Dan, I'm planning on starting with some biking sandals that have clips on them. My wife may meet me at some point along the way on the 100 mile loop to see how they are working out. Back down in the canyon I'll probably change into biking shoes. The sandals have a really good soft rubber sole on the bottom of them that aren't so much "click, click, click".... I just got a new rear cassette due to a mishap with a plastic bag and I got one with a larger low-end gear. It may allow me to pedal up the hill. We'll just have to try it out the day before......

Quote from reever on May 23^rd, 2014, 12:30am:

 
Suggestion, don't try it out the day before.  Spend the day relaxing and enjoying the beautiful Palo Duro Canyon (consider a hike on the mnt bike trail), but don't even think about that hill.  Then, come race day go show it who's the boss.