Tomorrow is race day - 8 miles, 3500'.
Been training for 2 months - wish me luck.

If that diagonal white line is the road then you'll need all the luck you can get -- and a few friendly pushes.

Good luck and let us know how you do.

The road is 8 to 9% for 8 miles - no breaks.
Here is the link to the event
https://www.whitefacerace.com/bikeraceinfo.html

That looks on par with Ventoux which is an average of 7.5% for 13 miles.

Only problem you may find is gearing. I used 28/28 all the way up and this may have been my problem. When things got tough I got into the lowest gear and stayed there.

So if you are looking for speed- fit the standard crank with a 42 small sprocket and the 11/21 cassette. Then you won't be tempted to crawl up the mountain in a low gear to make it easy.

Good Luck and enjoy the ride.

Best of luck on the ride and be sure to take pictures!

Thanks - I climbed it a few weeks back for practice and to learn the route mentally - used a 30/25. I have a 27 fitted now. But you are absolutely right - just sitting in that low gear is not a good strategy.
The first 3 miles the grade is about 9% then it backs off to 8%. My plan is to use the 30/27 at the start and move to the 25 after the first strectch, then up around mile 5, after the first switchback I can move to the 23 and then for the final 1/2 mile where it is probably the steepest, back to the 27.
This climb is a real mental challenge.

Not this time Bev - this thread has the pics I took over memorial day when I climbed it for practice.
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ed-a-high-peak

Thanks. I must have missed the other post.

This flatlander can't imagine riding grades like that for 8 miles We have short steep climbs and plenty of rollers but nothing like that.....I wonder how long it would take me to walk it

So after you're finished how do you get back to the start?

Several options,
1) Have someone drive up before the race and ride down in the car.
2) Ride the bike down
In either case you must wait until all riders clear the course.
The plan was my wife would drive up before the race and take me down but she got sick yesterday and stayed home. My training buddy may have room in his van to take me down, otherwise I'll have him sag up a jacket for me and I'll ride down.
If you look at my previous post you will see the ride down actually is a pain in the tail.

I was thinking that's probably one of those things that sounds like it's going to be more fun than it really is.

Good luck to you! Please post a ride report. I love to live vicariously!

Hah! You can have the same kind of fun by just putting a plastic bag over your head and riding around!

Race accomplished. That's about the best I can say for it.
I'll know my actual results in a few days but I suspect if you excludethe DNFs (a number of people turned back) and odd unicyclist (I don't get that one) I suspect I came in last. The day was hot & humid (for the northern Adirondacks that's mid 80s). It was preparing for thunderstorms so we had a strong wind in the face. Everyone faced this so no excuses. I started out pretty well but my heart rate was 185 - which is well into Z5, this was higher than I wanted. On memorial day weekend I kept it in Z4 but today I immediately went to Z5 and stayed there for the first half of the ride. After that I finally got it back to Z4 but by then I was hurting. My hips hurt, my weak knee was beginning to hurt and I felt I was in trouble. At that point I made the decision to drop into survival mode and just finish. My speed dropped and I slogged my way through the rest of it. This was harder than the last time I climbed it and I think my time was maybe 5 minutes longer. I was not going to give up but when I got to the top I had nothing left, I was barely able to walk. Luckily my friends wife was there with the van to take us all down as the skies open up with that thunderstorm just as I loaded my bike in the car.

Lesson learned - even at 176 lbs I am way to heavy to even come close in this kind of event. It won't stop me from trying again, but I seriously gotta loose some more weight.

Congrats finishing. It sounds like a tough day.

I may climb slopes all the time in my area but that is a different type of hill. If you reckon you were slow- then I would be a lot slower. I learnt several years ago that doing stupid things like this competitively hurts.

But one thing you can claim from this ride- Tomorow you will look back and it was a fun ride. OK- it may have hurt- it may have taken all your energy and a few bits may ache for a few days but you have done something that a lot of others can't.

So relax a bit- get a recovery ride in and get some sustinance inside you. We may not get pics of you struggling up the hill but The big slice of Pie you have deserved will be just as welcome.

I always forget to say it at the end of a reply but this does definitely deserve a well done. Others may have achieved the ride with ease- or at least in comfort- but to complete the ride when things are not going well takes a lot more effort than a DNF because the knees hurt.




WELL DONE.

Thanks all!
I am not discourage by any stretch. The thing I saw on race day was no other rider seemed to be quite as pudgey as I, at 5'11" & 176 I know I am not fat but I am not thin either. I saw two body shapes, folks that were thin as a rail and those who carried more weight but clearly it was all muscle. So to improve my time I need to get more fit and that is the lesson learned.

The organizers will post pics and I know there will be one of me from about 50 yds from the finish, If they post it I will clip in the link.
BTW - this ride was set up to support brain injury patients of which my riding buddy's sister who while cycling got hit by a car is now one. She is recovering but it is slow.

Any finish in a race like this one is a strong finish. Good job for hanging in there when the going got tough. As for your weight, I am the same height as you and compared to me you are definately skinny.

Are you really going to race up that thing. I know you can, good luck.

You did well regardless, congratulations

This reminds me of Jonathan Vaughters' guest entry to Rob Mackey's 'The Climb':

The Tourmalet and Hautacam are some of the toughest mountains ever paved. Conquered in a car, they are majestic and beautiful (as long as the engine doesn’t overheat), ridden on a bicycle, they are hell.

Now maybe Rob will tell us he’s doing this precisely because those mountains are hell. You know, the ‘just to see if I can….’ idea. Well, sure, I can try to shave a fully clawed, feral cat, just to see if I can, but the question here is WHY?!

Indeed. Well done.

As best I can tell, you did not finish DFL. That in itself speaks well for you.

cyclinfool,
well done

Sounds like something I would like to try but I am so against crowds at times I would never enter something like it.

Actually they do a very good job of keeping the riders from bunching up. They start them in waves every 5 min, about 30 riders/ wave and as you can imagine they space out quickly so you are riding mostly by yourself.

Not the ride itself but the before and after waiting. I ride solo high 90 percent of the time and when I have ridden with someone it was not too bad. I believe if I was with a "bunch"I could still be alone by focusing on the road ahead.
Thing is once I was there I would more than likely enjoy it, happens more times than not.

So......do you know how long it took you to climb it?

Hi cyclinfool,

Any time that you get to the top of a major climb (especially when you have thoughts of not making it) is a personal victory.

The Z5 stuff during that kind of a race is definitely a big problem since you don't really have an opportunity to recover on a climb. It's better to start slow and finish strong (or as strong as possible). A Z2 to Z3 progression at the start is a better way to go. Short forays into Z4 are OK for the steeper pitches. Stay away from Z5.

Roger Young (former US national champion and current cycling coach) told me that you have just so many heartbeats available to you in a race -- use them wisely. Z5 eats up the available heartbeats too quickly.

Good luck with your training and next race.