Leg 3 – Montpelier to Afton – Two Passes
Thanks to the tandem train John and I met up with Jim and company as we came into the Montpelier feed station. Jim’s crew started out and we made a tough decision – to leave Tim behind. We told John’s wife to tell Tim that we’d wait for him at the top of Salt Creek Pass just shy of Afton. As it would end up we made the right decision.
The race officials had the Geneva Summit road closed to traffic which like Strawberry Canyon before was quite nice to ride sans vehicles. Jim and I hung together while John dropped back a little bit during the climb It was starting to heat up and I was sweating pretty good.
At the summit I bid farewell to Jim telling him that I’d wait for John. I had made my decision on who I’d ride the race with and despite a few strange looks from riders as I cycled loops at the summit it was just a few minutes until John came along.
We started downhill and soon there after hopped on a tandem’s wheel but it became apparent that they weren’t interested in sharing the load so we broke off and rode along just the two of us. We turned north towards Salt Creek Pass and along the way picked up a few riders until we were a crew of 6-8 riders. Just before the pass was a neutral water stop which was strategically located. I’ve gotta say, the Lotoja race crew did a great job with both supported and neutral support zones.
Water filled we headed up the pass. John told me to go ahead and after a short distance hanging with him I decided that I’d go for it. The climb was indeed tough but not as tough as the last 6 miles of Wolf Creek Pass near my home in Kamas. I found myself at the top in no time and there waited for John to make it up. After 10 minutes I wondered if I had missed seeing him come over the top. I then saw his wife who said that he hadn’t made it yet. He was suffering pretty bad and 3 minutes later crested the top.
Rested and anxious I jumped on the wheel of a passing group at the bottom of the pass thinking John was on my wheel. After the entire group rotated through I finally realized that John hadn’t been on my wheel and I figured this fast of a pace would be the end of me if I tried to hang so I dropped off the back. The next 5 miles I rode solo into a head wind. It was mentally demoralizing and I wished I would have just stayed with John’s group, especially because they arrived in Afton just 30 seconds after I did.
Leg 4 – Afton to Alpine
I told John’s wife that I wanted a Coke for the next stop and was anxious to open my Pringles. As we rode out of Afton with a group I shared the Pringles around. It was nice to eat “real food” after a bunch of bars and gels that included PROBAR, Larabar Clif Shot, Honey Stinger and Clif Bar.
We rode pretty good with a group of 4-5 and slowly picked up numbers until we were about 20 strong. I was feeling quite well and this mostly flat leg went by very quickly. I spent a lot of time out in front of the group pushing the pace and breaking wind for those that followed. We came into Alpine on a nice surge with the wind finally to our backs after a mostly steady headwind the entire leg.
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