Mt. Evans Hill Climb

(Here's an image of the last half mile of the race. Not exactly what one wants to encounter when exhausted from already having climbed 6,000 feet.)

My Garmin file for the Mt. Evans Hill Climb

A quick hill climb race report:
The Mt. Evans Hill Climb is a 28 mile climb from Idaho Springs, altitude of approx. 7,500 feet, to the summit of Mt. Evans, at right around 14,200 feet. I partook in the CAT 4 race, which was about 150 strong including some 17/18 year old juniors doing a shorter version of the climb.

This being my first cycling race, I positioned myself in the middle of the large pack at the start of the race. After an early pack separation, maybe a mile or two into the race, I ended up at the back of the lead pack. This proved to be a bad position.

For a while my position was fine. Though the pack separated two or three more times, each time I was able to find a wheel on which to ride back up to the lead pack. Still, I always just rode up to the back of the pack. I should have moved forward so I wasn't off the back every time the pack separated.

Around five miles into the race -- I'm now at the back of a lead pack that's down to maybe 25 riders -- the pack split once more. No one in my group was making a move to catch back up to the pack up the road, so I went on my own. The problem is that when I reached the pack up the road, I realized that it was not the front group. In fact, the lead pack had split into three groups. I had only moved from the third group to the second, and now the first group was still a ways up the road. I gave it a shot to catch up to that group, but after 20 minutes of hard work I was not successful. I still had nearly 20 miles to ride, and I was on my own. Had I been further up in the pack, there's a better chance I'd have been able to stay with, or at least bridge the gap to, the lead group. My lesson is to be a more aggressive with my positioning in the pack so I'm better prepared to respond to gaps.

Now on my own, I kept trying to reel in any rider I could see up the road. For the next 30 minutes I was able to pass several riders that were dropped from the lead pack. Eventually, though, the distance between myself and any riders up ahead just remained constant. My morale dropped as the climb progressed but my position did not. Toward the very end of the ride, three or four guys passed me and I didn't, or maybe couldn't, put up much of a fight.

The results aren't posted yet, but my 2:24 time is not spectacular. I'm guessing somewhere in the top 25% of the CAT 4 field. My average HR was 161 bpm, which makes this the hardest 2+ hour ride I've done.

Despite a lackluster result, the race should position me well for Boulder 70.3 in a few weeks. Plus, the ride is extremely scenic; there aren't many chances to be on a bike at 12k+ feet, let alone above 14k feet.

As a final add-on, I just found this video of Tom Danielson (9th place going into yesterday's TT in the Tour de France) at the hill climb a few years back. He holds the record for a time of 1:41.