Updating my entries in ROJA's excellent KOM sticky got me thinking. All this data is really interesting, how can we do something exciting with it collectively? So in light of all the recent challenges concerning how far you can ride in an hour, how high you can climb in an hour, how many push ups you can do, and how many burrito's you can eat - how about converting this into a KOM challenge.

Obviously, a lot of us have ridden with each other and have a good idea of each others abilities, so simply organizing a climb would be nothing unusual, and we could probably predict who'd get KOM on a given day. So how about organizing a different ride with a staggered start, so that the fastest riders have a longer hold at the bottom, and hopefully we end up with some more interesting finishes? This would also allow us to theoretically normalize between slowpokes and gladiators.

In order for this to work, we'd have to pick a climb that everyone will have ridden up at least once and can post a time for and is significant enough to warrant the effort of trying to get everyone together. So I've put a poll together listing climbs we could consider, but I'd also like your input.

1. Is this a good idea?

2. Are you interested in participating?

3. Which climb should we use (see poll)?

4. What else could we do to make this as much fun as possible?

I'd suggest we shoot for August or so to make the climb, hopefully before the rain arrives, but far enough away that we could get a list of times for everyone who'd want to participate. Lots of logistics to consider, but it seemed like an intriguing idea.

Just a thought for now....

Assuming that we're all going to get together for the ride, I pick Diablo. I might actually be able to make the trek to ride it.

Interesting. But how are you ever going to handicap this? Do I get to start in the last 200 meters? Or the day before everyone else?

BTW, Sometime around Oct 4 is the annual Diablo Challenge. You'd want to avoid that!

Maybe you bid your time (in good faith) and try to beat it, leaving at the calculated start that makes everyone arrive at the same moment!

Maybe the "winner" is the person who calculates their time to arrive with the most other people.

That was my thinking - if your south gate time is say, 1h 25min, someone who has a PR of 1h 5min would leave 20mins later. It should add for more excitement at the top as people close in on one another. We could leave a stopwatch running at the bottom of the climb and give people start times, then someone else (i.e. probably me or some selfless volunteer with a better time) would need to go up first and catch people arriving, record for posterity etc.

Oh yeah, and I intend to ride the official Diablo challenge, so it definitely won't be that weekend.

I'd like to piont out that i have Diablo Challenge t-shirts from the 80s. I never thought they'd be vintage.
I need to wash them up and wear them somewhere.

What a great idea! Maybe you can get a small monetary amount for donations from people who decide to show up and pool it into prizes like gift cards for the top finishers.

I like the handicap idea, I was actually reading about it this morning on another blog (read the beginning for how they do it in Australia):

https://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2009/...andicap-races/

Hey Beaker, I think this is a good idea. Keep in mind that the Low-Key Hillclimbs start at the beginning of October this year and I know some from this forum will be participating:

https://lowkey.djconnel.com/2009/

Thanks Adam - I'd seen lowkey coming up again, and given the Diablo challenge, we should probably move this up to August or September if there's enough interest

I've never seen it before for cycling - I just like the idea of either having folks coming to the end who wouldn't normally ride together as well as the motivation of trying to ride ahead of someone catching you up from a later start, or trying to catch someone who started earlier than you. Good way of seeing if we can keep to or break PR's.

BTW - there are a couple of non-Diablo votes - Diablo isn't a lock, but if you have an alternate in mind, please speak up!

OLH is too short, I think...

It's good because most know their time, but too short IMHO.

It would be really epic, if it were a good mountain, like Diablo or Hamilton.

Tunitas is too far out, I think.

I like this idea - lately I've been doing some specific workouts on these hills, and forget to just ride them for fun. Diablo would be my vote, simply because I could get a nice 6 mile warm-up over rolling hills to the start!

What will be interesting to watch is what impact the handicapping have on the reported personal bests? Mine's now up to 2 hours 45 minutes!

JB

Mt. Diablo... from NORTHGATE!!! Meet at Arbolado Park!

I did southgate last year, with a leisurely stop at the junction I was at 2:21
Moving speed over 22.4 miles was 10.7. Yikes....
This is a grand idea. i hope it happens.

EDIT: I just checked. That was up and back! 1:34 to the top. I feel slightly better!

Northgate isn't that much tougher - but I think most people have timed themselves up South Gate.

Now, what to do about sandbaggers like JB? I suggest that anyone shredding their PR by say >10%, would need to be sent back down for a repeat climb with a backpack of gravel. (it could be tough to find actual sandbags at the summit after all)

I'd give more than 10% before the rock penalty.

I also find NorthGate a bunch harder. I think it's the steeper sections.

Where is DiabloScott? He should be weighing in on this. Is it OK with him if we borrow his mountain?

ban riders from having computers, gps or watches. Winner is closest to their estimated time ?

That's an interesting thought. I like the idea!

I don't love it. I am a geek and live with my garmin GPS data. I'd hate to give it up for the ride. Just guessing how long it will take and attempting to hit that that is OK. But I'd rather guess, then try to beat it.

i can't imagine slowing down just to match my guess either.

Here's a notion: We want people to accurately estimate their times, and then go as hard as they can. Right?

Because of the staggered start, everyone, if they estimated perfectly, would arrive at exactly the same time.

How about we take the average of everyone's arrival times. The winner would be the closest to that time.

There's no way to know in advance exactly what it will be. But it should represent the combined wisdom of the group.

It also gives everyone the impetus to estimate their time accurately.

you could also award
flat out fastest
worst personal estimate (rubber duck award)
closest personal estimate.

I don't have to remove my computer for any of these!

Those are fair points Curtis. At the end of the day this is just a bit of fun - the idea of comparing with your claimed time is nice and the irony of "losing" by being too fast appeals to my twisted sense of humour.

Anyone else got any thoughts on this? Diablo does look to be running away with this one for venue (fine with me).

I'll leave this thread going for a few more days and then start another one for signup, and suggested "rules of the game".

Maybe there should be a qualifier run for your seed time.

NOOOOOOOO. I need my Garmin data.

Or let's do it on a regular basis, like once every couple of months and see how each of us improves. The first challenge would then define the seeding for the following one.
That looks like fun.

Sounds like fun. I'll get in on this if the schedule permits. Diablo is best since it's a central location for us valley folks. Northgate or Southgate... doesn't really matter to me, though I have never timed myself from Northgate.

Let the sandbagging begin!

This is the perfect idea.

The first one can be based on previous PRs/estimates, etc... Then any after that will be based on the bets time from previous KOM challenges.