Sunday morning in Baker City greeted us with rolling thunder and heavy rain. Getting motivated to do anything but stay in bed was a challenge and being the last day of the race, we also needed to get the car ready for the long drive home. I was unable to finish the traditional Dooley stage breakfast championed by Reny - 3 Buckwheat Pancakes, 2 Sausages and 2 eggs. Weird - never had trouble with that before. Eventually we were lined up and rolled out out onto open roads.

Second Ascent had their act together Sunday. When a rider made a move, Justin would give a nod or shake of the head to a teammate on whether they needed to chase him down. The plan was for Spencer Newell to dangle himself off-the-front somewhere around mile 10. Travis had gone up front in the first few miles and just rolled away. A couple riders jumped on his wheel, but neither ever took a pull and Travis built a 20 second advantage and was just dangling there. Another non-gc rider went to the front and this time Second Ascent jumped on him. As the gap started to close, the attacks started. Spencer made a couple moves that were countered and unfortunately only served to bring Travis back. I checked in with Travis briefly and made my move pushing hard for about 30 seconds and then backing off to allow people to bridge up. Cort came first dragging a Second Ascent rider with him. We kept the pace mellow for a bit hoping a few more riders would come along and eventually Mike Brown, Bruce Bilodeau from SLC and another Second Ascent rider were on and we hit the gas.

This had all happened before we were 10 miles into the stage. We quickly realized the two Second Ascent guys were just there for a free ride and a couple of us were a bit frustrated with them - we didn't know that one of them was 2nd on GC. Not my favorite race tactic, but it's smart. It's not without its flaws though. Justin would only have one teammate in the group and if the group refused to work (as it did on Friday) we wouldn't come back. I also knew that Cort, Mike and myself would work together than the group behind and Bruce quickly becomes the vocal coach keeping our pace steady and smooth. We all encouraged each other and were careful to get everyone to eat and drink. Every year I've done this stage, an early break has gone away. In '08 my friend Richard was in a break that stayed the distance - he wasn't able to hang onto Will Niemann-Ross and Robert McGovern who rode away to a 5 minute win on the day. Richard blew up spectacularly and came in 30 minutes down after getting caught at the base of Dooley. There have also been close calls like in 2007 where a big break with GC contenders came really close to pulling it off. Long story short, I thought we had a chance.

We rolled over the dam and kept things fast to the base of the first climb. I wasn't sure what to expect here - the four of us who were working agreed that we'd ride our pace regardless of what the two Second Ascent riders did. The climb seemed to be a non-factor. We kept the pace steady but reasonably fast and it wasn't an issue. I led the descent and we got back to riding a steady pace on the rollers into the second climb. Somewhere in here we got our first reliable time split of 6 minutes. Cool. Then I flatted. First race-day flat of the year damnit! I got a quick wheel change, the break waited and it only cost us maybe 30-45 seconds before we were rolling. Somewhere in here Mike started missing pulls and expressing his fatigue. He's the best climber of the group so this hurt - he was still a big help keeping the pace fast on the second climb but it's quickly obvious that he's going to struggle to stay with us.

At the base of the third climb, Mike says go get 'em and drops off. Bruce is also starting to show some wear and Cort and I do the majority of the work up this climb. From here there is basically a 30 mile tailwind descent to Dooley and suddenly the Second Ascent guys have dropped back. I know from experience that a motivated group will do this in under an hour which is probably a tough ask for us. We get a time split in there somewhere of about 6 minutes so the group isn't taking time back... in the back of my mind, I know that I'll need a 4 or 5 minute headstart on Dooley to stay away. As the approach to Dooley comes we get another split of 2:35 and I have to encourage the guys to keep going. Cort doesn't want to get shelled on the climb - hard to blame him, he's got a good GC position but we agree to keep going. When the climb comes, Bruce quickly falls away. Cort and I ride together for a bit before he fades and yo-yos off my wheel for a bit. About 5k into the climb, I go around the first switchback and look down to see the group gaining ground fast. Another km and the lead officials car flies by me and shortly thereafter, I'm caught. The pace isn't so bad, and I sit in for a bit. It looks like there are only about 15 guys here. After another kilometer, I start to really feel the days efforts... and I'm suddenly hungry and just shut it down. Cort managed to hang in a bit longer. After I'm dropped, the rest of the climb goes quickly - for the first time all day I start to notice the cold and rain but I get to the top congratulate Cort grab some food and Colin stuffs me into his van to get warm. After some unknown period of time, Travis shows up and gets stuffed into the van and my long day is over.

In retrospect, I have no doubt that having one more strong rider would have gotten us the rest of the way. Regardless, I couldn't be happier with my race. For the first time at an Elkhorn stage I have no regrets. Of course it's disappointing to put so much effort into a long day and not get a tangible reward, but I'm satisfied. I was off the front for 85 miles, I attacked to create the move and was the last to get caught. I couldn't have done anything more and had a hell of a fun and memorable day on the bike. Damn, I love this sport.

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