Climb every Mountain...follow every stream... la...la... la... follow every rainbow, until you find your dream! I've been doing a lot of this, recently. I signed myself up for my third HC in three weeks last Friday. I don't know if this was a good maneuver, but it sounded like fun. 4018 ft of climbing, 18.5 miles, my road bike, and me! It all seemed like it would be easy until a girl started to jump off the front when the road began to go uphill. I am but a Cat 3, and we started 10 min after the 1/2s. Everyone had been drafting behind me on the road towards the climb. I jumped on the girl's wheel, but she had a nice jump on me, and I drifted back for a bit.... I think due to general fatigue. I regained my composure after the first descent, as the climb began again, and caught the three girls who were still chasing the one who jumped off initially. I rode by them hoping I would drop them, but two of them came with me. A friend on the sideline yelled at me, just five to go, so I put my head down and started peddling as hard as I could. Five miles is, in fact, a lot when you're climbing, but it was more fun when I was more into it, and riding harder. I could see the girl in our category just ahead of us, and it was motivation to ride harder.

I am not familiar with the Ft. Collins area, so I must admit, I didn't know where the race ended. All I knew was that it was at the end of a steep section. It was still hard to tell. I ended up fourth, and was taken just at the end by the two locals who were climbing with me. I almost caught the girl in front, and was pleased with myself for trying hard, and doing much of the work for the last 5 miles. It was a great workout, and a beautiful sunny day. I drank a whole water bottle full of H2O during the race, and have rarely had to drink a drop of H2O while racing during the other three climbs I've done this year. I am definitely getting stronger, and though suffering through sore legs, and less than fresh legs isn't always the best, it's motivating in and of itself to keep climbing.... or something is!!!

My next big climbing race will be Mt. Evans, which is 7,000 ft of climbing. This race was a good workout in preparation.