Vail Pass Hill Climb TT: where are those 24 seconds?

It snowed near the finish of the Vail Pass Hill Climb on Sunday, just like last year.

Just like last year, I found myself just a hair short of landing in the money. I'm not really sure where I could have come up with 24 seconds worth of extra speed it would have taken to be in 4th place. As it was, I was 6th: one spot better than last year, but 20 seconds slower.

This hill climb is a bit deceptive. The first half is flat-to-rolling, but there are really only a couple of steepish sections on the climbing second half. Did I push too hard on the flat first half so that I didn't have enough left for the climb? Maybe it was a mistake not to put the easy gears on the bike, even though I never necessarily felt like I didn't have enough gears. Maybe I just can't wrap my head around how very short the whole race is. Maybe I was more tired from the XC this year.

Racing, racing. It's such a puzzle. Now I think I have to come back to Vail, again, for the Teva Games, just one more time...