I finally won the jersey at the state hillclimb championship. The race is 20 miles up Mt Graham in Safford. The start is at about 3400ft and the finish is over 9000ft at a decent grade (maybe 7% average) with quite a few steep switchbacks. This year a Mexican team (P&S) showed up with some strong guys, but fortunately they weren't eligible for the state championship jersey. After a few early attacks, Carlos Lopez (winner of Tour of Guatemala 07) attacked the lead group. I didn't respond as I was thinking about the jersey. Then another Mexican, David Solomon attacked and I didn't respond. The third time a decided to follow Carlos Hernandez (winner of El Tour 07) off the front. We quickly got a gap over the lead group and then caught Solomon. Hernandez faded and it was me and Solomon chasing Lopez. Unfortunately the Mexican wouldn't help me chase down his teammate, so I had to do most of the work. The good news was that there were no Americans (and hence, no Arizonans) up there. Lopez went on to set a new course record, Solomon beat me in the sprint for 2nd many minutes later, and I got 3rd overall, but won the state championship as the best Arizona rider.