Fifty Plus (50+) - Tour of California - Pre-Event: Webco King of the Mountain

Our racing club is sponsoring a King of the Mountain Event prior to the Amgen's Tour of California. Velodiva and I plan to participate. The proceeds will benefit Fit for Learning (see below).

We must have a couple more insane souls who are local that are up to the challenge. See what it is like to take on tough climb just like the pros and get a measured time. Here is a chance for the 50+ guys to drop the young guys (I read posts about this happening:rolleyes:) under controlled conditions when everyone knows that they are racing.;):D

I am thinking about welding a chain ring to my rear cassette. Any other advice?

Be there!!

The Webcor San Jose King-of-the-Mountain Ride, Saturday, Feb. 16, kicks off a week of South Bay cycling events, culminating in the Amgen Tour of California Modesto-to-San Jose Stage 3 finish Wednesday, February 20, at San Jose City Hall.

A pre-ride to the 2008 Amgen Tour of California, the WEBCOR San Jose King-Of-The-Mountain Ride will feature a tortuous ascent up Sierra Road. Riding like seasoned professionals up the breathtaking Sierra hill, the best and the hardiest cyclists will compete for honor of being King-of-the-Mountain.

Registration Site https://www.sportsbaseonline.com/Item.aspx?item_id=2076

THE RIDE

Participants will gather at City Hall on Saturday, February 16 for an overview of the morning. The ride will start at 10 a.m., with Police motorcycles leading a rolling closure north and east to the base of the Sierra Road climb.

At that point, cyclists will cross a timing pad to activate timing chips and began the Sierra Road ascent: a 3.7-mile, 1830-foot climb, with an average gradient of 10 percent.

Go to http://www.sanjoseca.gov/kingofthemountain.html for a graph illustrating the Sierra Road portion only of the ride, indicating overall elevation gain and gradient change over distance.

The ride officially ends at the Sierra Hill summit, with riders invited to continue back to City Hall. The total ride is approximately 26 miles.

Riders will reconvene at San Jose City Hall for awards and a post ride celebration.
The cyclist with the fastest climb time will be presented with a Specialized bicycle on the podium at the Wednesday, February 20, Amgen Tour of California stage finish line at San Jose City Hall.

THE BIKE CLUB CHALLENGE

Silicon Valley cycling clubs are encouraged to join the action! The club with the highest level of participation will receive a Specialized bicycle. To stoke the riders’ competitive spirit, the club with the lowest aggregate time on the Ride will also receive a Specialized bicycle.

THE CEO CHALLENGE
The Webcor King of the Mountain will feature the CEO Challenge—pitting Silicon Valley’s hard-core cycling executives against one another to determine the CEO in the region. Winners will receive a commemorative award and be recognized post ride on event day at San Jose City Hall and on the Amgen Tour of California stage prior to the Stage 3 finish, Wed. Feb. 20. Registration details live January 3.

THE BENEFICIARY
Over the past 20 years, the rate of overweight children has tripled, and today obesity related illnesses like diabetes are affecting children at a rapidly increasing rate and at earlier ages. According to a study released by the California Department of Health Services, physical inactivity, obesity, and overweight cost the state of California an estimated $12.7 billion a year in medical care. Proceeds from the King-of-the-Mountain Ride will benefit Fit for Learning. Fit for Learning is a program-provided by the Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE) in cooperation with Healthy Silicon Valley-that addresses the crisis of childhood obesity and is a multi-faceted initiative that will increase physical activity and encourage healthy nutrition among elementary school students in Santa Clara County. Fit for Learning addresses the environment at every level: the classroom, the school, the district and community. For more information, visit www.fitforlearning.org.

TITLE SPONSOR
Webcor Builders is the largest general contractor in the Bay Area and the 10th largest concrete contractor in the nation. Over thirty-five years of serving clients such as Oracle, eBay, Lucasfilm, and the California Academy of Sciences has secured Webcor's position as a leading builder of large-scale, high-profile projects. In line with the company’s leadership position is its community outreach. Webcor Builders works hard to make a difference in the community by donating time and talents to non-profit organizations, especially those that benefit children and families. Plus, through the Webcor Cycling Team, Webcor Builders hopes to demonstrate to youth the importance of teamwork and a way to become true champions. The combination of these two strategic endeavors made the Webcor San Jose King-of-the-Mountain Ride a perfect match for Webcor Builders.

EVENT PRODUCER
The WEBCOR San Jose King-of-the-Mountain Ride is being produced by the City of San Jose and BlueWolf Events, a comprehensive event management and production company, specializing in cycling events. For almost 15 years BlueWolf has been managing and producing all kinds of events in all kinds of locations through all four seasons.

Sounds like a wonderful event to benefit a great program. It's just a little too far for me and I didn't see a prize for last place:rolleyes:

Ouch.......10% avg over 3.7 miles........How many sag stops will they have along the 3.7 miles for guys like me!!!!!!!

I rode Sierra Rd last year just ahead of the racers last year during the TofCa. If we hadnt already ridden 55 miles at that point I might have climbed it faster. :eek: But watching Levi and the boys shooting up the hill was VERY impressive. It looked like they were just riding, not especially working hard. This was on the parts where all I could do was 6-7 mph! I'm going to do it again this year, but dangit, I wont be there in time to participate in your event.

Man - that looks tough. Multiple points with gradients in the neighborhood of 15%. Looks like about 3 feet of level road near the end. :):(

What's that road like to ride on a weekday if I happen to be in the area some time?

Ouch.......10% avg over 3.7 miles........How many sag stops will they have along the 3.7 miles for guys like me!!!!!!!

Bad news...Last opportunity to cross the beginning timing pad is 10:55 a.m and the last last opportunity to cross the ending timing pad is 12:15 p.m. You have 1 hour and 20 minutes to climb. I do not think we are serving wine and cheese mid mountain. Our P/1/2 guys do it in 22 to 24 minutes.

BTW, in order to participate, you must have a USA cycling license. A one-day USA cycling license is available for $10 for Cat4 women and Cat5 men - all others need to purchase an annual USA cycling license. This is actually a race - except the motorcade controls the speed of the cyclists until the base of Sierra Road - then the real fun begins. :D

Hey! Well, last year it took me 36 minutes (age 57) so I dont feel so bad. The TofCa racers went up the climb in 19:30! And that was after, what, 85 miles or so?

Sounds like a great event for a great cause. But I'm not sure I'd want to know how long it took me to do a climb like that. I'm real sure I won't be timing myself going up Brasstown Bald in April. As long as I get up it before the racers arrive I'll be happy.

Hey! Well, last year it took me 36 minutes (age 57) so I dont feel so bad. The TofCa racers went up the climb in 19:30! And that was after, what, 85 miles or so?

Here are results from the Low Key Hill Climb this year for Sierra. http://lowkey.djconnel.com/2007/week8/results.html

You can see where your time would have placed you in that event. I suspect I will post a similar time as you did. Also, some of the 50 + men did really well. Tough crowd.

Thanks for the link Hermes. Last year we started riding about 5 miles before Patterson Pass (which was a tough climb also!) and rode the route finishing at the top of Sierra Rd. I've often wondered how long it would have taken me if I'd been fresh at the bottom.

Didn't you volunteer for the race last year? We're going to be there for the northern half this year also. It should be great.

KOM is full. We have 300 entries and we race tomorrow at 10 AM. The weather is should be beautiful.

Good luck. What cassette did you finally fit to the rig?

I put my 12/27 back on. I plan to spin 75 rpm.

According to http://www.kreuzotter.de/english/espeed.htm if I maintain 6.1 mph up the 3.7 mile 10% average grade, my time is 36:23. The power needed is 250 watts which I estimate to be my threshold. However, the grade on this course fluctuates so I plan to attack the steep parts above threshold and reduce time on the less steep when my threshold power to weight ratio is more effective. I am hoping for a sub 35 time. If I could do 300 watts, I could do a 30:24 which equates to 7.3 mph average speed.

The pros do this climb on stage three of the ToC this year. http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/Route/map/stage3.html

I put my 12/27 back on. I plan to spin 75 rpm.

According to http://www.kreuzotter.de/english/espeed.htm if I maintain 6.1 mph up the 3.7 mile 10% average grade, my time is 36:23. The power needed is 250 watts which I estimate to be my threshold. However, the grade on this course fluctuates so I plan to attack the steep parts above threshold and reduce time on the less steep when my threshold power to weight ratio is more effective. I am hoping for a sub 35 time. If I could do 300 watts, I could do a 30:24 which equates to 7.3 mph average speed.

The pros do this climb on stage three of the ToC this year. http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/Route/map/stage3.html

Good luck on the climb! I think your approach is reasonable as long as you don't get too much in debt on the steep sections. I guess you are familiar with the climb so that will help with pacing. This is exactly why I like riding with a PT. Having the power output to correlate to RPE during the event lets me push beyond my workouts given the extra motivation of the race. Anyway, have fun and post a report. :)

You must have a compact crank to be looking for 75rpm, I think? Last year my average cadence up Sierra was 54! That was with a 39 in front and a 27 in back. Definitely a grind.

You must have a compact crank to be looking for 75rpm, I think? Last year my average cadence up Sierra was 54! That was with a 39 in front and a 27 in back. Definitely a grind.

Yeah, I was thinking the same. In fact, at 10% ave grade, a 75 cadence will be tough even in a 34/27. More like 65-70 given the power stated.

You guys are very astute. I have a triple so I will be using the 30/24 and 30/27. I have cadence measurement and 70 rpm yields ~ 6.1 mph and 75 rpm ~ 6.6 mph in a 30/27.