I raced this year's Mt Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hill Climb...and I finished. I am mad. I will probably remain mad until I ride the
Rock Pile again next year! Why am I mad? Well, I am mad because on race day my legs felt great, my lungs felt good, but my body let me down as it overheated after 2 miles and I was unable to cool myself down. The temp at the start was 75F. I hoped as I climbed that it would cool off, however even by the finish, some 4400 feet of elevation later, the temp was still 60F with barely any wind and zero cloud cover! My finishing time was 1hr45min - a full three minutes slower than my practice ride time of 1hr 42min, achieved over 1 month ago. I am now 5lbs lighter and several weeks' of training stronger than when I did the practice ride. I fully expected to come in under 1hr30min. Darn heat!
Be that as it may, at least I finished and at least I did not end up needing medical attention - just beer ;-)
Next year I'll slay the granite rock pile! Until then.....I'll stay mad!
