Afton

Dave Meyer: "Are you making fun of my new sorbet colored kit, because if you are I will have to crush you with my giant single speed thighs."
Me: "No no, I was just looking for my inhaler."

Somewhere on the first lap.

Eric Thompson had a great idea of dressing up like an old man with a walker and chase us up the manhandler, if that gives you an idea of how steep the climb is.Maybe next time.

Enjoying the fun "bowl" downhill to the finish.

Sunday was another suffer fest. Last year I had just got over a nasty cold and I decided to sit it out so I hadn't raced it since 2006. Ironically I got a scratchy throat a day or 2 before this time too but nothing is developing past a minor irritation. Off the start was the wettest section where we went through water covered grass 100 meters from the start. I was luckily up front with no one to spray me. Sam was behind me and got a bath. As soon as we hit the first hill I knew playing it easy would be the key for this one and I fell in behind Matt Kurke going into the first single track section. The first time up slim shady I found a good rhythm and motored up to Chris Fisher passing Sam and I think it was Kurke. I had Jeff Herrera (from Arizona) in tow. By the time we hit Manhandler we were chasing Ben Moore who we could see but Brendan was gone. Sam and Jeff went around me at this point and I was by myself. Cam Kirkpatrick (one of Iowa's top riders according to Jesse Rients) caught and passed me before the bridge loop on the second lap which put me into no mans land
for a while. I saw that Fisher and Luke Nelson were chasing me but I didn't know how much time was between us. Afton is a hard place to judge time. I marked them and I knew they were closing in slowly. Each time I saw them Nelson was pulling away from Fisher and he would be getting closer to me. My legs were losing power on the climbs and I was finding myself in a slower gear. I was playing the mental game the whole race fighting those disappointing thoughts that come each time you find yourself losing ground, knowing you can do better than how your performing on race day. The last lap I just wanted to hold Luke off at my markers so I just kept telling myself one hill at a time to hold the gap, looking 5 feet ahead of me and chanting "I can do this,I can do this". I learned from Ian that he counts in increments of 72 ? while looking just a little ways up the road during a TT. You need to occupy the mind with something otherwise it will only think of pain. I find it also helpful to just relax on the climbs and concentrate on using full circles and all the muscle groups associated with making efficient pedal strokes. Controlling your breathing is a good mind occupier too.
I stayed focused as much as I could and kept my effort just under cramping which was hard on such steep climbs. I did hold Luke off in the end and came in 6th, about 4 min behind Sam and 8 min behind Brendan. Sam couldn't keep up with Ben, Jeff, and Cam taking 5th. Both of us didn't feel very good. I know Sam was missing a couple gears and I have had alot better training days this year than the level I raced at. There is plenty more racing this year to go around and hopefully I can break out a good day in a race instead of just the training rides.
Photos from skinnyski.com