John “Rolf” Eisinger Diary

Mt. Evans,
It was a clear cool morning up at 7,000 feet in Idaho Springs when I arrived at 6:30am. I hung out waiting for the 8:00 am race to start with my feet up. I did my warm up for about 15 minutes. Ten minutes before the race started Scott Moninger came over to my teammate Kevin and me to talk about the race. We figured since Tommy D. showed up he would try to break his record. To do so, he brought three Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory guys from Durango to pace him up the first few miles of the climb. These guys were my old teammates from Mt. Hood and I knew their riding styles well. From the gun they got in the front and started to drive the peloton. I ended up on Danielson廣 wheel, which allowed me to not only see who was pulling, but also hear what Danielson was instructing the guys to do.

Within the first 4-6 miles these guys rode themselves into the ground. It was a descent pace but nothing overwhelming and I was able to hang on awhile after they blew up. At that point, Danielson and Moninger picked the pace up and dropped everyone but 4 of us. After a while of steady climbing, Angus Morton and I finally fell off, followed by my teammate Kevin and Michael Carter. Angus and I then bridged up to Kevin and Michael and worked together for a while until Eco Lake, where 6 others caught up to us. One guy thought he had something to prove and rode for a while in the front, but I just sat back and saved my energy. I knew I was a stronger climber than most the guys in the pack and thought I would just wait to let the climb sort out the field. Besides, Michael Carter was riding behind me not pulling through and I knew he is a very smart and strong climber. I thought I would follow his example of conserving energy. Meanwhile, I made sure my heart rate didn廠 get too high and kept track of how my legs felt. I kept eating and drinking to ensure I wouldn廠 cramp or run out of energy. At this point of the race I was thinking of attacking but thought I would be patient and see how things sorted themselves out.

After the downhill of Eco Lake there is a steep longer climb before the switch backs started. Towards the top of this climb Carter made a move. I waited to see if the two Australian kids would bridge the gap and when they didn廠, I knew it was my turn to put a move in. Two switch backs later I made a subtle move and when I saw they weren廠 chasing I tried to bridge up to Carter. I got close but couldn廠 seem to close the final gap. Meanwhile, towards the top the winds increased and the Australians started to close in the gap on me and came within 15 seconds. I started to slow down to conserve energy in case they caught me and I needed to sprint at the line, but when I slowed down they did as well. When I realized they had slowed I put my head down into the wind and dug deep into the cave of pain. I held them off and finished pretty happy with a time of 1:50:59, 7:55 off Tom Danielson廣 time in 4th place.