Poor mountain for the rest of us

Hello from the top of Poor mountain! It's been a real thriller for me as I went toe to toe with my close competitor Barry Witt. I started out by trying to get a jump on the guys while on the pavement but they answered with a freight train like surge led by Todd Gilley. I got on the back of that pack for a bit but decided it was too hot for me and backed off. Just before we hit dirt I noticed that Barry had also backed off and was only a few places ahead of me in the crowd. When things started to get sorted out I kept my sights on him and aimed to be on his wheel at the dirt. At the first switch, I went wide while he hammered up the inside and gained a bit on me but I hadn't spiked my legs so we met up again a short while later. His gears were ghosting pretty bad and I suggested that he reset his rear wheel as I went by. He stopped to sort out the problem and I didn't see him for a while. I slowed a bit and actually thought about waiting for him but I noticed more riders close behind so I picked my pace back up and settled into a rhythm. After a couple more turns I heard somebody coming hard and Barry pulled in right in front of me and matched speed. He said there was another Clyde right behind us so we better pick it up a bit. We swapped places a couple more times along the way but I was losing time every time it got really rough and had to stand on it whenever it smoothed out. This proved fatal as near the top I started losing ground to him inch by inch until he had about a 50ft gap and got out of sight at the next switchback. I was pretty much cracked by the time I got around the corner but I was surprised to find him much closer and walking the bike!( He later reported that his back had tightened up to the point that it forced him off the bike) By this time the hill had also gotten quite steep and I could only turn the smallest gears. His walk was faster than my crawl and he moved ever so slowly away again. I tried everything to get my legs back into action but without rest they were not keeping up with acid production any more. I got of walked...his walk seemed a bit faster. I got back on and stood up. THat lasted about 10 seconds and gained me nothing. I walked some more. The guy behind us was starting to catch me so I decided to stop making all those transitions and just grind it out to save the position. I stopped for a full ten count and touched my toes and remounted the bike for one final good effort. After what I thought was the last switchback I stuffed it into the middle ring and stood up one more time and did a blood sprint that didn't last long but gave me what turned out to be more than enough lead on 5th place to finish in 4th. When the crowd started cheering I stood up again running on crowd fumes and sprinted over what I thought was the finish line. THe actual line was farther up so I got some bigger cheers out of them by pausing at the old line before finishing. Not bad for an old man with one leg to stand on, no beer on board, and not enough miles. I really miss those miles.

Nice job on snagging third place Barry!