Mt. Lemmon Time Trial (Cat 4)

Mt. Lemmon Time Trial, Tucson, AZ
Sunday May 23rd, 2010

Course description: 20k hill climb; average grade ~ 4+%; 3,166 feet of elevation gain; 49 feet of elevation loss; starting elevation 2,749 feet; finishing elevation 5,945 feet; very good pavement; two-lane road with bike shoulder on ascent; open to traffic.

The mountain is part of the Coronado National Forest, and the road is known known as the Catalina Highway, Mt. Lemmon Highway, Gen. Hitchcock Highway, and Sky Island Parkway – go figure. The landscape at the base is classic Arizona desert: saguaros, ocotillos, chollas, prickly pears, and other cacti; sand; rocks; lizards; dead rattlesnakes in the bike lane; quails scurrying all over the pavement; tumbleweeds, um, tumbling along; the occasional road runner (plus requisite coyote); and guys wearing cowboy hats and boots driving immaculately clean white SUVs and pick-ups. As the road goes up the mountain, the plant life changes, as most of the cacti don’t grow above 4,000 feet, but the sotals and some wild flowers do. After mile 10, around 5,500 feet up, you get into the low alpine forest area, where there are pines, some streams – and, quite often, from December through March, snow. Ranked as one of the 10 best climbs in North America – not one of the 10 hardest, however. It’s tough, but much easier than Mt. Washington, Mt. Graham, or Mt. Evans. An absolute must-do ride. Ski area and li’l town at the top, 27 miles up.

Race web site
Route map
Photos from the TT
Pic of me rolling off the start line

Notes: One of my fave rides anywhere – and I know this climb better than any climbs that I do. The start line is just 11-miles from my Mom’s place in Tucson. So, I’m on this road a few times a week when I’m in Tucson. Last year, I took 4th in the Masters 45-49 group, with a time of 0:56:25, with an average power of 254 Watts. This year, I was aiming to better my power and time by 2-3% – shooting for 260 W avg., and crossing the line between 52 and 54 minutes. Also, this year I’d be racing in Cat 4, and rolling off the line 69th at 7:04 AM, 38 min. earlier than last year.

Race day conditions: Sunny; 60’s to start; wind 8-10 mph at the start. Made sure to get an early start time, as the winds were forecast to increase dramatically later in the morning.

Race Report: Got up, oatmealed, stretched, and departed all on schedule. Set up on the trainer in the Le Buzz parking lot, about four miles from the start line. Opted to drive over, so I could avoid riding through construction on the race tubulars. Tried for a shady spot in the parking lot, but all the good ones were taken. Did a 30 minute warm-up with a towel over my head/shoulder and a base layer on to block some of the bright, hot sun. Warm-up felt good. Rode to the start line, and had about 2.5 min. before my start time. Pretty good timing, I think.

Went with the S-Works SL2 with the 202 tubulars with an 11/23 cassette; 12.3 lb. (Didn’t have a 12/23, and thought the 11/23 would be better than the 11/25.) Clipped a can of Pit Stop to the back of my seat post. Wore my short-sleeved skin suit and shoe covers, but opted for the regular helmet, not the TT, so that I could hear better, given the open course, especially with the planned post-race riding up to mile 20. Had one bottle of water, in the down tube bottle cage, and put my cell phone, key, ID, cash, and bag of recovery mix inside a paper venti Starbucks cup in the seat tube bottle holder (as I didn’t have any pockets for that stuff, and it was a lighter, more aero option than a saddle bag).

The start was fine (and the starter commented on racing Wells Avenue 20 years ago), and the first 25 min. went according to plan, I think. Pretty consistent for the power over that first 25 min. – kept it in the 250-260 range, without a lot of dips. I anticipated the four or five flats and either shifted, got out of the saddle, pedaled harder, or a combo of all of those, to not power dip.

Tried to get on top of things for the false flat from the toll house after mile 5 to Molino Basin – shifted up, got out of the saddle, but couldn’t make myself get the power up to where it needed to be. Dealing with transitions in terrain, cadence, gearing, etc., needs work. Struggled a bit on the 1.75-mi. climb from Molino Basin to Prison Camp. Got passed by my 2.5 min.-man just before mile marker 6, and then my 3.5 min.-man about one-half mile later. (That was it for getting passed.) Couldn’t get myself to power through the Prison Camp dip, and was just mediocre going up the rise, 180 deg. curve up to mile 8.

Kept seeing that my power was below 250, but couldn’t always get it up to the right range. Stayed in the small chainring for the horseshoe descent between miles 8 & 9 – got the speed up over 27 mph. Thought I’d be better off amping the RPM so that I wouldn’t have to deal with the ring change coming out of the descent. Out of the saddle for the climb up, but dropped a lot of speed and power. Did shift into the big ring for the portion after Seven Cataracts at mile 9. Tried to muscle down the dips to mile 10, and not lose too much time. Never really got the power to where I wanted.

Came out of the dip on the new bridge, and willed myself to push through for the last 1.5 miles to the line, including the 7% grade section, but was still in the 220-230+ range, not 250+. The wind had shifted to a tailwind that point, so that helped. Lots of bike traffic near the end – racers & non – had to do some dodging to get past a family on two bikes who weren’t in the race, but decided to weave/sprint to the line. That only cost me a second or so, but didn’t make me too happy at the line. As there was a child on the trail-a-bike, I opted to not go the Cadel Evans route, nor utter any loud obscenity outbursts.

Official time: 0:54:34; 3rd place in Cat 4; 25th place overall; 248 Watts average.

While I took nearly two minutes off of last year’s time, and moved up a spot, my power was a bit lower than last year (by about 2.36%), and below my goal (by about 4.6%). If I’d managed to go 2.84% faster, or 94 seconds, would’ve put me in second place – so, just a bit more power than I did last year. Not out of reach.

So, not a failure of a ride by any means. But not totally psyched with the result. However, given how much focus I’ve been putting on road racing and raising my short burst power, along with all of the stage racing I’ve been doing, it’s not that surprising that I’ve lost a little bit of endurance climbing power. So, we’ll address that as I shift to focusing on more hill climbs in the middle part of my racing season.

By the way, after I crossed the line, I just kept on going, up to mile 20, Palisades – the only place to get water below Sumerhaven, at mile 27. But that ride, and the 20 mile descent, with wind gusts in the 35-50 mph range are another story for another day.