had to decide to go north on PCH for an additional 100 miles or go south on PCH to complete the double. I found some other triple riders at the rest stop so I had no excuse not to do the additional 100 miles and complete the triple. These riders started over an hour before me but weren't in any hurry to get going so I decided to leave. After somewhat getting lost out on the course I come across this group of riders and it was them. They had avoided these ridiculous turns I did according to the route slip. At this point I decide to ride with them and make sure I don't get lost. We were going a slower pace than I'm accustomed to but that was fine with me. When we reach the next rest stop I tried to be patient and wait for everybody but nobody seemed like they were even close to leaving, so once again I decide to leave. I get in cruise control and take off towards Gaviota. On my way to the turn around I notice 3 guys going the other way. Knowing that there's another group up the road was perfect motivation to keep the hammer down. I catch these 3 riders at the next rest stop (220 miles) but we miss a turn somewhere and lose 10 minutes. The sun was getting ready to set so I went to the front to help speed our group up but everybody fell off. I see some lights up the road and crank it up some more and chase down these two riders. Luckily, one of these guys had the route programmed in his Garmin so I didn't have to read my route slip in the dark. We miss the Port Hueneme rest stop and decide to turn around and check in. This cost us an additional 20 minutes and I see two of the three guys hanging out at the rest stop. With only 30 miles to finish I went to the front and cranked it all the way back to finish in Malibu.

1st place for the Highland 300
16:59 riding time
19:22 total time