Snowbird Hillclimb race report, AKA: pain & suffering.

[bnd]

Saturday, 21st. 27th annual Snowbird Hillclimb. 10 miles, 3500 vertical feet, 7.5 % ave. gradient.

After Rockford, I hung up my BMX for the season & set my sights on training for this race. Even though I'm not a contender, its more about meeting personal goals & trying to better your time each year.

Iv'e lost 12 lbs. since June & probebly in the best shape of my life so I was feeling very confident waking up at 5:30am & ready to rock. I made myself a high calorie energy drink/smoothie & popped an 800mg. IB, got dressed & decided to ride to the starting area about 5 miles away for a warm up. I left at 7am. for the 8am. start. About halfway there I was coming up to a red light, a car with 2 girls in it was on my left waiting, as I came to a stop I half-assed my attempt to un-clip & didn't get out. I fell over to the left & just about hit the front of their car. Jeez! this was the first time Iv'e EVER done that & I didn't bother even looking at them I was soo embaressed.
I took off & arrived with about 20 minutes till start so I chatted with a friend & streched out.

There was maybe 400 entries this year, down from the past I would say. The race started & I was off. I paced myself at first, trying to not get caught up with the jackrabbits because if you do, your done later. As soon as we turned up the canyon I noticed there was a pretty good head wind coming down, great! I made good time drafting behind a guy on his MTB all the way to the 5 mile mark but he turned it up & dropped me. So there I was, by myself in the wind & suffering like a MF'er. Unless you have experianced a race like this yourself, I have a hard time describing what you go through. You know when you on a long BMX track & your gassed on the last straight, fighting for that last transfer spot & you have to pedal to the line? THAT's what you go through on this race, for 10 miles! I put a new cogset on my rear wheel this year adding 3 teeth but with the wind, I think it offset any gain I thought I would get out of it. I was in granny gear for most of the race (39-26t) & barely turning the cranks at times, this is the closest Iv'e come to abandoning out of the 5 times Iv'e done this race but I noticed not 1 person did so, at least from what I saw so I wasn't going to be the first, so I gutted it out. At mile marker 9, with 1 to go I got feeling better & new I was close to not beating last years time so I really put my back into it & pushed past my limits & with the finishline in sight & a great crowd cheering all the finishers on, I sprinted the last bit & finished up.

I wasn't feeling good about my ride & knew that I probebly didn't better last years time & for sure didn't get my personal best (I didn't have my computer on my bike), so I recovered for about a 1/2hr., got dressed & rode back home. I was just coming to the bottom of the canyon when I passed Mark the snake Miller riding up. He joined me on my ride home & we stopped at a neighborhood cafe & ate lunch. BTW, the snake has lost 42lbs. since May, but that's another story.

I woke this morning & checked the results, what a pleasant surprise to find I beat last years time by almost a minute excatly!
03' - 1hr. 21:11 sec.
04' - 1hr. 20:13 sec.
I am actually pretty happy sitting here but I'm still 4 minutes off my personal best. Iv'e decided to not do this race anymore because unless I am willing to drop 10-15 more lbs, I probebly won't be able to get it, and I'm just not willing to do that. I pulled it 3 years ago weighing about 150lbs. & doing it on my MTB w/ slicks, go figure?

Here are some other times that are pretty incredible,
Winning time - 45:57.
Womens winnig time - 49:06.
A 69 yr. old guy pulled a 1hr. 18 minute race!

b.

[J Gallo]

hey b,

'Grats to you for putting in the effort to get the job done! And doing it in less time! One of these days I'd like to join you for that ride.

Next up, the Alps

[bnd]

You probebly don't want any part of it Jason, It really tears you up physically & mentally. I ended up with a nice hacking cough when I woke up Sunday morning, typical after doing that race. Today it's worse. Like I said, no more for awhile, maybe when I'm in my 40's I'll do it again just to see what kind of shape I'm in but it's just too hard on my body.

Next up is nothing but fun type of stuff until the snow flys. Sept. has a bunch of century rides I want to do, RMR crits & start enjoying some MTBing.
You never know, I might make a surprise appearance at the SCF in the cruiser class........

b.