July, 2003 - AndrewKnight.com

2003 Mt. Ascutney Hill Climb

This past weekend the team headed to Massachusetts for the Tour of the Hilltowns Road Race. It is a straight shot down I91, so I decided to head down a day early and do the Mt Ascutney hill climb on Saturday. It would serve as a good warm-up for both Sunday’s race and Mt Washington in a few weeks. I had never done Ascutney, but I figured it could not be any worse than my Mt. Washington ride the week before!

Ascutney is a beast of a climb rising 2200 feet in only 3.7 miles. I went off in the lead group and after the first half mile I had opened up a gap. By the time I got to the first mile marker I was out of sight. I felt good and continued to power up the climb in my 30×25 gearing. I won with a time of 25:43! I found out later on in the day that the record was set last year at 25:29….now I know what to shoot for next year.

Mt. Ascutney State Park Bike Climb
                        Bicycle Hillclimb - 3.7 MI.
  July 26, 2003     Mt. Ascutney State Park Auto Road     Brownsville, VT
          Timing By: Granite State Race Services    www.gsrs.com
===============================================================================
PLACE DIV/TOT  DIV   TIME    RATE NAME                   AG S RACE# CITY/STATE              SPE
===== ======== ===== ======= ==== ====================== == = ===== ======================= ===
    1   1/16   M2034   25:43   8.6 Andrew Knight          25 M   375 South Burlington VT
    2   2/16   M2034   28:01   7.9 Kurt Hackler           26 M   348 Bolton MA
    3   1/45   M3544   29:14   7.6 Matt Seaton            38 M   477 Belmont MA
    4   2/45   M3544   29:21   7.6 Rojean Boivin          36 M   309 L'ancienne-Lorette PQ
    5   3/45   M3544   29:54   7.4 Doug Jansen            40 M   365 Pelham NH
    6   1/30   M4554   30:00   7.4 Virgil Luca            45 M   383 St Leonard PQ
    7   4/45   M3544   30:24   7.3 Kevin Bessett          37 M   306 Williston VT
    8   3/16   M2034   30:57   7.2 Gregg Ferraris         25 M   338 Southington CT
    9   5/45   M3544   31:00   7.2 Keith Guinta           40 M   347 Fairfield CT
   10   4/16   M2034   31:06   7.1 Edgardo Torres         29 M   447 Norwalk CT
   11   6/45   M3544   32:01   6.9 Brett Rutledge         41 M   428 Westboro MA
   12   5/16   M2034   32:09   6.9 Hunter Pronovost       25 M   419 Cheshire CT
   13   6/16   M2034   32:23   6.9 Samuel Wheeler-Marteni 32 M   461 Belmont MA
   14   7/45   M3544   32:27   6.8 Bob Miller             44 M   395 Norwich VT
   15   2/30   M4554   32:30   6.8 Jack Hutchinson        54 M   364 Deerfield NH
   16   8/45   M3544   32:34   6.8 Richard Powell         43 M   416 Hanover NH
   17   9/45   M3544   32:57   6.7 Rich Marquardt         37 M   388 Henniker NH
   18   1/8    M0119   33:10   6.7 Josh Typrowicz-Cohen   17 M   452 Norwich VT
   19  10/45   M3544   33:15   6.7 Dennis Oconnor         42 M   402 Orford NH
   20  11/45   M3544   33:18   6.7 Charles Foley          40 M   340 Glastonbury CT
   21   1/15   M5564   33:34   6.6 Bob Bortree            56 M   311 Stowe VT
   22  12/45   M3544   33:48   6.6 Paul Charron           36 M   320 Essex Junction VT
   23   3/30   M4554   33:50   6.6 Roger Costales         48 M   325 S. Burlington VT
   24   7/16   M2034   33:53   6.6 David Day              33 M   329 Antrim NH
   25  13/45   M3544   33:58   6.5 Daniel Doherty         41 M   332 Ctr. Conway NH
   26   4/30   M4554   34:00   6.5 Robert Tobia           45 M   479 Peru VT
   27   5/30   M4554   34:04   6.5 Kevin Haley            45 M   349 Vernon NJ
   28  14/45   M3544   34:14   6.5 Eric Brandhorst        41 M   313 Carlisle MA
   29   6/30   M4554   34:14   6.5 Fish Frusciante        52 M   342 Epping NH
   30   7/30   M4554   34:33   6.4 Jim Odorisio           46 M   404 Chittenden VT
   31   8/30   M4554   34:43   6.4 Steve Lavoie           46 M   470 Loudon NH
   32  15/45   M3544   34:53   6.4 Andrew Watson          35 M   459 South Deerfield MA
   33   9/30   M4554   34:54   6.4 Lloyd Crawford         50 M   326 Hawley MA
   34  10/30   M4554   35:23   6.3 Ry Perry               53 M   411 Contoocook NH
   35  16/45   M3544   35:25   6.3 Robert Swinburne       35 M   442 Brattleboro VT
   36                  35:49   6.2 Dale Apgar                M   482 Hanover NH              CLY
   37  17/45   M3544   35:52   6.2 Bob Zock               35 M   466 Sutton NH
   38                  36:14   6.1 Jay Prewitt                   417 Portsmouth              TAN
   39                  36:19   6.1 Anne Marie Prewitt            418 Portsmouth              TAN
   40  11/30   M4554   36:26   6.1 Jim Arnold                M   302 Cornwall VT             CLY
   41  18/45   M3544   36:44   6.0 Steve Vosburgh         39 M   458 Jackson NH
   42   8/16   M2034   36:47   6.0 Neil Favreau           34 M   337 East Burke VT
   43   1/7    F3544   36:58   6.0 Dominique Codere       44 F   324 Mt. Royal PQ
   44   2/7    F3544   37:05   6.0 Heather Mckendry       38 F   391 Eaton NH
   45  19/45   M3544   37:08   6.0 John Murphy            40 M   398 West Hartford CT
   46   2/15   M5564   37:09   6.0 Rol Hesselbart         57 M   358 Heath MA
   47  20/45   M3544   37:30   5.9 Clayton Dennis         41 M   330 Westport MA
   48   2/8    M0119   37:30   5.9 Nicholas Crawford      16 M   327 Hawley MA
   49  12/30   M4554   37:36   5.9 Joseph Bracchitta      45 M   312 Greenwich CT
   50   3/15   M5564   37:39   5.9 Ken Peterson           59 M   412 North Brookfield MA
Record 25:29 by Alan Obye in 2002.
   7/26/2003 12:20AM

Full Results

2003 Shelburne Sprint Triathlon

After racing a hard Fitchburg stage race the team decided to take July 4th off from racing. There was a local sprint triathlon in Shelburne that I decided to jump in. Here is my race report:

Preparation before the race:

On Friday I went out and practiced some hills on my Mt. Washington bike. I went pretty hard for 2 hours but it helped to loosen up my legs which were still sore from my run on Wednesday!

On Saturday I rode the course and scouted out the hills and what kind of gearing I wanted to use. Overall the course is pretty rolling. By Vermont standards I would call it flat but then again I think anything is flat when I am not using my 12-25 for this race I went with my 12-23 (53/39 up front)

Saturday night I worked on some of my transitions. T1 was going to be difficult; I decided I wanted to ride in my bike stuff as this is what I have been used to (bad idea). T2 I got down pretty well as I was just going to change my shoes.

Race Day

Swim (500yds): The swim was a wet start so it was not crazy. I had a pretty good swim, came out of the water in 9:30. The first guy was out in 8 minutes so I figure the course was a little longer than the advertised 500yds. I made one mistake in the swim: I stood up way too early. It was not until after the race that I was told to swim all the way until your hand hits the bottom.

T1: This was terrible! The leaders official swim split was 9minutes. Mine was 11:30, so not only did I loose 1:30 in the swim but I lost 1 minute in the transition. This was a little frustrating as I had hoped to be closer than that.

Bike (15.6mile): This went well. I passed most people in the first few miles. This opened up the road and I was able to get in a rhythm. I passed everybody on the bike except for the leader. I came within 30 seconds but needed a few more miles to catch him. My official bike split was 35.13 (26.57mph).

A few notes from the bike:
I had a little problem with my butt cramping up in the first few miles of the bike was not expecting that! I had difficulty getting my heartrate up most of the time it was low 170’s (I usually TT at low 180’s).
I felt “ok” on the bike not great…a bike leg is a little different that a flat out TT!

T2: This went fine. Took the helmet off, got the running shoes on and I was off!

Run (5k): I left the run 30 seconds down on the leader but never got any closer. The run actually felt ok from I was really surprised that the first half mile was not bad at all. My stomach was not great but I think that would improve with some “brick” workouts. My official run split was 21:20 (6:53 pace). I ended up holding my position; finishing 2nd overall and winning my age group (25-30). The winner was Tim Watson who I found out later was a former pro. He ended up running 6 minute pace and smoked me on the run.

Overall, it was a fun day and hopefully I will get to do another tri in September. I will definitely get some Louis Garneau tri-gear and swim/bike/run in all the same clothing. God that T1 was bad. Nothing like trying to get your bike jersey on over a wet body that is just asking for problems!