Wahoo! Time to zip-tie on another number. This time Sonya and I headed up to Winter Park to take on the WP Hill Climb. The post below this one gives the full details on the elevation and length. The entire race is on a dirt road so there is plenty of room to pass. What makes this race hard is the short distance, elevation, and guys throwing down a brutal pace.
The area highlighted in green is the race effort. I pretty much ran the engine just below redline. Blowing up, would be a complete failure in this race. With the elevation creeping towards 11,300 ft, recovery back to a sub-threshold would be difficult. I basically rode against myself and my time from last year. A lot of riders were yo-yoing back and forth for the 5.3 mile race. Some I beat....some got away at the end. This year, I finished in 37 minutes...just about 4 minutes faster than last year. My place was 20th overall.....some 15 placed better than last year. So, for me, the race was a success. Full results are here for the Pro men's race.Post event, I headed out to get in another 3+ hours. Sonya joined me for some of it.
As if the hill climb wasn't enough....lets do some more!
The dirt below 10,500 ft in WP is sweet right now! Hey Sonya, the race is over...you can take off your number plate now. Ha!
Guess what? More climbing...that is what.
"Sonya, wait for me! I fell on my keys!"
After a hour or so of extra bike time, Sonya headed back to WP Resort. I kept going...only to be denied at my farther westerly point by a Wilderness boundary.
I managed to find more road to climb.
Only to be denied...again. ARGH!
I was still able to get in the 4 hrs I needed today...including the hill climb. Photo is the final roll into the Winter Park Ski Resort.