On my way to the Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hill climb, I met a friend in North Conway New Hampshire for a pre-race warm-up the day before. Contrary to predictions the weather was fantastic. The sun was warm and the air was cool, and we could see the summit of Mt. Washington as we rode. This was pretty perfect, but it got better. We were joined by two guys from the Garmin Transitions U23 squad, Walker Savidge and Peter Salon, also in town for the hill climb, who asked if they could tag along with us. Walker told us they were scheduled to do the Tour of Utah, but since they’d had a pretty full season, their coach decided to send two younger guys for that race, and give Walker and Peter a break. I don’t think many would consider the MWARBH a break actually! Anyway, Walker and Peter were really sweet and I was thinking, who cares what happens tomorrow? I can go home happy!
On race day, the weather was still good, 50-ish and clear, and I made it to the starting line on time, in spite of taking the only possible wrong turn out of North Conway and driving an extra 30 miles. This race is all climb: 7.6 miles, average grade 12%, with extended sections at 18% and a final 50-yard climb to the finish at 22%. The only flat is the first 50 yards from the start. About half-way up the mountain the surface is unpaved for more than a mile. This dirt section is also one of the steepest sections of the course.
At Cycle Life, Matt had fixed me up with a long cage derailleur and an 11-36 cassette. With my compact crank this gave me 34x36, which according to the MWARBH racers’ forum should work. Eric found a calculator online that estimated a time of 1:40 if I maintained a steady power output about 10 watts below my FTP. When I hit the start of the climb I was amazed to find that to keep the power that low, in my lowest gear, my cadence was below 55 rpm.
Friends had told me that the first two miles were the hardest. When I passed the 2-mile marker, I was steadily passing people, feeling great, and thinking that wasn’t so hard. By mile 3, I wondered why they had been picking on miles one and two. It didn’t really change after mile 2, except where it got harder. Still, it wasn’t as bad as I expected, and I didn’t find it too hard to maintain a nice steady pace.
But then, somewhere around mile 5.5, near the end of the dirt section, I must have twitched my front wheel a little and it slid out in the dirt. I found I couldn’t unclip, and went down a little too hard. I had to walk to the next switchback to re-mount, and found I couldn’t grip the bars with my right hand. And it seemed there was dirt in my cleats, because I couldn’t clip back in either. But I had come so far for this race I really didn’t want to quit. When a volunteer asked if I wanted medical attention, I said yes, but I also wanted to keep going. I went on a little more, and then when the medics caught up with me, I stopped and waited in their cart for a bit while they tried to find an ace bandage. It turned out they had nothing to wrap my wrist, so we ended up tying an ice-pack on my hand with a rolled-up cotton sling.
I started again one-handed, and I think it seemed a little less steep. The sling and ice-pack combination fell apart immediately of course, and I had to stop again to get it tied tighter, but after that I was able to pick up a little speed for the last mile or so. Eventually my pedals clicked back in, but then I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get them out again.
The last couple of miles went quickly, until I came around a bend, and the road seemed to rise straight up. I had forgotten about “the wall,” and I suddenly realized there was no way I could get up it seated, and no way I could stand on the pedals with only one hand. I tried to put one foot down, thinking I would have to walk, when a guy came out of the crowd on my left, telling me to stay on my bike. He said I had come this far, and I was going to finish on my bike, and he started to push me. Another guy joined him from the right side, and I found myself getting a free ride up the final steep bit. I was so surprised I almost didn’t turn my wheel at the top, but then it was only a few more yards and I was across the line. And in this race, when you cross the line they catch you and wrap you in a really nice fleece blanket, so I didn’t have to fall again to get unclipped.
Ultimately, my first race up Mt. Washington didn’t work out quite the way I had planned. I lost 30 minutes and my race time was terrible. I dislocated my thumb. I scratched up my new pink bar tape. I understand the view from the top is spectacular, but I never noticed.
And I can’t wait to do it again next year.
