Zachary Hilton
Placing: 18
Field: 27
Field: 27
San Jose, CA
Teammates: None
Weather: 82 degrees avg. Sunny, 93 degrees in the Livermore Valley
Start Time: 9:00 am
Total Time: 3:57:00
Power: 142 W avg, 571 W max, 182 W NP
Average Speed: 15.58 MPH, Top Speed 37.56 MPH
Average HR: 168 Max HR: 188
Elevation Ascent: 6,512 ft
Training Peaks Data
Mt Hamilton RR is one of the toughest in the district. You have to be a great all around rider. There is a mountain climb at the beginning, a really technical decent, rollers, flat terrain, and more climbing to the finish line. Its a point to point race. I think the reason why I have signed up for this racer the past 4 years is that I have a short term memory. After and during the race I always tell myself, we don't need to do this again legs....just enter the Mt Hamilton Climb to the Observatory for the day next year. Well this time I'm writing it down to remember that. My goals for this race are to gauge my climbing on a mountain. I wanted to PR the mountain stage, and the rest of the race would just play out. I wanted to reduce my time of the race, and get some awesome racing in the legs.
I carried one large bottle of Hammer Heed with me till mile 25 at the neutral feed zone, and relied on Todd Munk in the feed zone at mile 40. Thank you to both feed guys! I needed every drop! Lined up in the front with 27 riders. I knew about half of them. It was warm and sunny that morning from Gilroy to San Jose. Temperatures were supposed to be in the 90's once we descended Mt Hamilton into Livermore. I pre-loaded while working up with a bottle of Hammer Heed as well. Just a cycling kit was needed at this race, and lots of food to eat.
We started off with an easy pace down to Alum Rock Rd. Once we turned right the pace picked up and I was sitting 6th wheel. We turned on to the start of the 1st climb, and a minute into it Luigi takes off the front. Ben Cannon attacks and catches him. They had no more than a 50 meter gap on us, and the group closed it down. I was still feeling good. The surging was bearable. Half way up the climb we dropped half the field. We reached 1,000 ft of climbing in 16 minutes. That's probably the fastest for me. I was sitting 10th or 11th wheel, and refusing to surrender yet. The descent was almost there. I was off the back when we reached the descent and thought I would catch back on. The front group was small and stayed away. I chased for another mile to see if I could spot them before we started the 2nd climb. When I reached that point they were out of sight. I settled in to a good pace and kept the pressure on myself. I wasn't at the point where I wanted to wait for those that dropped off the back to catch me. I figured some would eventually. I rode the 2nd climb solo. On the descent into the valley before the 3rd and final climb to the summit I got caught by two riders. Brendan Glueck Team Oakland and Mathew Carlson of Chico Masters Cycling Team. They were setting a good pace and I latched on. Matthew stayed on the front and set a great tempo till the top. The three of us passed up a few from our race, but those guys couldn't stay on our wheels. About 10 minutes from the top Brendan was done, and I tried to encourage him to keep on going. I stayed on Matthew's wheel all the way to the top. I could have tried to sprint around him at the top, but didn't want to start a war with this guy. I thought we could stay together through the descent. He wasn't much of a talker however, as he never responded to me when I asked him if he wanted to wait for anything else behind us to regroup after the descent. The valley below can be a real tough ride by yourself. He bombed down the descent and I couldn't keep up with him. Descending down Hamilton wasn't worth the risk to me, and I wasn't challenging for a win. I got passed up by 6 guys just bombing the descent that were in my race. By the time I came to the first feed zone I needed 2 bottles. I decided to slow it up a bit and recover. I was hoping to latch onto a group. I didn't care anymore about time or placing. I just wanted to finish this race with someone. Brendan from Team Oakland caught me. After the feed zone at mile 40 I downed the bottle Todd Munk provided. We rode together at tempo until we reached around mile 47. There was a group of Elite 4's that we jumped on the back of. I started to cramp on the right and left legs at mile 50. I couldn't eat of drink anything quick enough. I went through that stage where the legs locked up for a few seconds and all I could do was coast. My feet were swelling and burning up as well. I had no bottles that were cold anymore, and it was sunny and 93 degrees! I ate the rest of my Hammer Gels and a waffle. After a mile I was back in action. Another group came up from behind and I was able to ride off the back of them until the finish. Thanks to Giles I got a ride back to the finish line.
So compared to last year I was slower in course time, but it was also 20 degrees hotter. That and the cramps slowed me way down. I did PR the Mt Hamilton Hill Climb by 3 minutes. I found out that I was only 3 minutes behind my buddy Tim Vickroy from Wells Fargo who got 9th place overall. That's huge and a success for me. Next year I am going to consider just entering the hill climb as a general public member. No reason to do this whole race again. At least I am saying that now :) The only important part of this race that I enjoy is the mountain climb. I am thinking that I should have probably drank more??????? I cramped up right after we put in a few hard efforts around mile 50. I could have drank another bottle on the climb up to Mt Hamilton but chose not to carry the extra weight. I was never thirsty, but was sweating a lot from the efforts and heat. I cramped at Berkeley Hills also, when I could have drank a bottle sooner. I won't make that mistake again.
I am looking forward to the Pescadero RR where all my teammates will be back together.
My next race is Pescadero RR on June 7.
Mt Hamilton RR is one of the toughest in the district. You have to be a great all around rider. There is a mountain climb at the beginning, a really technical decent, rollers, flat terrain, and more climbing to the finish line. Its a point to point race. I think the reason why I have signed up for this racer the past 4 years is that I have a short term memory. After and during the race I always tell myself, we don't need to do this again legs....just enter the Mt Hamilton Climb to the Observatory for the day next year. Well this time I'm writing it down to remember that. My goals for this race are to gauge my climbing on a mountain. I wanted to PR the mountain stage, and the rest of the race would just play out. I wanted to reduce my time of the race, and get some awesome racing in the legs.
I carried one large bottle of Hammer Heed with me till mile 25 at the neutral feed zone, and relied on Todd Munk in the feed zone at mile 40. Thank you to both feed guys! I needed every drop! Lined up in the front with 27 riders. I knew about half of them. It was warm and sunny that morning from Gilroy to San Jose. Temperatures were supposed to be in the 90's once we descended Mt Hamilton into Livermore. I pre-loaded while working up with a bottle of Hammer Heed as well. Just a cycling kit was needed at this race, and lots of food to eat.
We started off with an easy pace down to Alum Rock Rd. Once we turned right the pace picked up and I was sitting 6th wheel. We turned on to the start of the 1st climb, and a minute into it Luigi takes off the front. Ben Cannon attacks and catches him. They had no more than a 50 meter gap on us, and the group closed it down. I was still feeling good. The surging was bearable. Half way up the climb we dropped half the field. We reached 1,000 ft of climbing in 16 minutes. That's probably the fastest for me. I was sitting 10th or 11th wheel, and refusing to surrender yet. The descent was almost there. I was off the back when we reached the descent and thought I would catch back on. The front group was small and stayed away. I chased for another mile to see if I could spot them before we started the 2nd climb. When I reached that point they were out of sight. I settled in to a good pace and kept the pressure on myself. I wasn't at the point where I wanted to wait for those that dropped off the back to catch me. I figured some would eventually. I rode the 2nd climb solo. On the descent into the valley before the 3rd and final climb to the summit I got caught by two riders. Brendan Glueck Team Oakland and Mathew Carlson of Chico Masters Cycling Team. They were setting a good pace and I latched on. Matthew stayed on the front and set a great tempo till the top. The three of us passed up a few from our race, but those guys couldn't stay on our wheels. About 10 minutes from the top Brendan was done, and I tried to encourage him to keep on going. I stayed on Matthew's wheel all the way to the top. I could have tried to sprint around him at the top, but didn't want to start a war with this guy. I thought we could stay together through the descent. He wasn't much of a talker however, as he never responded to me when I asked him if he wanted to wait for anything else behind us to regroup after the descent. The valley below can be a real tough ride by yourself. He bombed down the descent and I couldn't keep up with him. Descending down Hamilton wasn't worth the risk to me, and I wasn't challenging for a win. I got passed up by 6 guys just bombing the descent that were in my race. By the time I came to the first feed zone I needed 2 bottles. I decided to slow it up a bit and recover. I was hoping to latch onto a group. I didn't care anymore about time or placing. I just wanted to finish this race with someone. Brendan from Team Oakland caught me. After the feed zone at mile 40 I downed the bottle Todd Munk provided. We rode together at tempo until we reached around mile 47. There was a group of Elite 4's that we jumped on the back of. I started to cramp on the right and left legs at mile 50. I couldn't eat of drink anything quick enough. I went through that stage where the legs locked up for a few seconds and all I could do was coast. My feet were swelling and burning up as well. I had no bottles that were cold anymore, and it was sunny and 93 degrees! I ate the rest of my Hammer Gels and a waffle. After a mile I was back in action. Another group came up from behind and I was able to ride off the back of them until the finish. Thanks to Giles I got a ride back to the finish line.
So compared to last year I was slower in course time, but it was also 20 degrees hotter. That and the cramps slowed me way down. I did PR the Mt Hamilton Hill Climb by 3 minutes. I found out that I was only 3 minutes behind my buddy Tim Vickroy from Wells Fargo who got 9th place overall. That's huge and a success for me. Next year I am going to consider just entering the hill climb as a general public member. No reason to do this whole race again. At least I am saying that now :) The only important part of this race that I enjoy is the mountain climb. I am thinking that I should have probably drank more??????? I cramped up right after we put in a few hard efforts around mile 50. I could have drank another bottle on the climb up to Mt Hamilton but chose not to carry the extra weight. I was never thirsty, but was sweating a lot from the efforts and heat. I cramped at Berkeley Hills also, when I could have drank a bottle sooner. I won't make that mistake again.
I am looking forward to the Pescadero RR where all my teammates will be back together.
My next race is Pescadero RR on June 7.
Thanks for reading!
Thanks to Voler!
Thanks to SJBC Race Team!