Mt. Evans, I own you!

Well the 2006 Mt. Evans Hillclimb has come and gone and I survived! That race was probably the toughest thing I've ever done on a bike. It was definitely the longest climb I've ever done. Of a 28 mile race about 26.5 miles were uphill. It started around 7600 ft and finished at an altitude of 14,100 feet. Crazy high and well higher than any TdF climb. Even if the gradient wasn't all bad, the length and altitude made this one tough ride. I was dropped from the peloton at mile 5 of 28. Nothing like living and training at sea level. After that I set my own pace and managed to hook up with a few guys to work with for a bit. At about mile 13 or 14 I had to let them go. I wanted to make sure I made it to the top without blowing and so I had to stay within myself. Now that I have familiarity with the ride I feel that I can push it a bit more next time. As you can see I spent the last long miles by myself. Finally I got within sight of the top and could see the observatory. What didn't click with my muddled mind at the time was that I still had a lot of switchbacks to go up and the top wasn't as close as I thought. I was thinking "Damn, I'm almost done!" when I still had a long way to go. Funny how thin, high-mountain air can make you think strange thoughts. The sign for 1km to go was a welcome sight. The sign for 200 meters was even more welcome. That was the longest 200 meters I'd ever ridden! I was so tired at the top that I couldn't think of any way to post up. I just rolled across the line to my bag of cold weather gear and pretty much fell over. Turns out I finished in 50th place in 2 hours, 38 minutes and 32 seconds. There were 58 finishers. Of course I did win the competition between myself and my good pal, Eric Buck. So out of the Chattanooga boys, I am the reigning King of the Mountains and have the polka dot hat to prove it. Finally, some redemption for getting my butt kicked up Lookout Mtn all those times. Herbert, I'm calling you out. Think you can take my "Chapeau Pois?" :-) I'm sure my new Ghisallo will make me even more competitive next year. (See previous post)

Sexy Bitch!

Won't this be a hot bike when I get it! I chose to get the lightest production frame made. For the time being I'll have to run my old 9 speed Campagnolo Record. Hopefully if I save my pennies I can look into getting 10 speed Campagnolo in the near future and becoming even more of a weight weenie. Tres sexy!