The "Epic" Race

Epic is defined as something that is heroic, majestic, or impressively great.  The Mt. Evans Hill Climb race is all of these.  An heroic effort is needed to make it to the top of the 14,265 foot mountain.  The mountain and the scenery on the narrow, bumpy, and broken road is nothing less than majestic.  The mountain and the race in itself are impressively great.  Each year hundreds of cycling enthusiasts from around the country ranging from the casual rider to riders from the elite pro peloton ranks drag their bikes and bodies up the 27.4 mile course passing two pristine lakes that take your breath away quicker than your burning muscles require of your already oxygen deprived lungs.  

The Mt. Evans Hill Climb has been going up Mt. Evans for the past 45 years as an organized race.  In 1962, a group of bicycle racers decided to challenge the 14,264 foot Mt. Evans by racing to its summit.  Started by just a handful of riders, the race quickly became an annual event celebrated by the hardiest athletes, at a time when bicycle racings was considered and oddity at best.*  The race was only cancelled three time since 1962, twice due to snow and once due to the race directors participation as a worker at the 1986 summer Olympics.  In 1981 the race was renamed to the Bob Cook Memorial Mt. Evans Hill Climb in honor of the 5-time winner of the race who passed away because of cancer at the age of 23.  

The course of this epic race starts at the base of the mountain in Idaho Springs, CO at an elevation of 7,540 feet and winds and twists its way up to the summit 6,724 feet above.  The temperature difference from bottom to top ranges around 15 degrees which on a day when the temps at the start is only upper 50’s to low 60’s, the summit starts to sound like early spring in Wisconsin…  low to mid-40’s.  In all honesty, when finished with the race, 40’s never felt so good!

The Cat 3 race rolled off exactly at 8:35AM MDT.  It was like we were shot out of a canon.  An quick, steep downhill onto Hwy 103 brought speeds up to the mid-20’s.  Hwy 103 immediately pitches upwards so speeds came down slightly, but the leaders were still hammering out 18 mph on the 5% grade.  Speeds remained about the same until the first of the many switchbacks hit shortly after the 5 mile mark.  At around 8 miles in, “pop” off the back I went as the main group motored up the steep road at 14 plus.  There I was, alone in No Man’s Land crushing the pedals at an 11 mph pace.  The goal of the day was not to stay with the fast group, the goal was to finish.  And finish I did.  After winding through the first half of the race, my legs found the sweet spot and I began to quickly pass riders up the final 14 miles of the race.  Slight inclines began to feel flat and my speed kick up near the 20’s.  Pace on the steep climbs picked up to 13-14.  All was going well.  Then the last two miles hit.  All switchbacks.  You look up above you and all you see is stairs of riders taking in all of the oxygen you wish to claim for yourself.  Corner after corner, the finish looked like it was never going to be there.  Finally, after the last switchback, the finish line was in sight.  Sprint!  Nope, there would be none of that today.  Burning, dead legs ground out the final 100 meters ending with a resounding sigh of relief and feeling of absolute joy knowing that I’ve completed the hardest race I’ve ever done, and will ever do again.  Until next time…

2 hours and 20 minutes was my finishing time and placed 30^th overall for Cat 3’s.  Awesome finishing time for me being that I thought I would average more around 9 mph and finish well beyond the 2hr 40min mark.  Unbelievably, the winner of the Cat 3 race was a whole 10 minutes behind the winning time of the Pros.  Wow, these guys know how to climb.  Must be nice when these guys live at high altitudes all year round… stinking mountain goats! 

Speaking of mountain goats, one of these shaggy mountain animals though that a yellow Madone 6.9 looked like it would be something good to eat.  I return from relieving myself and sure enough, the little white goat is standing next to my bike and sniffing the rear wheel.  After sternly scolding the mountain goat to not chew on the rear tire, I was able to bring my prized possession back from apparent destruction.  Dang mountain goats!

After killing the road for over 2 hours, I had the privilege, which was well earned, to ride back down the mountain.  There’s nothing like an hour of exhilarating descending down a mountain.  Being a novice and descending mountains, I got passed by two on a tandem bike so quickly I thought I was standing on the side of the road.  Wow!  Looked like the lady on the back was white-knuckling the handlebars!  A little over an hour later I was back where I started.  Painful but fun, the Bob Cook Memorial Mt. Evans Hill Climb was the most “epic” race I’ve ever competed in.  Hopefully I will get a second crack at the mountain again in the future and hopefully without any mountain goats trying to steal my bike for lunch.

Capitol Reef Classic

After beginning my vacation over a week ago, I've arrived in Breckenridge ready for some high-altitude training.  The previous week brought me some good rides in eastern Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park.  Those rides helped to get my lungs ready for the Capitol Reef Classic (CRC) stage race in Utah.

First off, this was the third year of the CRC in which participation has been growing each year.  The CRC consists of an 8.1 mile time trial, 52 mile circuit race, and an 81 mile road race all completed in two days.  The weather was mild (or at least that's what they said compared to last year) with temps ranging from upper 80's to low 100's, but it's a dry heat and I learned quickly that it is much better than 90 degrees and 90% humidity we receive in the Midwest.

The time trial on Friday morning started off okay for me but as the miles ticked by the lack of oxygen started to burn up my lungs.  I hammered through the remaining miles after being passed by the fella that started 30 seconds behind me.  When being passed in a TT, motivation really bottoms out!  I finished with a time of 18 minutes, 19 seconds; good enough for 17th place.  17th was better than expected because it wasn't a DFL!

Friday afternoon rolled around and it was time to suit up again and give the 52 mile circuit race a go.  Partly cloudy and hot we rolled out of Teasdale, UT for 3 laps of a 17.3 mile loop.  The circuit race reminded me greatly of the LaRue-Denzer race back in Wisco; however, this race was much worse.  Climbs were just as long, but these were much steeper; and did I mention, these guys can climb...  I hung on with the front runners until the final 8% grade climb and pop I went off the back.  Rolled in for 12th place with a time of 2:21:21 after a long day in the saddle.

Speaking of a long day in the saddle, Saturday's 81 mile road race over a mountain pass and around Fish Lake was a really, really long day in the saddle.  We rolled off early at 8 AM and began what was to be the hardest race I've ever competed in.  Up and down for the first 13 miles and then we called a "natural" (early on, but well needed).  All long mileage road races should have these, they're worth a million bucks!  Shortly after, we hit the first major climb, a 5 mile steep killer of a climb.  The field was decimated and 10 riders danced on the pedals away from the rest of us.  3 of us managed to catch back onto the main field on the downhill just before feed zone 1 but after digging hard on the downhill to catch up, we didn't have enough to hang with that group on the second major climb.  This second climb was about 8 miles long and averaged 8 to 10% grade.  After getting into a rhythm I was able to motor past the other chasers up the hill.  After the second major climb, there were only steep rollers left for the remaining 42 miles.  Altitude was again beating on my lungs as we climbed up from about 6,200 ft to nearly 10,000 ft.  I hung on the back of the chase group the rest of the race until being dropped on the final climb.  Finished 17th with a time of 4:08:48.

The road race was absolutely phenominal!  It hurt like hell but was absolutely awesome when bombing down the mountain side at 50+ mph.  If we didn't use brakes because of some of the turns, I'm sure we would have easily been in the 60 mph range.  Absolutely awesome!!!

When all said and done, I finished 15th in the overall GC standings with a total time of 6:48:28.  Not bad for the first time racing in the mountains!

As mentioned earlier, Breckenridge is the destination of choice for the rest of my vacation for some relaxation and some high altitude training.  Hopefully I'll be able to bring some big lungs home to rip it up on the Wisco tarmac.  I'll be back in a week!

ToAD Summary

Long time, no post…  June was a turbulent month with lots of travel for work and a good bit of racing at the end of the month which caused for my delay in updating this blog.  Now that June is past and things have begun to slow down, I’ve been able to reflect on the racing that took place as part of the Tour of America’s Dairyland.   

First and foremost, results were anything but stellar, but right on par for my season (6^th overall).  The results (as seen on the left side of the blog) were decent by all means, but not the results that would lead to my season’s goal of winning the overall.  That goal was essentially tossed out after the Road America road race.  That race was going well until the final sprint climb.  A bonehead rider from the Brones team deliberately threw his handlebars into mine resulting in a loss of balance and momentum.  Race over.  Rolled it across for a disappointing 20 something place, and watch my goal ride away with those at the front.  That result allowed me to have more fun during the rest of the stages.

All went well for the next few criteriums and then again on the Greenbush road race, things didn’t go to plan.  I blew up after a counter attack into the headwind just before the finishing climb.  Didn’t have enough gas in the tank and I detonated.  No big deal because the next day we were rolling into Fond du Lac, my favorite crit course.  Flat, short and fast 4 corner course that allowed you to get good gaps on others in the corners.  That race was almost an exact replica of the previous year’s race in the Cat 4s, only with different riders in the break.  I missed getting that cow jersey with 20 meters to go.  I need to work on my sprinting!  Downer Ave and Waukesha rounded out the tour and I was able to get some of my entry fees back by taking two of the primes at Waukesha.

In the end, the Tour was again a great time and well organized event.  Costing a total of $54 in entry fees after recouping much of that from race winnings/primes, one can’t go wrong with paying $5.40 per race.  We’ll give the 2011 ToAD series a go again with hopefully a podium finish overall.

Next report will be coming from somewhere west of the Mississippi.  It’s vacation time!