Originally Posted by Carbonfiberboy

It's only been cancelled due to weather once in the past 15 years. It can be run on either the 18th or 19th DOW. Is there a time limit? The vertical rise is only 4727'. A well-trained person of average talent can certainly climb at 2200' per hour for two hours or so. I figure about half as fast as a pro for the average well-trained duffer. Pros might run a VO2max of say 70, while average is more like 50. Most pros do it in an hour, so . . . And I wouldn't worry too much about the temperature. The final pitch is 22%. I would be sweating in a short-sleeved jersey in a snowstorm. Not a bad idea to have a vest and arm warmers along, though.

It's all about pacing. The small ring is a very good idea, and is how my CADD9 was set up. I think a Salsa 26T. It lacked a cassette, so I don't know what it had. Good information at http://www.mwarbh.org/
Supposedly Mt. Ascutney in Windsor, VT is a good climb to test gears.