Yesterday was a very nice warm sunny day in Western Montana and on tap according to my training plan was to do a race pace ride. Enter the Mormon Peak Run. I called a ridding buddy, gathered him up, and headed to the Mormon Peak Road off route 12 (about 3 or 4 miles East of Lolo). We rode and I won the world championships passing the world champion 1/3 of the way up the climb. It was a glorious moment.
We started riding and at 5 minutes I turned around and went back to the truck … then … the race was on. The goal, was to catch my friends and his was to defend his position. It was a glorious battle but one important thing happened .. I was finally flying up a climb … like the old days.
My friend had helped me to capture my spirit and it came out in a big way. I was able to get my max heart rate 3 beats over a previous mark … and then keep going t the top. I topped out at 56 minutes and I had climbed in a gear ratio that previously was only used on the flat trails. I chased him down and went harder and harder and suddenly my confidence grew to a point where I wondered just how fast I could climb up the long climb. Something clicked, yesterday was a turning point, and I finally broke through.
My friend did a great climb as well beating my last year time I had done on the old K2. Todays plans … going for a ride; What else?
16.25 miles
4,201 vertical feet of climbing
6,374 max elevation
2:45 minutes
location: top secret!
Boneshakerbike 
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