Minuteman Road Club

9 May 2015 Wachusett Mtn Hill Climb

I was with the lead group of 6 (including me) up Mile Hill Rd until the entrance to the park. The pace was ridiculously hard and I knew I couldn’t stay with the pure hill climbers the whole way so I dropped off. I was with another guy for a couple minutes and I sat on his wheel for too long before passing him as he faded. I was alone until the last downhill where a group of 3 caught me. I was in this group of 4 until the "200m" to go sign at the last turn (it wasn't anywhere near 200m, more like 90m), where I sprinted and finished first out of that group.

My “official” time was 16:04 in 7th place tied with 6th but I really finished 6th and had a sub-16:00 time. Every single experience I’ve had with electronic chip timing has been sloppy and inaccurate. The reason I did this race over the Myles Standish RR was purely economic, as the entry fee was only $20 for U21 (it was $80 for >20) and I’ll be 21 next year, so this was probably my last hill climb event. I got a medal for winning my age group, but I was expecting to get a real prize like a water bottle or some expired GU gels like I did last year. Overall, I’m happy with how I climbed and I reached my goal of 16:00.

6th Overall, 1st U21, Time: ~15:58

Outstanding Patrick.

Pretty much the same experience as Pat on the climb, I had a small mental lapse on the road leading up and just couldn't close the door on it! The pedigree was definitely much better this year than in previous editions. As far as the electronic chip...once I got to the top I saw a bunch of riders heading left at the top, turns out they weren't in the race but were just "riding" in front of me, I followed them and totally didn't get corralled across the finish! The Finisher person was standing about 30 feet behind the finish. I spoke with him after realizing I had not "finished" the race and they placed me where they thought I finished....It was a shit show to be honest. 16:55 for the finish, "official time" was 17:00. 17th/164, 4th for my age group. Pat you totally kicked ass and looked very comfortable going up, I hope you return to do this race next year because you are only going to get much stronger and faster and I could see you winning this thing with your physique! I'll pay you entry fee to get you back here!!! Congrats bro!

Patrick - you stud - well done!

Nice job guys. Great climbing.

pcollins wrote:The pace was ridiculously hard and I knew I couldn’t stay with the pure hill climbers

Dude you're El Pistolero compared to the rest of us. Congrats

Power outage. About two weeks ago I began to notice difficulty maintaining power levels over a sustained period. Thought it might be fatigue from several months of heavy travel and associated work pressure. It was definitely not related to over-training. With two weeks of no travel and a more routine schedule I thought my power levels would come back and this race seemed a good opportunity to push on my recent power limits. It didn't happen. Gun went off and about 8 of us broke from the rest of the elderly pack (50+) but halfway up Mile Hill, Eric Vandendries took off and no one followed. I considered it but doubted my conditioning to stay with him and figured I'd battle it out for 2nd with a group I've had good results against in the past. The chase was whittled to four of us but with about 2 miles to go I just couldn't sustain any power. My heart rate was low considering the terrain and my power was in the low 300s which is a good 100 watts below what it should be at that point in the climb. The three of them simply road away from me and I couldn't reel them back. I managed to keep a solid distance from the next group but finished a very disappointing 5th in the group, 4th in the age category and mid-20s in the race. Not sure what's going on but most disturbing is that this was my kind of race with great conditions and I got beat by guys I've done well against.
Dan, great result. More training on Mile Hill and you'd have stayed with the leaders into the park and then anything can happen.
Patrick, no words to describe your result. Those guys who finished ahead are breathing a sigh of relief that you might not be back next year.

Patrick will be back cause I'll pay his entry fee to see him torch those guys!

Great results all.

Patrick, If sub-16 isn't pure climbing then I'm hanging my wheels up.

Len, Please take this in the most positive manner. For an old guy that doesn't train you still kick arse

Oh and forgot to say. Patrick and other U23's please check out the club meeting minutes from last weeks meeting regarding entry fees.

Patrick,
Nice job! Remind me to skip the OSC next time they plan on sumitting WaWa. I don't want to be chasing you at that pace.

Congrats to everyone; some really nice results.

Pat, I also got a chuckle when you said "the pure hill climbers." That's a ridiculous time. You'd have time for a cup of coffee by the time I got in.

Smudger wrote:Oh and forgot to say. Patrick and other U23's please check out the club meeting minutes from last weeks meeting regarding entry fees.

May minutes are now up on the google drive.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... Uk5bkpqTTg

Patrick, that's flying, buddy.