As I was climbing up Snowbird with Brent Bookwalter, I asked him why he wasn't further ahead. He replied, "A mortal only has so many matches." That was an answer I could relate to. It's been a long race.

Yesterday's queen stage of the Tour of Utah was so hard even George Hincapie decided it was too much for him. And he made a wise choice.

At the start my plan was to make the move. A bit risky but my best chance at success. It turned out the entire peloton had that idea and a breakaway never went. I tired to make wise choices with my attacks, but I still wasted some bullets. All three climbs were hard on me and I finished about 15 minutes back.

This picture was taken by Steven and looks a lot like the first time I did the climb.

This, however, was my best ride yet in Utah. I think moving to Tahoe really helped. Breathing wasn't as much of an issue as years past, I just didn't have the power to stay with the top guys. That might be due to my lack of racing in the last 2.5 months.

Now, it's time for a week of recovery and then it's off to Colorado for another round.