J's evolved/ascended into a local lesser bicycling deity.
I remember cranking hard up the first long climb to catch up to him and ask him, is this your "marathon pace", as it made a big gap on the rest of the pack, only short of matching a very fit old fellow on an Epic. Burt commented later on that he died trying to keep up with J on that climb. I faded away, after realizing that I should be saving my energy for the long haul (was loaded up on lactic acid by the halfway point. Before the last 2 descents, my legs were numbed, then sore by the time the ride was done.
I also remember commenting to J that he looked speeded up, when I told him to go in front of me so I can film him riding the flowy singletrack. I later made a disclaimer that I will not say anything if people start suspecting the video was speeded up after seeing it.