Okemo Hillclimb/Putney DNS

Well, at least I had a 50% success rate this past weekend. I did the Okemo hillclimb last year so this was to be the first fitness barometer of the season. Last year my finishing time was 34:31, good for 7th overall, 2nd in 30-39. This year was to be a different story as a few Cat 1 climbers along with Gerry Clapper (45+ climbing wonder) made their way to the race and I knew this would mean me finishing further down the list. Warming up on Okemo Ridge Road, I had a feeling that the legs weren't going to be good. I can partly blame this on chasing single speed extraordinaires Charlie Beal and James Harmon through the woods on Thursday. I redlined multiple times just to keep them within a few bike lengths. Those two are unbelievable! I do take some solace in the fact that Charlie is tearing up the Cat 1 40-49's and James is more than holding his own in the Pro/Cat 1 Open- on his rigid single speed no less. Don't get me wrong, I had a blast, but this probably wasn't too wise of me given the fact that I had an all-out 30 minute effort awaiting me on Saturday. I guess it's a good thing I straight-up love to ride and am not in this game solely for the "result".

The race went off with a bang. Literally. There was this little cannon at the start line that they used and I remember thinking how loud can this little toy cannon be. Well, let me tell ya, it scared the you know what out of me! We rip down the s-curves of the resort to Rte.103 despite warnings by organizers that "the race won't be won on the first couple of turns." The Cat 1s as Andrew Gardner (VT 6 Gaps compatriot) predicted, were not effing around. The 2 miles from the lot to the turn of the actual climb blew by as we were easily holding ~28 mph. I was tucked in at about 15th position. Last year we were content cruising at ~25 mph on the flat section before the actual climb. The climb kicks up immediately to 15% and stays there before coming down a bit by the Sugar House. Em was cheering for me at this point and I was wishing she would do her best TdF fan impression and push me up the mountain a bit. Not to be. My legs were shot. Admittedly I was cursing James and Charlie a bit as I churned away in the 34x28. I essentially kept my position on the climb with the exception of 50+ Bob Meikle who went by me about a mile into the climb. I kept remembering Hilljunkie commandment #1: "Though shalt not let power up when the grade comes down." Unfortunately, due to the state of my legs, I "sinned" a few times. Sorry, Doug. I was battling Stephen Power, yet another 50 plusser, the whole way. He was dangling a bike length ahead of me the entire time and was not letting up. Damn, these "old" guys are strong. I heard some noise behind me and sure enough the guy behind us was closing down the gap a bit. Great. The last 2 miles were a bitch. I was counting down the hundredths of a mile and let me tell ya, at 5-6 mph, they don't tick off too fast. I closed it down to Stephen and we kicked it up on the flattish section toward the top. The last spanker to the finish I had absolutely nothing in the legs and Stephen inched ahead a couple bike lengths. The grade eases a hair just before the finish and I made a half-assed attempt to pip him at the line but came up a little over a wheel length short. I found it strange that I wasn't able to dig a little deeper and pass him and maybe catch Jeff Johnson who was just 15-20 seconds up the road. I guess I just didn't have it. Oh well. I finished in 33:34, 57 seconds faster than last year, 11th out of 92 finishers. I'm not sure how much of that was the faster first 2 miles, but quick math says that we probably did the first 2 miles about 30 seconds faster this year. So I guess I did the actual climb about 25 seconds or so faster. I'll take it given how my legs felt and the fact that I'm about 6.5 pounds heavier than last year. I don't know how much time the weight would account for but rest assured that it will be gone (and then some) before Ascutney. Also, looking at last year's Ascutney results, Stephen Power beat me by 1:03 so I guess I've improved a bit.

Em and I had planned on racing Putney the following day. We stayed in Brattleboro and it poured that night. Figuring that it was going to a muddy slogfest we decided to bag the race. I didn't want Em's first mtb race to be a frustrating experience for her. Not to mention, I didn't want to eff up our drivetrains (and potentially our bodies) for an hour or so of racing. Oh well. We did go home and get nearly 2 hours of riding at a nearby state park so we slaked our thirst for dirt at least. My mtb debut will have to wait until perhaps Pat's Peak. I sort of wanted to do the Greylock Century which is the day before so I may just push my first mtb race back further, maybe to VT50. That would be another cool "first", right up there with surfing for the first time at Waikiki and x-country skiing for the first time in the backcountry of Yellowstone. We'll see.