"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Racing BIG Mountains

http://i522.photobucket.com/albums/w345/BobDopolina/Yushan%202011/1195613582-1.jpg

The view from Yu Shan at 3600m+

I'm pretty sure that there aren't too many here who have raced really big mountains. I've ridden and raced some pretty big stuff and almost always had it handed to me.

But, there was one season where I flew. Nothing was too big or too step. It was amazing. The bike pedaled itself. Since then I have returned to being a mere mortal.

Two weeks ago my team did a race that finishes above 3200m. Last week we did a race that finished at 2600m.

There aren't many places in the world where this is possible and frankly, these really aren't the kind of races for me.

For those interested in reading the full story go here (http://oldguyracer.blogspot.com/2011/05/big-big-mountains-and-good-feed-or-two.html).

our only really big mountain race around here is Mt Evans. which is 27 miles of more or less constant climbing from 7500 feet to 14,000 feet.

its a really good time and a favorite of mine even though i'm not a spectacular climber.

its a good FTP race cuz its not teribly steep (avgs around 5% and rarely gets steeper than 6% and never for more than jsut a short switchback) so i can usually hang with the climbers for a while, especially if i stay tucked in at the start when its flat/fast enough to catch a litle draft.

for me the trick to races like that is finding the sweet spot between hanging on with the climbers too long and cracking completely and dropping off too early and loosing draft, pacing. dropping off at that point when i know that i still have enough in the tank to drill it TT style and maybe a match or two left for a finish line kick if need be.

our only really big mountain race around here is Mt Evans.

I'm surprised, being in CO, you don't have more races over the big passes. Logisitics / road closure problems?

yeah a lot of the good mountain passes are either

a) part of charity ride events (copper triangle, independence pass)
or
b) inside natl/state parks where theyre really nuts about race permitting.

not to trash colorado too much cuz its an OK place to race, but it is kind of a bummer to get to train and rec ride on some of the greatest cycling terrain in the world and then have the majority of the racing in downtown/office park crits and farmland.

not to trash colorado too much cuz its an OK place to race, but it is kind of a bummer to get to train and rec ride on some of the greatest cycling terrain in the world and then have the majority of the racing in downtown/office park crits and farmland.

Yeah, that would pretty much bite.

i mean we get mt evans, which is absolutely world class in every way, dead dog SR has a great mountain pass RR, rist canyon RR is pretty scenic and a hard climb (9 miles with a couple of >12% sections), air force RR is fairly scenic, glenwood springs RR... so its not completely boring. but its a lot less scenicand mountainous than people who dont race here might think.

The Green Mountain stage race here, is about 6000 ft of climbing over 70 miles. I have a loop mapped out that is 5000 feet of climbing in 32 or so miles. I would do this twice for a real interesting race.

But when you start getting high in the mountains and air gets thin this is entirely different. I spent a few summers mountain biking in colorado and remember going up to 14k feet and i dont think at the time i realized that was pretty significant

From my house to the summit of Whiteface is about 4000 feet in 12 miles. The Whiteface hill climb is 3500 over 8 miles. No road race presently finishes at the top though.

the whiteface climb is epic on its own for these parts.

its a good FTP race cuz its not terribly steep (ave around 5% and rarely gets steeper than 6% and never for more than just a short switchback) so i can usually hang with the climbers for a while, especially if i stay tucked in at the start when its flat/fast enough to catch a little draft.

I think the grades are what make the mtns here so difficult. It may be 50km to 3200m but there are countless sections in double digits. You can never get a tempo going. You have a 100m section at 4% then a 50m section at 8% then a 20m section at 1% then a 100m section at 12% then a 50m section at 8% then a 50m section at 5% then a 150m section at 15% then a 100m section at 4%...the mountain just keeps coming at you.

There's never a moment to settle and unless you've ridden the entire mountain dozens of times there's no way to remember it all. I've ridden most of the climbs we race every year 20 or 30 times. I have sections memorized but there are still parts that seem to come out of nowhere. Add to that the fact that sections of the road get wiped out every year from typhoons and then rebuilt and repaved and it is impossible to know the mountain.

Oh yeah, I also a pretty ****ty climber so none of this works for me.

I love big climbs. Here in California we have a 2-day stage race that's all big climbs: http://www.everestchallenge.com/

Two 6000' climbs to 10,000' on day one (and one easy 3000' climb as a palate cleanser), two 3000' climbs and a final 6000' climb to 10k again on day 2. Total climbing: 29,035 feet. Hence the name. There's brutally steep sections at the end of each day's stage, at altitude. It's so stupidly hard that I have to laugh at the sheer idiocy of the thing.

I sucked as a racer back in the late 80s and I still suck, but I like this kind of stuff so much that I started racing again just to do it. I suck slightly less at this than at regular racing.

that everest challenge looks pretty rad. Do you get big names in the P12 field to punish the mortals?

= autobus

yeah a lot of the good mountain passes are either

a) part of charity ride events (copper triangle, independence pass)
or
b) inside natl/state parks where theyre really nuts about race permitting.

not to trash colorado too much cuz its an OK place to race, but it is kind of a bummer to get to train and rec ride on some of the greatest cycling terrain in the world and then have the majority of the racing in downtown/office park crits and farmland.

Before I took the plunge into racing, I assumed Colorado meant races akin to some of the Stages of the TdF, with mountain descents, huge climbs. Essentially, I was completely ignorant of what actually passes for a race here. But at the end of the day, I would prefer to train in the mountains, as once a race gets going, it is not as if I really focus on the scenery. And quite frankly, the idea of a bunch of 4's barreling down Squaw Pass scares me.

However - already looking into Dead Dog with a co-worker. He highly recommends it.

@pjcampbell:
I grew-up in Central Vermont, and so one of my goals is to race in the Green Mountain Stage race next year. I want to wait one more year when I think my fitness will allow me to be more competitive than I currently am.

dead dog is a super super fun race, its well organized, has decent money (i broke even for 8th in cat4!), great community support, its only one overnight. and all three of the courses are great fun.

The 2nd annual assualt on pikes peak also looks really good for Colorado hill climbs. Slightly shorter (24 miles), almost as high (14,100) and a fair amount of 7-8% section. $180 is a lot to shell out, but I am *tempted*.

I'm also a mediocre bike racer, but slightly better at hill climbs than flat stuff.

that everest challenge looks pretty rad. Do you get big names in the P12 field to punish the mortals?

A few- Nate English, Jesse Moore, Justin Laue, Thurlow Rogers, Jorge Alvarado. But for most people if you try to hang with the fast guys you'll die at the end, so you let them go.
OTOH this is the only race where I have caught and dropped a P/1/2 half my age who started 30 minutes ahead of me on the same course... first to last in each field will be an hour or two apart at the finish. To make it more interesting there's often a cat 5 mutant who's in his first race and would have finished well up in the P/1/2 field. Last year's was using powercranks and wearing a camelback.

dead dog is a super super fun race, its well organized, has decent money (i broke even for 8th in cat4!), great community support, its only one overnight. and all three of the courses are great fun.

yup. what he said.

The RR has the most deceptively miserable 7 miles you'll ever ride.

yup. what he said.

The RR has the most deceptively miserable 7 miles you'll ever ride.

can you clarify?

i'm considering riding this one, although since it's a 6h drive for me it's at least 2 overnights.