We kept the A team in sight for a while, but they kept the pace high and slowly disappeared. The start seemed tough, the wind was a factor and the ascent kept us working harder than you would think looking at it (I think desert climbs can be slightly deceiving!)
We passed a lot of people, including a few descender teams. Somewhere arond 30 miles in we synced up with a solo TT rider named Tom from Carlsbad. We would be back and forth with this guy up to the turn around. His goal was sub-5, but he didn't think he was on target. We managed to change his mind, and I think he must have made it as we didn't see him after mile 50 (will check results when posted)
As we approached the turn around at mile 50 you can see the racers ahead of you as they return. We saw a group of descenders that numbered over 4 (which appeared to be a violation of the drafting rule) and Verm went completely ballistic! It took a while until he calmed down (maybe he never did? :) We also saw the 'A' Team and gave them some shouts of encouragement.
At the turn around we got marked and filled up our water bottles and got going again. It was good to know the toughest part was behind us!
After that I tried to get into my 'solid food' (banana bread and one big chocolate chip cookie) but had issues (had to rip it open with my teeth and then try to unwrap it) so had to slow down to eat it and not crash! (note to self: make it easier to get into next time :) Right around then Adrian had some stomach problems, so I gave him some of my banana bread which seemed to help a little. I started to feel better after some food too.
After that, just to be even more of a pain in the ass, I had to stop to pee. Galen had to slow down and drag my ass back to catch up (thanks!). Then right after that he got a flat tire, but we all worked together to get it fixed pretty quickly. While fixing the flat a descender team passed us, but we managed to catch up to them and pass on a descent (sweet!).
The rest of the return leg went pretty smoothly, but as we got to the final hill climb Adrian let us now he wasn't feeling it. We decided to make an evaluation at the very top to see how far back he was, but it looked like he had dropped off so we continued on. We knew he would get the same time as us anyways (just three of four have to finish to get a time) so we hammered to the end (painful) and then it was over. Adrian wound up coming in just a few minutes behind us.
We wound up 5th overall (unofficially so far), which I was more than happy with, I think it was BRCM A, then Descender A, Descender B, Herbalife, then us.
After the race we had a nice little post party, but there wasn't many other people hanging out this time (maybe we scared them off? :)
Overall great race, and an amazing performance by the A Team to bring home the gold!
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