Title 167

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="02c285a1erlcgo.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><B>REI Austin Cycling Team</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="REI Austin Cycling Team"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> back to  <A HREF="id164.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Race and Ride Reports"><U><B>Race and Ride Reports</B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="02ad2c00dkelyh.gif"> <div> <A HREF="id164.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Race and Ride Reports"><U><IMG SRC="03b0e0e0.gif" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="up" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A>   <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="14">     <A HREF="id200.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Title 167"><U><IMG SRC="02f0e0e0.gif" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="previous" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A>  <A HREF="id198.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Title 167"><U><IMG SRC="0300e0e0.gif" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="next" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> <B>Mt. Washington Hillclimb</B></div> <div> <B>... John Leader</B></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> We left my folk's house in New Hampshire on the Friday before the race destined</div> <div> for Dolly Copp</div> <div> Campground - about 5 miles from the start of the race. My folks headed</div> <div> directly to set-up the RV</div> <div> while my friends and I went to the racecourse and drove up to the summit. It</div> <div> was a lot steeper</div> <div> than I remembered. The car was in low gear and the narrow twisting road was a</div> <div> test to my trusting</div> <div> passengers. At times the width was about 12 feet with no guardrail - steering</div> <div> would have plunged</div> <div> us about 1000 to 2000 feet. Surprisingly enough, there have only been 2 fatal</div> <div> auto accidents -</div> <div> actually one was a drunk stagecoach driver in the 1800's and the other was a</div> <div> car that hit the last</div> <div> tree at the bottom when the brakes finally failed.</div> <bR> <div> I spent a few minutes up at the top collecting my thoughts, knowing that I</div> <div> would be there again in</div> <div> less than 20 hours. Going up and down the 8-mile road took a better part of</div> <div> the afternoon, so we</div> <div> headed back to the RV to see how things were coming and I could get a ride in.</div> <bR> <div> Ron and I took off up to the top of the pass (well below the Summit) to</div> <div> register at a local Ski</div> <div> Area. It went well and I spoke to the race director and found out that Tim</div> <div> Johnson, Tom Danielson</div> <div> (it didn't strike me as to who he was, but it would later), and my idol,</div> <div> Genevieve Jeanson were</div> <div> there. In the parking lot, I dressed and prepared for about an hour ride to</div> <div> check things out and</div> <div> get the blood flowing. I made sure to bring my arm warmers and vest - and I</div> <div> used them.</div> <bR> <div> After dinner, I began to hook up the trainer that I had borrowed from a friend</div> <div> and realized that</div> <div> it would not work with my bike. A quick phone call confirmed that I was not</div> <div> missing any pieces. </div> <div> So dreading a warm-up in sub 40 degree weather, Dad and I prepared the fix -</div> <div> Turns out, a bar-end</div> <div> cap save the day and worked as an adapter. Calmed down, we all went to sleep.</div> <bR> <div> Race Morning:</div> <div> Up at 6am and had a light chemical breakfast. My friends had already gone in</div> <div> order to hike up to</div> <div> the top - they hit the trail at 5:30. It was surprisingly warm, about 45. My</div> <div> folks took off at</div> <div> 6:15 in order to drive to the top (all riders need proof of a ride down). I</div> <div> went to the base at</div> <div> 65:40 to pump the tires and warm-up. Lots of milling about, very few people</div> <div> getting good warm-up</div> <div> is - and lots of funky gearing. I rode the training gingerly and the adapter</div> <div> that we fashioned</div> <div> the night before seemed to holding up well. At 7:30, I headed to the start. I</div> <div> was in the Elite</div> <div> group, and when I got there, about 400 people were waiting in their respective</div> <div> sections. I took a</div> <div> couple of minutes to wind my way though to the front, and got there with 3</div> <div> minutes to spare -</div> <div> there were only about 50 people in our group. At the last minute, I decided to</div> <div> take off the arm</div> <div> warmers. It really was shaping up to be a good day.</div> <bR> <div> The cannon went off and we took off about 100yds to the base of the climb. The</div> <div> leaders were up</div> <div> the first rise and going around the corner. The first stretch is surprisingly</div> <div> steep at about</div> <div> 13-14% and goes up about .75 mile before the grade relaxes a bit. That really</div> <div> separated the group</div> <div> out quickly - I was standing about 25th. From then on in, it was mind games at</div> <div> 6-7 mph. Other</div> <div> riders would make a surge, and I would try to stay with them, then they would</div> <div> drop back, and I</div> <div> would try to attack them - really quite sad if you think about it. About</div> <div> halfway up, I found</div> <div> myself mashing, I can’t even say what the RPM was - slow I guess. That's</div> <div> really when it dawned on</div> <div> me that I could not sustain any type of rhythm. Alternating between standing</div> <div> and sitting,</div> <div> swerving a few times, thinking of beer and pizza, people I love - people I hate</div> <div> - things I'd</div> <div> rather be doing - and why I can't seem to get a rhythm - I tried all the</div> <div> tricks, but there was no</div> <div> substitute for the lack of rpm, the lack of gears. I said that last year, and</div> <div> now I was paying.</div> <bR> <div> From the start, there had been a racer wearing the full yellow Once kit - and</div> <div> he was annoying. </div> <div> Not only was he doing all right, having gone out of sight now and again, but he</div> <div> also had a whole</div> <div> group of support along the way. I saw him way up ahead and decided on a small</div> <div> concession - the</div> <div> hell with everything else - I would beat this guy. With him in my sights, I</div> <div> was now refocused and</div> <div> energized. With my slow RPM, I stood as the grades on the switchbacks got up</div> <div> to 18%. There were</div> <div> times when I thought I'd fall over, but just kept on. He was really tough to</div> <div> reel in. At 6.6</div> <div> miles, I had a mile to go - this was it. I picked it up another notch and came</div> <div> around a corner to</div> <div> see the building at the summit - a mere 3/4 of a mile away. There is a flat</div> <div> section where I got</div> <div> my picture taken and then it was off the races. My ONCE rider was now about</div> <div> 200 yds away and I</div> <div> was not making much progress. It was getting steep again and the spectators</div> <div> were now everywhere. </div> <div> I kicked as much as could and finally got the rhythm down - my cadence was up</div> <div> and the people were</div> <div> cheering as I reeled in the ONCE guy. I passed my friend who had hiked up and</div> <div> he cheered my on -</div> <div> I now know that I was going to pass my ONCE rider. Up a little riser - he was</div> <div> having some</div> <div> problems and I passed him as quickly as I could. Then it was on up the</div> <div> grueling 22% grade to the</div> <div> finish. Standing up and sprinted among the cheering people felt great - but</div> <div> there was still the</div> <div> shadow of the 1st 6.5 miles. I passed through the finish and came to stop - a</div> <div> blanket was wrapped</div> <div> around me and I put my head down on my handlebars. My folks were there, but I</div> <div> was not ready to</div> <div> move yet - it took me a couple of minutes to get out of the way - and then I</div> <div> started to feel a bit</div> <div> better. I was able to - in the last mile - get my heart rate up to 185 - after</div> <div> an hour of</div> <div> mashing. My avg HR was disappointingly low - again, a factor of the gearing.</div> <bR> <div> At one point, on the way up, I thought to myself that with the conditions so</div> <div> great, a record was</div> <div> sure to be broken. Sure enough it was. At the awards, I saw a rider that was</div> <div> in a Mercury kit –</div> <div> but he looked strangely familiar. I then remember meeting him in New Mexico</div> <div> with Travis – they</div> <div> had the same coach and were staying next door to us. He was riding for Sobe at</div> <div> the time and had</div> <div> managed a contract with Mercury shortly after. This is a guy that was racing</div> <div> by himself at the</div> <div> Gila and managed to get 8th overall. He beat the defending champ by about 5</div> <div> minutes – and me by</div> <div> about 22 minutes. ( I knew I should have used my aero helmet!)</div> <bR> <div> Well – in any case, it was fun and again I learned that we here in the</div> <div> flatlands really need to</div> <div> have innovative and disciplined training for the hills – saw it in NM, saw it</div> <div> in NH. Some of the</div> <div> popular training roads are 17% and go for 3+ miles – no joke – we drove some.</div> <bR> <div> The rest of my extended visit back has been filled with friends, good</div> <div> microbrews and some hiking. </div> <div> I’ll be back on Wednesday and getting geared up for Anderson – Good to see</div> <div> everyone so fired up</div> <div> for it.</div> <bR> <div> -Leader</div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>