I rode up to Mitchell Forest with Brandon, looking forward to a road loop and thinking positive thoughts about getting a result. This soon changed. The first reason was the hill. As we neared the course, we were driving up a somewhat nasty hill. We were joking to each other that this climb had better not be on the course. Then we turned a corner to see the "feed zone" sign. This was the course. I rapidly recalculated my race goals to 'just finish'. The second reason was the weather. It was very windy and wet. The third was realizing that I had neglected to replace the anchor on my right shifter. Perhaps late-night derailleur repairs right before a race aren't such a good idea. Thankfully I was racing with Brandon, who travels with a tool kit, so we were able to cobble together a temporary zip tie and electrical tape solution. I was worried about putting to much force on the hoods though, and spent most of the race in the drops. Which would have likely happened anyway, as things turned out.

The race started right in the worst of the wind, with some rain thrown in for good measure. This made the winding descents fairly sketchy. Fortunately, the wind died down after the first lap. Stayed with the group on the first lap. I got gaped on the climb, but only lost  about 100 meters and was able to catch back on fairly quickly. At this point I had completely lost track of Brandon. On the second run up the climb, I got gaped again, and this time lost more ground. Luckily I was able to hook up with a University of Cincinnati rider and we picked up a sequence of 'third's to make a three-man pace line. On the third lap we could see the main group just out of reach at the base of the two hills. So close and yet so far.After the third trip up the climb we never saw them again. We worked well together, powering through the flats and riding up the climbs at our own pace, reassembling at the top. The climb was hard, and calf cramps didn't make it any better. On our last run up it, I let my partners ride away from me and just focused on getting up. I ended up 18th of 41 starters, with 10 DNF's.