fixedgearinker

Just got my confirmation for registration for 2010 Mt Washington hill climb!!!! I am geeked! Being a clydesdale (245#) I am not exactly cut out for climbing but will give it all i have lol. Anyone else doing the climb?

Herbie53

Awesome. I've read a bit on that and it sounds absolutely awful & perfect! When is it?

fixedgearinker

I was lucky enough to get registered for the Aug 21 event, they also run on in July, called Newton's Revenge. This is my first time but have been wanting to do it for many years. Decided it is time....

CliftonGK1

Sounds like an awesome race. I'm way out in the PNW, so I won't be doing that ride, but I have some awesome (awful?) climbing rides planned for this year. Nothing as steep as the MWARHC, though.
The Bellingham 300k has a single climb; Mt Baker. 25 miles and 4100' of gain. Not steep, but the summit it the 100k mark, so when you reach that, there's still 125 miles left to ride.
The 3 Volcanoes 300k hits Mt. Rainier, St. Helens, and Mt. Adams. There's nearly 12,000' of gain and about 15 miles of unpaved dirt/gravel roads.

At 235 pounds, I'm not really built for climbing either, but I love doing it.

BigUgly

Good Luck! Put it in full granny and spin!

Herbie53

The insanity of this is oddly appealing....

Linky

At the first tilt in the road, "what happens is people fall over," says Mark Reid of Clinton, a middle-of-the-pack rider who has reached the summit by bike three times. "They haven't checked their gears -- they're in too big of a gear or their shifting isn't working right."
The 7.6-mile race to the top of New England's highest peak is Saturday, or the next day if the weather is nasty. With the finish line 6,250 feet above sea level, wind chill is always a factor and precipitation a real threat.
All the numbers are daunting. The road climbs 4,727 feet from its base off Route 16 outside Gorham, N.H. The average grade is 12 percent, with extended sections at 18 percent, and the last 100 yards at 22.5 percent. The top third of the road is not paved. There are 72 turns, with the longest straightaway only three-tenths of a mile, on dirt.
It sounds like torture, but the challenge is irresistible to hundreds of cyclists. This year the field has been expanded from 400 to 550 racers. The race benefits Tin Mountain Conservation Center (603 447-6991) in Conway, N.H.
For anyone who breaks the record time -- 51 minutes, 56 seconds for men or 1:11:38 for women -- the reward is a one-year lease on an Audi Quattro A-4. Tyler Hamilton of Brookline, a pro on the U.S. Postal Service team, set the men's record last year after completing the Tour de France. Marilyn Ruseckas of Warren, Vt., who grew up in Westboro, set the women's record in 1996 and shaved nearly three minutes from it to set the new record last year.
For Reid, biking up Mount Washington is not about prizes or records; it's about reaching a personal peak.
"I wanted a goal of something that would motivate me to get me back in shape and lose weight this summer," said Reid, 38, a computer programmer for Quest Diagnostics who did the race in 1989, '90 and '92 and has paid his $100 entry fee for next weekend. "I had blimped out to 207 pounds, and 175 is my ideal weight. I've got bad knees, too, and the extra weight hurts them. Training for this, I'm down to 185 already, just eating better and riding."

CliftonGK1

The record-breaking prize is a 1 year lease on an expensive car? For the same price as that prize, couldn't they offer up a tricked out carbon fiber racing bike instead?

Herbie53

That's an old article that I thought had some good quotes. Looks like this year is this stuff (linky below). I don't think the prizes are the thing though. 12% grade is sort of max granny.. 18% is a whole 'nother granny or perhaps a mother in law... the 22% at the finish.. that's just not fair!

https://www.tinmtn.org/mwarbh/index.cfm/Prizes

BigUgly

It does sound appealing. What do you want to climb? Because it is there.

bbeck

i have drove it a few years ago and all i can say is more power to em. that is one hell of a hill we were there in july and started the bottom with shorts and ac when we reached the top we were pulling our jackets out and shivering. we were in the clouds at the top and couldnt see 3 feet in front of us. good luck to all that enter im sure you will have a blast.

hammond9705

Good luck! Make sure you report back with a ride report and pics.

Mr. Beanz

ON A FIXIE???

fixedgearinker

haha.... you know, the thought did cross my mind - find about a 22gear inch combo and just spin away. But my superman cape will be in the cleaners so I have crossed back over to the dark side and have gears once again. for now anyway lol

fixedgearinker

I am excited about it for sure, seems as if you have so spectacular climbing of your own... sounds like a great season coming up

fixedgearinker

Thanks, I am very much looking forward to it. I talk to some people here in western PA who had a "this car climbed mt washington" sticker on it, they thought I was crazy when I chased them down and asked them about it. more-so when I said I was riding a bicycle up it lol

fixedgearinker

ahhh, someone who "gets It" !!!!

fixedgearinker

Thanks Big, got it all worked out, going to have a 21inch low gear "just in case" now just teaching my masher legs to spin.......

cod.peace

Mt Washington is quite infamous for nasty weather, like having its summit experience a fierce snowstorm, in August, when it's 85 degrees at the bottom.

baron von trail 

I know exactly what you mean. That mountain is a monster. We hiked up a few years ago and about froze to death before getting down. Mid-September, but winter came early up there--especially, after sundown.

It's a challenging hill. A rider woulnd't want to miss it when the wind shifts or when thick clouds roll in to deliver pelting rain. The place demands one pays attention, for sure.

I lost a lot of weight this year and feel in the best shape ever, I just might give that late-August ride a shot.

d4c4c8

When I did RAMROD in 1993 several people i knew were doing the 190mi /10k total climb on either fixed gear or single speeds. The one that freaked me was the kid that did it on a BMX bike.

Mr. Beanz

One of the locals (Vireo in the Socal forum) did the Furnace Creek 508 on a fixie. Also another gal from bicyclingdot com!

d4c4c8

I'm just waiting for that kid I keep seeing on SART on the Unicycle to do one fo those monster rides.