Mt. Equinox Hill Climb Race Report

I was looking forward to this race for a while--not sure why as I knew nothing about the climb.

It was a really long, but good day. We were up at 3:25 am to make it up to Manchester VT early enough to get a warm up in. My wonderful mom was kind enough to come over and watch the kids, so yes Cora and I had a hall pass and it was most welcomed time alone. We made good time up to VT. The only downer was that we were too early for a Starbucks stop as none were open yet.

I took my time signing in and started to warm up on the trainer, but then we realized that Cora had to leave to go up the hill at 7:40am. I hopped off the trainer and rode up and down Hwy 7A instead, which was fine. My wave was off at 8:10 am with perfect climbing weather, clear and crisp, with temps I'm guessing in the 60's.

Both the above images are borrowed from www.northeastcycling.com

If you are at all interested in hill climbing, I highly suggest you check out this site.

I emptied the tank with a couple hundred meters to go.

I liked the hill a lot. The start allows you a couple of minutes before the grade kicks up which was perfect to get into a rhythm. I think the thing that made the climb so nice (at least for me) was that it seems to have very well-spaced out areas of rest, including a small downhill. The "rest" for me was enough to recover a bit without destroying my rhythm. I found the corners to be steep but they actually were enjoyable as you can enter them outside and cut across and it felt like you could actually gain a little speed. The hill is rumored to have a very short steep section in the 28% grade neighborhood. I never felt like I was riding anything that steep. I suspect that number was measured on the inside of one of the turns, if at all.

As what seems to be the norm at these things, I found myself off the back right at the start. Of course I started wondering if people were going out too hard or was I riding like a child. I was especially preoccupied with this, as I opted to leave the PowerTap at home. I wanted to ride the bike as lean as possible with the same set up as planned for Mt. Washington. I concentrated on riding my own race and slowly started passing the folks in front of me. I was feeling better and better as the climb went on. I finished in 46:25, which was about 3 mins faster than expected, so needless to say I was very happy.

The race itself was great--really well-organized. They had people handing out water halfway up, which made for a nice shower. At the top, they not only had ample goodies for recovery, but they managed to woo my wife--Cora was ecstatic that they also had doughnuts for the spectators. They announced each finisher by first name, which I thought was a class act. At the bottom, after the race, they had a really nice barbecue. My only ding against them would be that they served up arguably the worst hamburger I've ever had, but in all fairness, I have to say they recovered completely by having a very well-stocked ice cream cart. Doughnuts and ice cream--I think it's fair to say that Cora will be back next year, as will I.