Mt Tam Hill Climb Stinson Beach (Elite 4’s)
Field Size: 29
Placing: 19
Start Time: 9:55am (Finishing time 00:51:36)
Teammates: None
Average Speed: 13.9 MPH, Top Speed 38.6 MPH
Average HR: 179 Max HR: 189
Power: 257 avg 654 max
Elevation Ascent: 2,470 Ft.
Weather: 67.6 deg avg, sunny, strong headwind first 4 miles, warmer on the top of the mountain
This was my second time riding this course. Everyone talks about being ready for the first 4 miles riding down to the turn onto the climbing portion. Some groups go out attacking and I wanted to be ready for that. Miles 4.5-8.5 were the toughest with 7% avg grade and the rest was 2.3% avg grade. Big sweeping left hand downturn and a hilltop finish. There was a strong headwind today on the 4 mile stretch. Things would play out a lot slower because of this. I wanted to get sub 49 minutes today, and trying to peak today for this race. I feel fresh coming off a 3rd place at Fremont Peak 6 days ago. It took me around 2 hours to arrive at Stinson Beach, CA. Great destination and awesome starting on the beach! I wanted to get a 45 min warm-up at least, but settled with 30 min.
Large group of 29 racers. There is no 35+ in this race so I registered in the Elite 4’s. I got to the line early and made sure I was up front. I stayed 7th wheel for the 1st 2 miles and then the front wanted to start a pace line. This is probably what slowed us down, however the guys up front were taking a beating with the wind. We had to pass up a bunch of century riders, and this completely screwed up our pace line. It was obvious some of the racers had no idea how to be in a pace line. I found myself too far back because of this at around mile 3 so I began to move up on the outside. I took on some wind, but moved up to 4th place on the turn to the climb. Attack!!! The entire front of the group just began attacking each other all across the open road. I held with them for a ½ mile and then backed off. I’ll catch some of them after I settle in and they blow up. There were a few of us left now and I was using the shortest line on the road between turns. Around mile 6 it levels off a bit and I switched into the big ring. I was now starting to gain some ground on guys that went out to hard. Before you get to the seven sisters segment you go through a really dark part of road that you can fly on. I took my sunglasses off for it this year. After fogging them up just prior to this stretch, you really cant see anything. The seven sisters segment felt great this year. I was passing up riders from other categories and building momentum on the rollers. I was ready for the big sweeping left turn to the finish and gave it my all!
No PR for the course time because we went 2:30 minutes slower on the first 4 miles, but I PR’ed on the climbing portion! Now it’s time to for a 2 week build before the final race of the season. The Mt Diablo Challenge on Oct 6th. Please consider donatingto Save Mt Diablo in my name. My goal is a sub 54 minute time.
My next race is our SJBC club stage race Sept 28-29 in San Jose.
Thanks to SJBC!
Thanks to my teammates!
Thanks to Clif Bar!
Thanks to Concept Cyclery!
Thanks to Specialized!
Thanks for reading!
