Ouch... I can't say that I'm all that happy with my performance at the Mt Evans Hill Climb in Colorado last weekend. While I hate to throw out an excuse, the altitude was just too much. When I first did this race a few years back I lived at 5280 feet and regularly rode at 8000 feet. I now live at 400 feet and max out around 3500 feet. Big difference.
I flew into Denver early Friday morning and made my way over to my friend Steve's apartment in Belmar to couch surf (Thanks, Burito!). I quickly threw my bike together and headed out for a spin through my old stomping grounds of Wheatridge and Arvada. I felt good, in fact better than I thought I would. My start time for Saturday morning was 8:30 am - so an early night was in store. Everything was a go.
After a quick ride up to Idaho Springs I changed into my MTCCSD kit and headed to the start line. The race is a gradual climb from the start; after a quick, relatively straight 6 mile lead in up Chicago Creek Road the road takes a hard left and then ramps up it's way to Echo Lake. Here, the peloton began to break apart; I set a steady pace for myself and began to pull back several of the riders that had pushed off the front. Most of us were riding in 1's or 2's. About 3 quarters of the way up to Echo Lake we began to pass a few riders that had pulled off to the side of the road, hands on their knees, relieving themselves of their pre-race breakfasts.
At Echo Lake the road flattens out and heads up to Mt. Evans Road. As we passed by the Feed Zone at the Park Gate I was already feeling the effects of the altitude - 10,700 feet. I almost never get headaches - and have never had a migraine - and yet I was absolutely certain that I was getting my first one.
The road winds it way up through the last of the pines, up some pretty steep and long ramps. Thanks to the guys ringing the cow bells! The trees thin out and finally give way to the rock and alpine grasses at about 11,700' - were the wind began to pick up and I began to seriously slow down. I could feel my muscles in my lower back, my shoulders, and my arms begin to cramp up, my breath seemed to be coming slower and slower, and my brain seemed unable to concentrate on nothing else than the 10' section of road right before me. In fact, I don't remember a whole lot about the race after this point.
The climb to Summit Lake @ 12,500' (you actually climb to about 13,000' and then drop down into the basin) was a blur of gasping, grunting, and grinding out the miles. The road is pretty buckled from the constant freezing and thawing of the ground underneath, so the riding was somewhat rough. Passing by the lake you have a fair amount of momentum from the short downhill, but then turn to the left and are confronted by an absolute monster of a climb, a series of 12 and 14% ramps for about a mile. Pain... pain... pain.
I actually thought about turning around at this point, my headache was about as bad as I've ever had, my back was done for, and I was just plum tired. I forced myself to think only one pedal stroke at a time and spun my 39 x 27.
I made it to the top, body cramping and head throbbing in 2:46. Not exactly what I was hoping for - I thought I might be able to turn a 2:15. At the top all I wanted to do was to collapse in a heap of self pitting and cramping muscles, but I forced myself to through on some warm clothes, gulp down some cliff bars, swing my leg back over my bike, and coast down the mountain. After losing a couple of thousand feet, I felt like new... WTF.
I'll be back next year.
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