Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb (M 40-49)

38th Annual Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb.

VeloNews race write-up and pics.

I was pretty well prepared for the race. Got up to Gorham, NH on Thursday afternoon, so as to not have to rush, deal with traffic, etc. Picked up my registration packet on Friday afternoon, and got the numbers onto my bike and helmet before having dinner with my riding & climbing pal, Alain, who’d come down from Montreal with his family. Had even printed out a tiny sheet with target times for each mile of the climb – for 1:11 and 1:09 – and taped it to my top tube. I’d be going by power, but had decided to do the sheet for ease of monitoring my progress, mental calculations, etc.

So-so night’s sleep. Even though I was all set for the morning, and just had to get up, eat, stretch, and drive 15 minutes to the race, I still couldn’t get the mind/body to relax enough to get to sleep. Eventually settled for 3/4 of a tablet of Ambien, and about five & a half hours of sleep. That said, I felt pretty good when I woke up – even if it was before the alarm. All went according to plan (other than leaving my team socks in the room, but I had a different pair with me in the car, so it was A-OK).

The weather reports had been mixed and changing as to what the morning was going to bring. Some predictions had been for very high winds and chilly temps, but when I checked before getting on the road, the forecasts were calling for 50’s at the top with nearly no wind. As it turned out it was a beautiful day for the race – clear, low 60’s at the base, mid/high 50’s at the top, with hardly any breeze. Best weather I’ve seen for my five climbs up the Rockpile.

I got to the parking lot right on schedule. Parked, set up my road bike on the trainer, as I’ve found that using the Cervelo R3 with the small chainrings, even the 32T, makes it tough to be able to get the power as high as desired during warm-ups. One really has to set the roller extremely hard against the rear wheel with that set up, and I’m not thrilled doing that to my race wheel. So, by using the road bike, and a PowerTap computer keyed to the Velocity training wheel and the road bike’s cadence sensor, I can just hop off when done, stow the road bike and PowerTap computer, and then hop on the R3, where I’ve got a separate PowerTap computer all keyed to the Zipp 202 rear wheel and the R3’s cadence sensor. No need to re-learn any codes, zero Wattage, or anything. Or, so it’s been…

Got in a very good warm-up. Felt confident and strong. Hit all of my numbers easily. Had good tunes on the iPod. Was enjoying seeing the sun come up and feeling the air turn a bit warmer. Went over the course in my head a few times. Wasn’t rushed at all. Got in the full warm-up, and got ready to race. Went with just my regular bib shorts, no need for the thermal knickers today. Didn’t need full fingered gloves. No need for a vest. And, I decided that I’d rather risk being a bit chilly than being overheated, so I skipped the base layer and went with just the short sleeve jersey. (I debated going with the short sleeve skinsuit, but (A) I wanted to carry my car key and cell phone (just in case), along with a 3/4 flask of EFS, and (B) I figured that if it got very warm, like during Newton’s, I could cool off more easily by fully unzipping the jersey, whereas the skin suit only unzips so far.) Went with a 21 oz bottle of water and the aforementioned flask – I did plan to use both.

Knowing that I held 264 Watts for the 42-minute/5.2 mi climb of Equinox two weeks ago, and that my hill work of late had been quite solid, I was targeting 260 Watts average for this climb. IF I slipped a bit, I should still be able to get to the top in 1:15 or less. My target window was 1:06 to 1:12. 1:12:10 being what I’d done last year, and 1:06 being my stretch goal if everything went perfectly. Was hoping for 1:08-1:10 realistically. I knew that I’d do better than last month’s Newton’s Revenge, when I came in at 1:14:17, as that was just a few days after completing (and crashing in) the four-day Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic stage race.

So, I hopped on my trusty R3 and rode across the grass lot to the road for a few short loops before lining up with the Top Notch group – the first wave to start the race. I hit the “mode” button on my PowerTap computer to turn it on, and rode to the road. I looked down after a couple minutes to see that the computer was still searching for the PowerTap hub. That was odd, as it was all fine just a couple days ago, and I hadn’t changed anything. I rolled around the loop and did the “learn” sequence for the hub. The computer found a code, so I set that and rolled off. Looking down again, nothing but cadence was picking up. So, I did it again. Now a different code came up. Tried that. No go. Now I was getting a bit panicky. Maybe there were too many other PowerTaps around – I could certainly see a lot. So, I tried the “learn 2” option. Got another code, but still no go. Now we were getting called to the line. So, I rolled over to where we started from for Newton’s, wanting to get a front row starting spot, and continued to fiddle with the computer. If it was the computer, I didn’t have time to go back to the car, get the other computer and go through the learning sequence and zeroing the Wattage. I kept hoping that I’d hit the right code with this one. As I was fumbling and fiddling, I wondered where all of the other riders were. I looked around and saw that my group was all lined up about 15 feet back, at the bridge. So, I eased my way back and awkwardly scooted into the front row next to the friend of a teammate. I looked to my left, and there was Tinker Juarez. I had no idea he’d be here just a week after Leadville. Then a bunch of guys from the Garmin U23 team rolled up – they got sent to the back of our pack. I was still fiddling with the damn computer to no avail. About that time, the race director called us all to move up – right to where I had been standing originally – weird, I don’t remember that happening last month. So, with the walking forward, etc., I ended up in the second row – which was fine. I was still screwing around with the computer, frustrated, distracted, and slightly panicked. I’d been planning to really dial myself into the 260 number and work off that – that’s how all of my training had been done. I’m pretty good at gauging my power by how I feel – that is, chugging away, and thinking, “Oh, I must be doing about 220 Watts,” then looking down to see I’m somewhere between 210 and 230 – so, roughly accurate on spot checks, but there’s no way I could manage that for an hour and ten minutes. When they gave the 1-minute warning, I stopped fiddling, and realized that I had to regain my focus, which was shot completely. Plan B: go by feel and use the time chart that I’d (EXTREMELY FORTUNATELY) printed and taped to my top tube. [I’d looked at my four previous rides up the mountain and took my best time for each of the 7.6 miles, and then went slightly better for a few of those miles when creating the chart. That way, I knew that certain steeper miles, like miles 4, 5, and 6 were going to take me longer than the other miles, and that would keep me from freaking out about having a super slow time for those three miles.]

The cannon fired, and I jumped, same as all the folks around me, and off we went. I knew that I’d not be able to stick with the front runners, and that some would blow up and come back, but I also didn’t know how much power I was putting out. I was worried about blowing up because I had no idea of how hard I was working. I tried to push myself, but to be aware of how I was feeling. At the same time, I decided that maybe now was the time to try once more with the computer, as fewer bikes were around. I was still 1/2 focused on that, instead of 100% on the race, and started the learn process again. I was passing some riders and getting passed by others, but it was pretty much a blur. Not smart on my part, but I was still panicked. I kept plowing ahead while the computer was doing its searching. I tried to pick out jerseys that I knew, but had zero luck. We were climbing the 12% section under the canopy, and everything felt fine, which meant that I wasn’t going hard enough. I pushed a bit more, checked the computer – still searching, and checked my Polar, which would give me time and distance, or cadence if I wanted that. I knew that the mileage markers on the road were off a bit compared to my Polar, so I decided to wait for the road signs before hitting the Lap button on the Polar. I was watching for the 1 Mile marker, but didn’t see it, even though the Polar was telling me that I was at 1.2 miles. I didn’t panic any more about that, but figured that I’d catch the 2 Mile marker when it came up. The computer failed to find the hub, so I decided to give it one last go before calling it quits on that. I knew that I was losing time and focus, but wanted one last shot. In the meantime, I was plugging away with the legs – feeling good, but very worried.

I saw the 2 Mile marker just up the road and punched the Lap button when I got to it. The clock said 13:50 and 1.8 miles. I thought, “Um, that can’t be right. That means I’m doing 7 minute miles…that’s two minutes better than at Newton’s…and, I don’t feel like I’m going to blow up.” So, I forgot about the PowerTap and just focused on the Polar and how I felt. I knew that getting to mile 3 was tough for me, and that if I was going too hard, this is where it’d start to show up. I was hoping to do mile 3 in 9:30 to 10 minutes. I nailed it in 8:45. That was encouraging, that meant that I was 2:45 to the better of my target times to hit 1:09. I didn’t want to get ahead of myself, but was feeling good. About this time I came out of my panic haze and started to focus on the riders around me. I had no idea how many were up ahead of me, but there were enough around me that I need to get to work. I passed a couple, and saw Marti Shea, the top female climber up the road a ways. She’d beaten me last year and at Newton’s, so I figured that if I could catch her and match her, that I’d finish with a pretty good time. I’d also beaten her at Equinox, so I knew that she wasn’t out of my range, as good as she is.So, I kept an eye on her and tried to up my effort, paying attention to not let up on the tiny false flats.

Mile 4 came into view and I hit that at just about 9 minutes, which was dead on my target. So, half way through the race, still a bit to the better, and still chasing Marti and others. I knew the dirt was coming, and prepared myself for it (A) being longer than I remembered (regardless of how many times I warn myself about that, it always is), and (B) it being much tougher and steeper, too. It lived up to both of those things, but I was also zeroed in on catching Marti, and whomever else I passed on the way to get to her. I wanted to catch her on the dirt section, and not leave it until after. The gap kept closing, so I kept pushing harder. I caught her just a bit after the near hairpin, and then rode the same pace as her, maybe just a bit ahead. I didn’t feel like staying on her wheel, as the dirt’s a bit unpredictable and there was no wind – maybe there’d be some advantage, but I wanted to move past her and up. We got to the to 5 Mile marker, and the time was 10 minutes, again, right on schedule – that mile’s a 13% average grade, so I knew it’d take longer. There are some steep ramps in the next mile, but the overall grade is back to 11.6%, so it went by a bit faster at 9:21, about 40 seconds faster than scheduled. So, I was 3:25 to the better of 1:09, and still feeling pretty good…in a lot of pain, having trouble breathing in oxygen, having a stitch in my right side, but all of that meant that I was working hard. I wasn’t getting the blowtorch down the throat feeling, which was good – that kicks in when I’m doing 280+ Watts for more than a couple minutes. So, if I was in that “happy” place of pain, side stitch, and drooling, and not having my windpipe fried, then I was doing OK.

Mile 6 to mile 7 was tough – the effort was catching up, as were a couple riders, one of whom I’d dropped earlier. He went past me, and it took forever for me to react to go after him. Mentally and physically shifting tempo and effort was tough. I could hear Marti starting to come up behind me in pursuit of the rider who passed us, so that helped inspire me to pick it up. Near Mile 7, Marti did pass me, but not by much. I checked my time at Mile 7, and it was 9 minutes, right on target, and my overall time was 59:59 – I couldn’t believe it – I was there in one hour, and only 0.6 miles to go. Slightly flatter (9.8% avg.) miles, but with the 18 and 22% ramps at the finish. I knew that I had to go all out – I could break 1:06 if I did, but I needed to catch Marti and the other rider. On the slightly flatter section, the Moors, as I like to think of them, I upped it again and went for it. I passed Marti, but she was hanging on my wheel. I think I passed a couple guys in doing so, but couldn’t reel in the guy who’d passed me. He was just beyond me as we hit the approach to the parking lots. I could see riders ahead of him, but I need to catch him, AND not get caught.

I could now clearly hear the people waiting at the top. We’d been passing a few folks here and there, ringing cowbells, yelling encouragement to Marti. As we neared the final two ramps, it got quite loud. Lots of screaming, and it seemed like everyone was yelling for Marti to “Catch him! You can do it! Catch him!” Three things flashed through my O2-depleted brain, (1) It’s cold up here, zip up your jersey, stupid (which I did), (2) shift into your easiest gear before this ramp (which I did), and (3) There’s no way on the face of God’s green Earth that I’m getting passed by Marti or anyone else at this point. It’s nothing personal, nor sexist, against Marti, she’s a great, great climber, but I’d worked too flipping hard to get caught now, and all of the cheering for her was just stoking my fires. I took the 22% ramp wide and out of the saddle as planned, giving it everything – the other rider was just ahead of me, and I could feel a rider right behind me – I wasn’t going to look, I was too focused on getting to the top. I made the left turn off the ramp, and kicked for the line. I’m not sure if I was in or out of the saddle, but over the last 15 seconds of the race, all of 0.047 miles, I kicked the cadence up from 75 rpm to 118 rpm and upped my speed from 5.76 mph to 11.52 mph – laughable speeds on any other course, but the best I could do here. I crossed the line and nearly immediately slumped over the bars sucking air, panting, and gasping. That was hard. The paramedics came over to see if I was all right. I was, but just needed a minute to catch my breath. Then another rider came up beside me, clapped me on the shoulder and was telling me that I’d done a great finish, that he’d been chasing me, but I kicked away from him at the end. Turns out he’d passed Marti, and had been on my wheel at the ramp, but that I dropped him to finish 5 seconds faster. Marti came in 13 seconds back. I didn’t catch the guy ahead of me – he stayed 2 seconds up. I just couldn’t claw that back over the final stretch.

I got the lovely Polartec blanket that they give each rider, my medal, a bottle of water, and set out to find my ride down. I was too beat to linger at the top soaking in the race. I was fried, and just wanted to sit down. Preferably on my bike on the trainer so that I could spin out my legs, which I could feel tightening up – plus, I was getting cold.

My official time was 1:05:29. So, just about 3:30 faster than my target time of 1:09. I actually had a 1:05:30 column of target numbers on my chart, but had to cut it off in order for the chart to fit on the top tube. My guesstimates for times to hit that had been close: I’d calculated 8 min. for each of the first two miles, then 9 min. for each of the next five, and 4:30 for the final 0.6. As it was, I was a minute faster for each of the first two miles, then 15 seconds faster for the third, spot on for the fourth, a minute slower on the fifth, 22 seconds slower on the sixth, a few seconds faster on the seventh, but then 1:03 slower on the last 6/10ths. So it all worked out to a one second difference. Funny, that.

Very happy with the result. Beat my target time. Took 6:41 off of last year’s time, and 8:45 off of Newton’s. No idea of what my average power was, however, which is frustrating. I’d have liked to have known if I went stronger than planned, or if I still got this good time by not riding to my target. The computer problems really threw me early on – maybe I could’ve gone harder earlier, and wouldn’t have had to chase so much at the end? I’ll never know, but even as distracted (and stupid) as I was at the start, I’m still happy that I was able to get over that and turn in a solid performance, a 9.3% time improvement over last year. I do think that the weather played a factor, in that it was slightly cooler today, and less windy than last year. The field was stronger and faster, too, I think. The winning time, and top two places weren’t as fast as last year, but in both years five guys beat one hour. However, my time this year would’ve been good enough for 13th last year, as opposed to 24th this year, and second in my age last year, as opposed to 5th this year. (Note: After last year’s race, I predicted that I’d be on the podium for my age group and finish in the top 25. So, I was half right. Sorry to disappoint.)

But, while I slipped a spot in my age group, I moved up in the overall from 42nd to 24th. So, no complaints, and lots of lessons learned.

Lesson one: double check the hub batteries before you leave the car. If I had, and hadn’t assumed that it was a computer “finding” issue, then I could’ve swapped batteries in plenty of time and had the power (which in the end may or may not have helped?).
Two: When something goes wrong, forget about it more quickly, and move on. Don’t let it be a distraction.
Three: Learn how to mentally and physically shift gears faster so that I can hop on passing wheels immediately. This has been a problem not just in this race but in others. I hear/see the riders, I’m just not reacting fast enough to hop on.
Four: Either drink the damn water and gel, or don’t bring that extra weight. Turns out that I never touched the flask, and I’m pretty sure I don’t remember going for the bottle of water. I could’ve saved 1.5 lb.
Five: Learn to ride without power – maybe tape over the power line on the computer so that I can’t see it during drills, but that we still have the data for later. I don’t think I’m holding back by racing to the numbers, but if I can better learn to match power to feel, then I’ll be a stronger/better rider. Maybe racing next year’s Newton’s practice ride without seeing the power, but going by feel/time would be good. If I can get to the point of hitting the target power that way, then I could save more weight by going with the regular 202 rear instead of the PowerTap, too.
Six: Do learn how to fall asleep faster/better…a life long problem.
Seven: Pack more food for the top. The wait to drive down was much longer than expected, and I went through all of the food & water that I’d put in my bag in the car.
Eight: Plan on where to meet driver. I did have to spend more time looking for my friends than I’d have preferred. Not their fault, nor mine, just wasn’t communicated.
Nine: Not so much a lesson as a goal: Get faster and stronger – I know that I can’t expect a 9.3% improvement every year, but I feel like I deciphered a bit more of the code and unlocked another door on this climb. Now I need to do more. Can I break an hour? Maybe. Probably not. But, can I carve off 70-90 seconds, probably.
Ten: Pack my race socks in the shoes in the trunk, not in the suitcase. (Yes, it’s a little thing.)

Things that were good this year/better than last year:
One: Coming up on Thursday, and having the room for Saturday night if needed. Much less stressful, and I was able to come back leisurely after the race, shower, and pack up, without having to rush. Bonus, by checking out before 3 PM, they didn’t charge me for Saturday. If the race had been postponed, as Newton’s was, I’d have still had a room and wouldn’t have had to move/scramble.
Two: Bringing enough food for the trip.
Three: Bringing ALL of the various clothing options, and having extras of things.
Four: Staying in Gorham is much better than North Conway. It’s closer and less expensive.
Five: Getting a room with a fridge and microwave is a big help.
Six: Picking up the registration packet on Friday makes life much easier.
Seven: Having a spare trainer so that it can go up to the top of the mountain is good. It was helpful to spin up there while waiting to go back down.
Eight: Having warm, waterproof shoes for both the top of the mountain and the lower parking lot is a good thing.
Nine: having enough rest the week before is key. This year seemed perfect with the hard efforts and rest leading up to the race. Clearly, and as expected, the week before Newton’s wasn’t conducive to having my best performance. But, that was OK because Fitchburg was the focus in early July, not Newton’s.
Ten: Being at 121 lb+/- a few oz feels great for climbing. That’s close to 4 lb lighter than at Newton’s.
Eleven: Confidence

Very happy to see the BRC so well-represented with both Bridge and Ben finishing sub 1:20, as did my pal Alain, on his first ride up the mountain. There’ll be three BRC’ers in the Top Notch starting group next year. We’ll have to coordinate lining up together. (That way if I’m still screwing around with my computer, one of you can smack me.)