Brentani’s Cycling Blog

if you’re wondering what the road up Okemo looks like, check out this youTube video. This is pretty much what it felt like when I was climbing it. You really have to be careful not to take those switchbacks too fast when climbing or you might just fly off the side.

Short version:

• 5.8 miles
• 2 miles flat
• 3.8 miles of climb
• 11.6% average grade
• 19% maximum grade
• 2100 ft elevation gain
• 55 starters
• winning time: 29:19
• Doug Jansen’s Time: 32:29
• My time: 37:28
• place: 15th
• lesson’s learned: 34-29 is not as easy a gear as you think it is, and don’t underestimate the guy in the Sponge Bob jersey with a 26-34.

long version: Here’s my story and I’m sticking to it: I beat the predicted winning time of 43 minutes by about 6 minutes. Never mind the fact that all the contenders at the start line looked at each other and chuckled when the announcer made his prediction. Doug had told me that he was hoping to do it in 35. Since this was my first hill climb, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Turns out that hill climbs really aren’t all that complicated. Fun as hell, but not complicated. So here’s how it went from my perspective. After picking up my number, I headed out to the “warm up” area. It turns out the warm up area was actually a 2 mile (or so) climb. The gradient wasn’t very tough, however, so I could keep it in the 34-23 or 26 and keep the ride nice and easy. I showed up for the start with 54 others. This race was a little different from most hill climbs because we had to ride along the flat 103 for 2 miles before starting the climb. The climb itself was 3.8 miles at an average gradient of 11.6% and 2100 feet of elevation (so the whole race was 5.8 miles). I wasn’t really looking forward to the first part, because I was afraid that either I’d be killed by one of the cyclo-tourists who had never ridden in a pack before, or that the cat 1’s and 2’s would drop me before the climb even started. Thankfully my fears were unfounded and we kept up a nice and easy 20-ish mph until the climb, and no-one was trying to get a hole-shot or anything dumb like that. The climb started off with a bang. No more than 100 meters in, the race had already separated into the real racers and those just along for the ride. And a bunch of riders started out very hard. I had to check myself to not try following them, since I’ve killed myself in the first 1/2 mile of a climb more times than I can count. I made the executive decision that I wouldn’t pass Doug, since there was no way in hell I’d be beating him to the top. I didn’t have to work very hard to adhere to that decision. I hovered a few meters back from him, and was gradually working my way up towards him, and then he was gradually moving away, and then I stopped worrying about Doug, since before I knew it, he was pretty far up the road. I rode with a Mystic Velo Club rider for a while…eventually the steepness got to him and he pulled off to the side and stopped to catch his breath. I fought the temptation to do the same, since I knew where it would get me. It turns out, 34-29 isn’t as easy as I thought it was. Through the steepest sections I was going just over 4 mph, which means my cadence was pretty damn low (and I don’t feel like figuring out what that makes my actual cadence). At about this point a couple other riders from behind caught up to me. I lifted my pace enough to grab the wheel of the first rider and rode on his wheel for a while, until the pitches went up again. Somewhere in here, someone on the side of the road told us that we were 13, 14, and 15 on the road. Eventually I lost contact with those 2, and that’s when we hit the fog. From here on, I could just barely see the two of them up the road at the edge of the fog, and I could just barely see a couple riders behind me. And that’s how it stayed until the top. My computer hit 5.9 miles (the race was supposed to be 5.8) and began thinking that someone had played a horrible joke on me (and that those 500 ft and 250 ft to go signs were just lies). Then out of nowhere the I was at the finish line. I had enough energy to correct the announcer when I read my name and was very happy to see a finishing time of 37:28. That’s well within the range of what I was hoping to do. I’m just happy to have a baseline to improve on.

And, I’m sold on the whole hill-climb thing. For the same reason I love the north, the people who are at these races are there because they want to be there. The climb hurts for everybody, from the winner to the last finisher, and everyone pushes themselves to their limit. As a result, there’s no bitching at the end about so-and-so who sucked their wheel, or took a stupid line, or refused to work in a break, or how I should have won, but didn’t time things right. I can’t wait for my next one, I’m just not sure when it might be. Maybe Ascutney, or maybe Burke in the fall.

Here’s Doug Jansen’s take and here are the official results in case you don’t believe me.

Yesterday I rode from Providence to Manchester CT, and got a ride back home with Carrie (after having dinner at Harry’s Pizza in West Hartford, which, frankly, makes every pizza place in Providence look like Little Ceasars). Dedicated readers of the blog may remember that I did this same route last year. Last year’s time was about 4 hours 4 minutes. This year I managed to shave 26 minutes off my time and did it in 3:38. Last year I remember trying to keep up a 17 mph pace, and finally giving up as I approached Manchester, when the last few climbs up to Bolton Notch really got to me. This year, I had a maximum average speed of 19.6 coming off the long descent from the RI High Point, but finished with an average speed of 18.4. And, last year I’m pretty sure there was no wind whatsoever, while this year I had a small headwind (but not negligible considering I was riding into it the whole way). The best indication, however, of how much better I felt this time around was that after I arrived in Manchester, I decided to take a “short cut” over Dale St. Last year, I looked over at Dale as I passed, and just laughed and the thought of trying that hill, since I could barely ride downhill at that point. Dale is kindof like an East Side Hill. Short, but very steep:

I decided I needed to do it to test my form for next week when I’m doing Okemo. I figured if I could still manage a 19% climb after all the hills and mileage I’d already done, it shouldn’t be too bad to do a 3.5 mile 12%-ish climb next week. (I have a brand new Veloce 13-29 cassette ready to put on, too…) Amusingly enough, at the top of Dale, you have to take a quick jog onto another street to get to the top. That street that you finish on is Ludlow, the other name for Okemo, and the starting town for the race. I take that as a good omen.

Here’s another of the biggest hills on the Providence-Manchester route. It’s a little hard to actually find the hills, since they’re all on route 44/101, and it’s pretty difficult to figure out where they begin/end by looking on a map. But starts in Mansfield Depot, so it’s easy to find:

This doesn’t happen very often, so I have to mention it. Headed out for hills today with Casey and Naveen. Naveen is a rider a little bit like Mark – someone I feel like I should be able to beat on hills, but often don’t. That is, he is larger than I am, but also has a much larger engine. And Casey, well, Casey always makes me look like a chump on the hills. (He’s about 15 pounds lighter than I am, and also seems to have a larger engine. But he also just upgraded to cat 3, so I don’t have to feel as bad when he beats me.) We headed up the blackstone bikeway. First hill on the menu was Manville Hill. It became pretty clear right away that Casey wasn’t feeling his usual self. Naveen hammered pretty much the whole way up. I just managed to stay on his wheel until just before the top when I let my concentration lapse and he got about 10-20 meters on me. Next up: Tower Hill Road. I think I’m on record saying I don’t like this hill. The constant changes in gradient usually seem to get to me. I put a little pressure on the steepest sections at the bottom, but neither Naveen nor Casey seemed to have much difficulty following. And I certainly wasn’t trying to attack at that point. I was thinking more about making sure that I didn’t get dropped. For the first half of the hill, that was my main goal: make sure I didn’t finish 3rd, or at least 3rd with a gap between myself and number 2. About 1/2 way up Casey decided to have a go. He pushed pretty hard and opened up a small gap leading into the longest downhill/flat section. This section is FAST. Casey and Naveen were taking the corners very quickly and I was 3rd wheel, and was losing some ground in this section (Casey seemed to be trying to build a small advantage going into the next uphill). As a result of losing ground, I had to shift into the big ring to keep up with the two of them, who were getting most of their speed in aero tucks. As a result, I had a lot of momentum and was still in the big ring when we hit the next uphill. So I threw down. I opened up a pretty big gap, and stayed in the big ring over the uphill, and cranked it as hard as I could until the next uphill. By this time, I looked back and had opened up a big enough gap that I couldn’t see them around the curve. Shifted down, but still managed to protect my lead until the top. All in all, a sneaky and a bit lucky win, but I’ll take it. Next Hill: Woonsocket Hill. We all stayed together over the first steep section. when we came around the corner on Brentwood, Naveen attacked into the hill and opened up a pretty sizable gap. Casey and I tried to keep up a more reasonable pace, but weren’t really nailing him back. Casey started to fade, and I looked up the road and saw Naveen struggling (It’s over 20%). I kept my pace up pretty well, and started bringing Naveen back, and eventually passed him, and opened up a gap of 30 or 40 meters by the top. I’m standing by my ranking of Woonsocket Hill as number 4 (behind Bowen, Blue Hill, and Jenckes)…it’s a beast in that last section.

Today was kind of a funny day on the bike. Riding up Waterman for the start of the ride, my legs were burning. They felt a bit like they might at the end of a 50-60 mile ride. I’m chalking it up to residual effects from mountain biking 2 days earlier. Today it was just Mark and I and we did his extended Scituate Reservoir loop, which involves going up 94 to 44, and then back Durfee Hill Road. I hadn’t done this precise loop for over a year, when Mark gave me a serious thrashing. My legs were still feeling pretty tired when we hit the reservoir and did the Tunk Hill Road. This is a hill that Mark can often beat me on. Today was no exception. Especially when I lead most of the way up. I tried to keep a tough pace, but was unable to unhook him. I knew that meant he’d be able to jump, which he did. After that initial burst, I was able to slowly make up the gap, but the hill was over well before I could actually catch him. The rest of the day, including Durfee Hill Road, he wasn’t really able to drop me and I couldn’t drop him either. That is until we ended up on 101 headed east. At this point (about 45 miles into the ride) my legs were actually feeling much much better than they had at the beginning of the day. I had never actually ridden this stretch of 101, so I didn’t realize this was such a tough little hill. Mark and I stayed together, keeping up a pretty tough pace, until we rounded a corner and saw that it kept going. That’s when Mark dropped back and I decided that this was my one chance to redeem myself for getting dropped on Tunk Hill. It’s actually a quite tough hill:

Durfee Hill Road is another one that definitely deserves to be cataloged, so here it is (lots of rollers before you get to this stretch add to its difficulty):

Yesterday I drove up to just south of Woodstock, NH and rode around a bit before climbing up to the Kancamagus Pass. Here’s what Doug Jansen has to say:

“The Kancamagus Highway (The Kanc) is one of my favorite roads to ride in New England. The scenery can’t be beat, and it’s a brute of a climb from either direction. You can park in Conway, ride to Lincoln and back, or vice versa for a 100+ km ride. What you miss seeing behind you going out you will see coming back. The only downside to riding the Kanc is there are no paved shoulders. During peak tourist times, traffic can be heavy. Avoid this road during fall color season. The road is being resurfaced starting from Lincoln, which is way past due. This will make descending that side far more pleasant, plus it looks like a bit of shoulder is being added.”

I was beginning to wonder why it was considered a brute, since I did the first half of the 13 or so miles in the big ring, and felt pretty good. But eventually I decided I’d be happier in the 34. After that I was still able to keep up a pretty tough pace, but every time I went around an s-curve I kept hoping I was close to the top, but instead the gradient just kept increasing. It was a little hard to tell, however, whether it was actually getting harder or if I was just getting tired. Some of both I expect. Probably 2-3 miles from the top, I went by an overlook and thought for a second I was at the top. I kept going because I wasn’t sure and since it flattened out a bit, I put it in my big ring again and pushed it a bit harder (having a bit of an adrenaline rush thinking I was almost done). That’s when the tough gradients really kick in. According to signs on the way back down, this section is 3.5 miles of 9%. Then I went back to Curtis’s condo in Waterville Valley and waited for Curtis, Mark N, Mark G, and Andrew to get back from their epic 4-hour mountain bike ride (or a long hike pushing their bikes, for much of it…) We all relaxed in the pool, drank some beer, went to dinner, and watched the 1998 World Championships on video (and I got to be disappointed all over again that Bartoli could only pull off the bronze.) So today, Curtis and his family, along with Mark N, headed home for Providence at about 4:00AM. Against my better judgment I borrowed Curtis’s mountain bike and went out for a ride with Mark G and Andrew. Somehow, we took a wrong turn, and instead of taking a reasonable trail up to the top of Mount Snow (a ski hill), we pretty much just rode directly up the ski slope. I walked most of that. Near the top, Andrew turned back since his pedals were broken and would no longer clip in. (I was having trouble clipping in, since I had never ridden on the time mtn bike cleats, but that wasn’t a good enough excuse for me to turn back.) After that, things were a little better, but I’m really not used to the whole mtn biking thing. Comparing my effort to my effort on the Kanc the day before, that day I was in control of my effort and could monitor how I was feeling. I pushed myself to close to my limit on the Kanc, but I was always able to back off a bit, or keep it under control. On the mountain bike, however, everything would go south very quickly. I’d be climbing and keeping up a reasonable pace, and then a second later I’d be hunched over the bike, gasping for air. Other than a couple little crashes – one looked much worse than it was, since I landed on my face – it was pretty fun…but I don’t think I’ll be buying my own bike any time soon.

Today was the longest ride of my season. By far. In fact, I think it was about 15 miles longer than anything I did all last year, which means I’d need to go back to 1998, probably, to find a ride of a comparable distance. I had been wanting to try out the climb at Blue Hill, in Milton, MA for a while. If the weather hadn’t been so horrible, I would have gone and done it after the race at Blue Hills. But, it’s about 40 miles from my house. That means to ride there and back makes for an 80-mile day (today’s ride came to 85, total) or you have to drive there. The idea of driving for a bike ride just doesn’t seem right, though I’m willing to do it to get to big climbs (ideally, something like Wachusset, Greylock, or better). Blue Hill just doesn’t quite qualify, and it is possible to do from Providence. That also means that I can catalog it in my list, which I am allowing to include anything within riding distance of Providence. So, according to Doug Jansen, you have to start at the bottom of Brush Hill Road, and that brings the total vertical up to 500, which is the limit for inclusion in his small hills section. I did Brush Hill, but it hardly seems worth it. It isn’t very difficult, and doesn’t really feel very connected with the rest of the climb. (Especially since it took me about 10 minutes to figure out where the access road was, after looking around some parking lots and other entrances…I finally had to ask a park ranger who pointed me in the right direction.) As the gradient map shows, there are many sections of 10% or more, and I’m pretty sure that small stretch of 19% right at the top is accurate. All in all, a very fun hill.

I’m going to slot this one in on my master list at number 2, right behind Bowen. Mostly, that’s to show a bit of Rhode Island pride…I mean a list of “providence hills” where the hardest hill is not only in Massachusetts, but almost all the way to Boston? Plus, I wasn’t even close to falling over sideways on Blue Hill, something which has happened to me (and a couple teammates, I might add) on Bowen…

Today’s ride to me (along with teammates Marcus and Mark, and another local rider Brendan) up to the Northwest corner and into Connecticut and Mass. Total distance for the ride was about 65 miles, and with Mark and Brendan there, I knew it wasn’t going to be a stroll in the park. The goal of the ride was to try out a hill (found via the “terrain” feature on veloroutes) just north of my normal three-state loop, on Route 16. Along the way, we went up Jackson Schoolhouse, which, while long, is not too terribly difficult, and Buck Hill from the east. In addition to the hill I mentioned before on Buck Hill, there’s another long drag up to the fire tower when coming from the east. That took the wind out of me, and Mark and Brendan both flew down the really steep part of Buck Hill (I hit a max of 44 mph). Then it was time to head back up the other steep shorter hill. Thankfully Mark and Brendan weren’t going so fast up that and I was able to catch up. Then we headed further north towards the hill on 16. Funny thing is about planning routes to find new hills…you invariably end up going up hills that are just as difficult on the way there. Once you turn on Thompson, there’s a bit of an uphill, and then turning onto High, it just continues. Here’s the veloroutes map, and here’s the gradient map (oh, btw, one of the joys of being ABD is that I was able to work on my gradient program a bit…so it’s much prettier now and has nice color coding):

And then down the other side, promises to be a pretty difficult hill as well:

and then the hill on 16, which is quite long (1.3 miles) but not as difficult as I expected:

There’s also a town line just before the top. I lead the whole way up and decided to accelerate for the town line. That’s when I realized that I had already ridden everyone except Brendan off my wheel, and he couldn’t hold on for the town line or the crest of the hill. That made me feel pretty good.And now to show off the new gradient program a bit, here’s what Jenckes looks like with the new fancy gradient method: