Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.1265 Lombardi
09-16-06, 08:46 PM
Here I am at Las Vegas to do the 17 mile Charleston Hill climb up to 8,677 feet (began at 3,326 feet) and I survived it! What a mofo of a race. It didnt seemed like that hard of a course yesterday when I was checking it out in my car:rolleyes: . At the starting line, they grouped all the cats and lined them up, and everyone started at the same time. Pace was tough from the getgo with all the higher cat guys mixed in the group. Before long I was off the back. I could see the string of casualty up the road ahead. As always with this type of situation, different groups formed on the road, riders doing the cat and mouse thing.
I didnt feel I was fully warmed up until the 40 minutes have passed, then I was pushing it pretty hard. I could sustain 185 bpm for a while then I had to back off to 175 bpm to recover, then pushing it back up there again. I did this for half of the race until I couldnt push higher then 170.
The course was not that difficult ( the pace was), maybe 5-8 % grade most of the way with steeper section at the end. I had enough gearing with 39X25. I was doing pretty well, holding my place, until the last 2 miles. I must have let 10 riders through the last couple of miles. I actually got pissed off! I was sucking air and I couldnt push anymore. Altitude really got to me. I made last sprint to the finish. I was a bit dizzy afterwards and my lungs hurt. Things I put my body through:( . It was so freezing coming back down to the parking lot! My teeth were chattering the whole way.
I finished it in 1:46. Winning time overall was 1:18 by a cat1-2 guy. Surprising thing was few of the cat4-5 riders beat out couple of cat1-2 guys. Cat 4-5 winner had 1:22!
Afterwards, I came back to the hotel and crashed. Last night there were some crazy stuff going on in the room across the hall, I heard bottles breaking, a girl was crying, and cops were brought in at 3 in the morning. I think some kids ransack the room, I saw a cleaning crew bringing out bags of garbage.
I took a good nap and I feel whole lot better. Time to get something to eat, go shoot some dice and make some money! Have a good rest of the weekend!
I didnt feel I was fully warmed up until the 40 minutes have passed, then I was pushing it pretty hard. I could sustain 185 bpm for a while then I had to back off to 175 bpm to recover, then pushing it back up there again. I did this for half of the race until I couldnt push higher then 170.
The course was not that difficult ( the pace was), maybe 5-8 % grade most of the way with steeper section at the end. I had enough gearing with 39X25. I was doing pretty well, holding my place, until the last 2 miles. I must have let 10 riders through the last couple of miles. I actually got pissed off! I was sucking air and I couldnt push anymore. Altitude really got to me. I made last sprint to the finish. I was a bit dizzy afterwards and my lungs hurt. Things I put my body through:( . It was so freezing coming back down to the parking lot! My teeth were chattering the whole way.
I finished it in 1:46. Winning time overall was 1:18 by a cat1-2 guy. Surprising thing was few of the cat4-5 riders beat out couple of cat1-2 guys. Cat 4-5 winner had 1:22!
Afterwards, I came back to the hotel and crashed. Last night there were some crazy stuff going on in the room across the hall, I heard bottles breaking, a girl was crying, and cops were brought in at 3 in the morning. I think some kids ransack the room, I saw a cleaning crew bringing out bags of garbage.
I took a good nap and I feel whole lot better. Time to get something to eat, go shoot some dice and make some money! Have a good rest of the weekend!