Alison Tetrick led out today's ride. Ink Grade was the KOM/QOM of the day with the winner earning a jersey (I didn't know that until later). It was sunny and nice already at 7:30a. Later in the day it got hot! The pace was pretty high throughout and I wasn't sure how that would affect my climb. We stopped at the Pope Valley Store for a break before attacking the climb. I think I was somewhere in the top 10 when I went through the timing gate behind Andy and Seamus and right away I picked up the pace and passed everyone. The pros soon passed me back and a little later Andy passed me but I couldn't stay on his wheel. Then a little later still, Seamus passed me but I was able to keep pace with him. He and I kept trading back and forth and at one point closer to the top, I tried giving him a push as I passed him and I nearly pushed myself over! :) As we neared the top, my plan was to stay behind Seamus for as long as I could but he wasn't really picking up the pace so I decided to go for it a little early. Seamus didn't know where the finish was and just let me go so I managed to get 2nd out of the three of us. After that was the ripping descent to get home and towards the end I didn't have anything left in the legs whenever the pace would lift. Great day though as I beat my previous PR from TDF a month ago by 1:21.