I was fortunate enough to pick up the win today on this tough course and beat my time from last year by 10 minutes. Average elevation is 9300ft. I went out in a pack of 3 and tried to keep it conservative. The last 7.5 miles of this are a real beast so I consciously hung back a little and waited until the start of the nasty hills at 5. About a half mile before the start of the hill I put a large surge in. I was thankful I saved it for later today. Neither guy covered the move and I kept it rolling the rest of the race. The climbs are hard on their own but after the downhill start at that elevation it's just mean. Cups of water over the head at most every aide station. The last 5k is very tough. The race doesn't start until 9am and there is no shade so I got really warm. I was in the pain cave and I did fade some but I'm very happy with the effort today. I've got some good strength, I just need to stretch it out farther and put some more turnover behind it and this will be a very good fall season. Thanks for all of the support friends! 
| 