The next 9-ish miles were mostly rolling hills with a few steeps mixed in. They were merely a portent of what was to come. Int this stretch I caught up to a friend who had left 2 waves ahead of me, and the first fat bike (other than myself) that I had seen. After a bit of chit-chat I bid my friend adieu and set out to overtake that other fat bike, and put him far behind me. I had no desire to be DFL if I had the chance to NOT be DFL. After I passed him, I kinda put the hammer down for a bit to seal the placement. A bit further down the road(s), I hit the Three Sisters climb. The Three Sisters, as you can imagine, are three hills in a row; the first is pretty pedestrian; the second is a bit bigger - I had used all my momentum, and crested it at ~3.5MPH; the third is roughly 1/2 mile long, during which it climbs ~115 feet. On top of that, it has a little "hump" before you get to the crest. I barely made it over that hump at 3MPH. Mind you, this all happens about 21 miles in. :p