Minuteman Road Club

I did the one-day version of this race on Saturday. This stage had a couple of noteworthy climbs in the first half, followed by a long flat stretch, followed by the Devil’s Kitchen climb that peaks 5 miles from the finish line.

This was a cat 4/5 and cat 4 women combined race, so we had a very diverse field at the start line. There was some climbing just a few miles in, so there was some winnowing almost immediately. On that first descent, I broke away from the field by just tucking down and not using my brakes.

After the first KOM we were probably down to about 30 riders. Near the end of the flat part we were somehow down to just about 15 riders. I’m not sure how we dropped that many because there wasn’t that much climbing in that section. The pace was very slow. At one point I had to almost pull over and stop just to get myself off of the front. Everyone was looking forward to the big climb.

I was chatting with one of the guys about this dynamic and I suggested that one could either rest as much as possible before the climb, or break away and try to get a head start on it. A few minutes later, he did just that. Nobody seemed to be worried about it even though he picked up at least a minute on the group. He had told me earlier that he was going to be very slow on the climb, so I didn’t think much of it. Of course, I didn’t fully realize that EVERYONE was going to be really slow on the climb.

I didn’t have a feel for where the climb was with respect to the finish line, so it kind of snuck up on me. It starts with a long section at 5-6%. Then in the blink of an eye it goes right to 15%. Wheee! Let’s start racing! There’s no draft effect at 15% of course, so everyone just started doing their own thing. Half of our small group started drifting back from me, the other half started drifting away.

4km to go and I’m feeling ok, not great. At this point I still have the wherewithal to count the riders up the road and think about what I can do about my placing once I get to the top. 3km to go and ouch this really hurts but feels like it’s under control. 3km is 3000 meters and I’m banging out at least one meter per second. Seems doable; thank you metric system! I start to see a lot of guys walking. After another 500 meters, walking seems like a reasonable thing to do.

My goal for the race is now to summit this bastard without dismounting. I need a bailout gear from my bailout gear. It’s starting to feel out-of-control hard and I’m using every part of my body just to turn the cranks over. Standing. Sitting. There’s no relief anywhere. I start yelling incoherently, which seems to help a little.

2km to go. No. That is too far. I cannot. But I do. Heart rate above 200 BPM. I’m just staring at my front wheel and concentrating on staying upright. And yelling – lots of yelling.

1km to go. I probably was feeling ‘better’ at this point because I can’t remember feeling worse. I passed a guy wearing the yellow jersey from one of the stage race fields. He was walking.

I crossed the KOM line just in front of the wheel car in 7th place on the road without putting any feet on the ground. My legs didn’t really want to go fast at that point, but I still had 5 miles to go on the flat. Any hope of catching anyone evaporated pretty quickly, and there was no one visible behind me, so I just started riding my battered corpse home as fast as I could. A rider from my field caught me with about 2 miles to go and I grabbed his wheel. He seemed to be happy to pull me to the finish line. He compensated for this tactical mistake by jumping out of the turn a half mile from the finish line and catching me by surprise.

The guy who broke away before the climb ended up in 2nd. I got 8th. That climb was definitely the hardest thing I’ve done on a bike.

Excellent result Jacob. And nice report, I enjoy reading your witty prose.

So your saying E Hawley Rd was just a warmup?

Congrats on the result and excellent report! Listen for my yelling on the next FMR, since it seemed to work for you!

Jacob, I have never seen people walking up a hill in a USCF race, so that must be some kind of nasty %^$*&$!@ hill. Nice work not letting your feet hit the asphalt. A top 10 is a great result. I totally get the yelling thing. I yelled something like "goddam ^#*@ing hills" at Lake Auburn when we hit the last few short steep kickers with about 2 miles left to go and leg cramps starting to kick in. Not sure if it helped, but it felt good...

Yes, you talking about the climb brought back memories of my recon ride in June going up the same Devil's Kitchen climb. I remember that one of the things that makes it so tough is that much of it has no switchbacks, especially the early part. So no place to rest around the turn or get some sense of accomplishment. Just the steady grind climb of going up a mountain at a pitch which seemed to stay at 9-18% with no breaks. Brutal.
Here is what a climbing website says:
"Platte Clove Rd (Devil's Kitchen): This was the climb in the Catskills where several of the pro racers in the Tour de Trump ended up walking. Over 1100 vertical ft in about 2 miles, including around 900 vertical ft at an average grade over 12% -- some sections steeper. (More like 1400 vertical ft if start lower down gentler farther east)."

Great job Jacob.

Way to go, Jacob! You brought back painful memories of when I did that race in 2010. I remember guys doing the paperboy up it. Comical really. Sweet result.

When people speak of brutal climbs I am usually a little skeptical. Most memories are more extreme than reality.

I am NOT a good climber (on a bike anyway) but I've done a lot of the tough ones so I know how hard it is to keep the descriptions accurate when you've just suffered up Washington or App Gap for the first time. When the conversation turns to the really ugly descriptions, I usually break out my standard yardstick for comparisons, the ultimate measure of brutality for climbing: Lincoln Gap (East side).

More than a few people (Who haven't ridden it) have questioned my choice of arrantest climb but here's a quote from a website devoted to cataloging climbs:
"For example, what is more difficult? Lincoln Gap or Mount Washington. Washington is MUCH longer, and has a steeper average gradient. Lincoln Gap, however, contains the steepest mile of paved road you'll find anywhere in the country."

The reason I'm talking so much about Lincoln Gap is that I know first-hand how brutal it is and when I made the comparison with the "Devil's Kitchen" ... they are nearly the same!!!! See the two links below. Open them in two side by side windows.

http://www.brentacol.com/h/lincoln_last_2k

http://www.brentacol.com/h/devils_kitchen_steep_sect

Each of those pages contains links to the overall climb as well as the steep section and they are similar in the overall as well.

I can't even imagine doing a race that goes up something like that. My first time up LG I stopped, got off my bike and stood to catch my breath. I started sliding down the road because my cycling shoes didn't have enough traction to keep me in one place.

Jacob, great race and even better race report. I wish I could hear the yelling.

Of course the difference of doing a gap climb and a climb like this is the race factor, and the end of the race no less. Congrats.

I love a good climby story and you tell a damn good story Jacob. Hell of a job on a very brutal climb.