Northern California - America's fastest marathoner (ever) TT's Old LaHonda in 18:54

Ryan Hall, America's all-time fastest marathoner, just posted on his blog that he TT'd up Old La Honda road on his Trek bike in 18:54.

Not bad for someone who basically does zero bike training except when he's injured (he's not a triathlete.)

I know there are a few of you forumites who can beat that! :thumb:

I can make it half way in that time! ;)

Sometimes it takes a while for cycling muscles to develop, and he might not know how to climb efficiently yet. Give him a year or two on a bike, and I guarantee he's down in the 15-minute range. He's 5'10 and 130, total climber if he wanted to be one.

How fast Mr. Hall could run up it. Maybe not a big difference.

I can't believe now in the late '80s I could get up that road on my Ironman Dave Scott in under 20 min. Now 30 min is real good...

How fast Mr. Hall could run up it. Maybe not a big difference.

I can't believe now in the late '80s I could get up that road on my Ironman Dave Scott in under 20 min. Now 30 min is real good...

Actually, I'm pretty sure he could run up OLH faster than he can bike it. It would require him to run 5:40/mile, which I believe he can easily do considering he runs a 4:50 pace at miles 20-26 of a marathon!

That he can do <19 min w/o any real cycling training speaks to his ability pretty well. Huge aerobic capacity, total 2d body, like Adam said, he could be at 17 by October and 15 next year if he wanted.

it's a lot easier to go from running to biking than the other way around.

In college I did a 12:00 min 2 mile test in a PE class. I've fallen so far from that now, I think I can ride up OHL about as fast as I can run on level ground.

The record time for the Empire State Building run is 9:33 men (11:23 woman) which is 1,050 feet and 86 floors. As a bicyclist I feel much more confident running stairs (or hills) than on level ground.

Has anyone here tried actually running OHL and compared the result to riding?

I think America's faster marahoner won't be trying for time on OHL because he probably doesn't want to get bigger quads. Remember that Lance Armstrong barely got under 3 hours in the NYC marathon a few years back (and that was w/ a lot of help).

I'm guessing that
it's a lot easier to go from running to biking than the other way around.

I went from being a strictly runner, including some decent marathons, to biking. I did comparatively well cycling. Now I do almost nothing except cycling. My average mile pace is probably 2 minutes/mile slower

Proof on Strava or it didn't happen.

jk, I don't doubt he did it but it would be cool to see a list of best times on one website for all to admire.