Nice camping in the same spot again. Afternoon food at the lodge has been good (breakfast pretty thin/slow); pool is great.
Many said today was the hardest day. Fortunately Trish and I didn't agree!
We started today ~3 minutes up on a hard charging Specialized team who was attacking at every opportunity. Course was say 15-20km flat, 15-20 up, 15-20 down, then 15-20 return flat, for I think 78 in total.
The first 4k of neutral weren't really, as the pace was high and the pushing started right away. There was only two hills before a long flat stretch, we crested in good place and got to work eating dust for the next 40 mins. Spit and snot came out all black thereafter. Ugh. Mary McConnelug was smart having a dust mask. We got in some decent pacelines, then it was just me pulling Trish and a pack of others for a while. After reading excerpts of Scar Tissue that Cindy is working on, and the part about how the Chili Peppers wrote Give it Away, I felt less motivated to keep a tight lid on extra energy. So I just gave it away... then dug in to stay with Trish on the climb.
We saw our rivals a minute ahead on the road climb, and we just soft pedalled and ate before the massive spike up in the middle of the course. After aid 1 the climbing started in earnest - granny gear or walking trail that was super steep and say moderate technical. Trish of course has no need to dismount on this. We see the team ahead, girl is riding and guy is walking + pushing. Other people are walking. Trish takes the outside crap line and spins by on a steep part. I'm 10 feet behind and get glorious view of this deadgoat hall of fame moment. The girl lets out something in a whiny tone, hops of bike, and guy pushes both. Perfect. I ride by cause now's not a hot time to show the beads of sweat rolling off my brow, and once I pass they start bickering back and forth in debate. It couldn't have been better. Next time you see Trish, a cheers to this deatgoat moment is in order.
We keep climbing and putting in time, then it gets to forested trail that has big logs, ruts and steeps that are hike a bike. The team are true competitors as they pull it back together, and guy can push so strong for both on the hike that they reel us in and pass just before the crest (I think they also knew exactly where to turn on the jets before the crest).
Trish drops in to chase on the descent. I stop, eat, put on my gloves (off on climbs as it's so hot). I'm having a blast, and come up first to the girl. Trish had passed both somehow, and guy was chasing her and girl was holding on. I deke by the girl, the guy sees this at a wide spot and pulls over, and off we go on some really sweet singletrack around a beautiful high elevation mountain lake. Just a great trail. We spin away doing our thing.
Eventually we get to a super steep loose dust descent then gravel road with rollers where they catch up. Headwinds complete the picture. No way to achieve any separation practically speaking, so we sit in, and she gets pushed up every hill. Trish sits on the guys wheel and accelerates over each top, and if there's any help from me it's out of their sight. This plays headgames with them and forces 10 hard pedal strokes for them over each top.
They go intense on a downhill, and turns out they know a big suspension bridge is coming. We pull off the road and try to pass, but they were smart getting in first as the trail is pure dust. We have to hang back to see the surface, and even then Trish has a little wipeout.
They walk the hanging bridge first and attack on the downhill road. Smart move gets them 30 seconds. Trish goes across the bridge first, and I ask the guy if it's necessary to walk. He says everyone does cause it sways. But I ask if it's totally necessary. He said I could ride. Talk about vertigo - big gaps in the boards, but not as much as a mountain bike tire. Plus sitting on a saddle, the entire railing is below my handlebars. Sweet. We roll off and hit the jets on the downhill to aid 2, which is 2km away. They knew this too and loaded her up with drinks he carried so she blew by. We were dry but I took Trish's bottle to fill; Trish chased her.
It took me quite a while of uncomfortable tempo with an extra bottle in my back and my cheeks full of potatoes to catch on - just saw all three of them on the other side of a creek crossing. They had friends there handing them a bottle while rolling. Trish was ahead on a loose climb of baseball sized rocks, and she drilled it. They were ahead of me, on the two lines, pushing. They simultaneously dismounted and put bikes across the trail. I splashed through the river at full speed to take momentum up. I decided to go left, and it was all basketball sized rocks. I'd either look like a dolt and have some really dipshit wipeout or perhaps make it... and fortunately I Stappler'd out of the climb and made it. We hit the jets on the downhill and had a good gap. I pulled on the gravel road, then we saw 3 guys up ahead. Trish dug in and we caught on.
The three Chilean guys were aware of the competition, and didn't appear keen to have a freeloading pair on the last 20k of headwind... but we needed them to save me severe burnout. Making friends is easy with a headwind though. I got in a few big pulls, two other guys did say 25% each, and Trish and one tired guy held on.
Last 3k had a couple climbs then rolled in, the group just thanked us and let us roll in ahead, except for one dude who seemed to want to put in his 30 seconds more. Not a problem for us.
Bam! Checked my watch, got two big cokes and bananas, and counted minutes. Started they day 3 min up roughly (unless I missed another revision), and put in 5!
Cindy got the day off from logistics for running and pool time. Yesterday was more adventurous as Juan's girlfriend tried riding the challenge event for the last three days, so Cindy got to drive his Diesel 4Runner to the finish, sin directiones, sin Espanol, and sin petroleo (until a stop). How's that for a surprise Chilean pop quiz?
We've been sitting poolside to relax. Got in my first two 10 minute exchange the right ideas through crummy Spanish conversations yesterday and today with people asking about the race. Haven't seen Steve yet other than first climb, I think the relative lack of hiking will be good for his blister situation. Hear Gerry didn't start today but I don't know.
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