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2003 Mt. Washington Hill Climb Race Report

The Mt. Washington Hill Climb is considered the toughest hill climb in the world. Here are the stats:

Summit Elevation: 6288 ft.
Base Elevation: 1565 ft
Elevation Gain: 4727 ft.
Length: 7.6 miles
Grade: avg.12%; extended 18%; final 100 yds. 22%
Road surface: 65% paved, 35% packed gravel

After realizing last year that I was a strong hill climber, I set this race as a big goal for the season. I trained hard all winter, did lots of hill repeats at Bolton Valley and App Gap, and built up a super lightweight 13 lb. “climbing” bike. A special thanks to Ian and Paul from Fitwerx for setting me up on the ultimate Mt. Washington bike.

In preparation for the big race I did the practice ride four weeks ago. It was a perfect day: sunny and winds out of the west at about 5mph. Weather conditions on Mt. Washington don’t get any better than that! In my first run up the mountain, I clocked a time of 59 minutes, and this included a 1 minute stop at mile 6.5 to fix a slipped rear skewer! I was pleased with the effort and knew I was ready. I used my 30×25 for almost the entire ride. This gearing worked pretty well, but since I am a spinner, I could have used a little more on the steeper sections. For the race I decided to throw a 27 on.

Race Day!

We got to the base of the mountain around 5:45am. We were going to give my friend Kevin a ride down so we used his car as base camp. I unloaded my stuff into Kevin’s car and we sent Crystal up the mountain early to get a parking spot at the top. I had gone through meticulous preparation in making sure I had everything I needed, but I made a critical mistake and sent my spare bike and wheels up with Crystal not thinking I would need them. I went through my standard 45 minute warm-up and then pulled up to the start.

This is where things start to get interesting. As I put my foot down, I get this weird sensation that my rear tire feels a little soft. My heart sinks. I reach down and squeeze the rear tire….definitely too soft! I quickly run over to one of the cars and grab a pump from someone. I pump the tubular back up to 130 and run the tire over my fingers…there is a piece of metal lodged in the tire that is causing the tire to leak. There was no way this wheel would make it an hour to the top. As a year’s worth of preparation flashes before my eyes, I go to plan B: I need a new wheel and fast… the race starts in 3 minutes! I see Phil Wong’s teammate Greg and he says Phil has a spare wheel in the car. I throw the wheel on quickly glancing at the cassette hoping that it might be a 25…no such luck- it is a 23 and there is no time to switch to my 27! This race just got a whole lot harder!

I get back over to the start line and take a few deep breaths to try and calm myself down. “BANG” The gun goes off. Tom Danielson, Phil Wong, Drew Miller, and Genevieve Jeanson take off. I let them go as my plan was to go a little more conservative in the first half as I overcooked the first 3 miles of the practice ride. After the first mile Scott Fiore comes by me and I get on his wheel. We pull back Miller by mile 1.5 but the other 3 are quickly pulling away from us. I was glad to have a wheel to stick on as the first 2 miles were pretty rough; at times I was struggling to stay on Scott’s wheel. By mile 3 I start to feel a little better and I pull by Scott to take over the pace work. He sticks on my wheel for the next mile but by mile 4 I have started to put a gap on him. Mile 4 is also our first western exposure as we come through the tree line the wind starts to pick up! As if this climb is not hard enough, now we have to deal with the wind! The next 400yards are tough with a full western exposure on our faces. I estimate the winds are blowing 15 to 20 at this point. I continue on and for the next mile the winds are not an issue as we are protected by the face of the mountain.

As I come through mile 5.5 I am greeted by a blast of wind, fog, and rain. Conditions just went from bad to UGLY! The winds are now blowing 30-40 mph but they are now more of a side/head wind! Visibility is about 30 feet, and taking your hands off the handlebars to grab some water was not an option! With the wind and my 23 I am really starting to bog down. I am having trouble getting my heart rate up and I begin to think this climb is never going to end. I hit mile 7 and the weather has continued to get worse. Winds are blowing 50mph and I can barely see anything in front of me now. Keeping the bike tracking straight is really an issue. I hit the 22% grade at the finish and my legs are about to explode. I can feel my rear tire slipping on the super slick pavement, but I make it to the top and finish. What an incredible ride!

Conditions at the top are CRAZY. Within a minute of stopping I am freezing cold. It had to be 45 degrees up there! Crystal runs over and gives me some warm dry clothes to put on. I finished in a time of 1:01:40 and was 4th place overall. I was the 3rd Male so I made the podium presentation at the bottom!

My podium shot with Tom Danielson! — My podium shot with Tom Danielson (center)!

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You can also read the coverage from fromVeloNews.com & CyclingNews.com

2003 Mt. Ascutney Hill Climb

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