I have never had the feeling that a climb was never going to end until today. Twice. 5100 feet of climbing dispersed between two major climbs and insignificant rollers.
We began by descending down into a valley, 16 miles of gradual descending (at 45 mph) then 2 miles of steep descent into the bottom of the valley.
With the fast racing down, we commenced climbing, at an average grade of 8% for 2-3 miles. 200 meters into the climb I knew I wasn't going to peak with the leaders, mostly because they were already out of sight and I was climbing at a blistering pace of 6 mph.
Peaked the climb, I survived (though I did consider dropping out or walking up the climb, but for only a slip second). The descend was amazingly fast, and fun. I had been climbing with another guy at that point and we started picking riders up and forming a good chase group to try to get up to the leaders.
I never saw the leaders of the race again until the finish line and they were sitting drinking their recovery drinks. The final climb was just long, 5 miles at 5% AVG. I finished alone, and was just glad to be done. This was a race that will go down into my books as top 3 hard as H. E. double hockey sticks races. (I have yet to race the Green Mountain Stage Race: But I'll report on that when I do it.)