The climb up to Half Whip takes about an hour and a half and is not too bad. You have to ride on pavement for a bit, and there is one sustained steep uphill on the logging road about 70% of the way up that is fairly hard on the legs. Roland and I led the way up and Dre was accusing us of 'setting a fast pace.' I couldn't help but laugh because this was coming from a guy who had beat Lance Armstrong in an XC race. As we pedal our way upwards, that mist indicative of the coast drifting above us, I ask him what it was like to beat Lance. He tells me it was only in retrospect that standing on the podium above Lance became increasingly amazing. At that point Mr. Cheaty Pants had just won his first Tour De France. But Dre said he wasn't going to let some dumb roadie beat him in the mud on a short track course! It was a tough race, pissing rain with a big booter in the middle of the course, a true bike handlers’ nightmare and Lance did make the podium. But he couldn't defeat the Dre-man. So Roland and I have been climbing the hill at a 'fast pace' according to Dre. But after he finishes telling me about crushing Armstrong, I realize just how strong Dre was in his XC racing career. It's a humbling moment.