Bob Cook Memorial
Mt. Evans Hill Climb

July 24, 1999

This year the annual Mt. Evans Hill Climb race was part of the revived Red Zinger Bicycle Stage Race. The boys and I went down to the Pearl Street Mall on Thursday night to watch the opening prolog: a one mile time trial. Despite having ten turns, most riders (Pro, Cat. 1, Cat. 2 only) finished under two minutes (better than 30 mph average!). The winner, David Clinger, finished in an amazing 1:33.27 (38.6 mph!). The next day was a 104.5 mile road race with 4000 feet of climbing, but that was merely a warm-up for the race's decisive stage on Saturday: Mt. Evans.

The Mt. Evans race has numerous categories with the pros going off at 7:30 a.m. and the gumbies (Cat. 5) going last at 9:10. The last women's group goes at 9:00 a.m. The winner of this stage and the overall winner of the entire race was Jonathan Vaughters - who had to drop out of this year's Tour de France after an injury in stage 2. Vaughters broke away with last year's winner, Scott Moninger, but then crushed him. Vaughters rode the last ten miles alone and finished just 33 seconds short of the course record in an amazing 1:46:03 (15.84 mph!). This was over a 28 mile course that gains 6700 vertical feet.

Trashy and I started in the middle of the Cat. 5 group and worked hard to stay with the main peloton from the start. We needed the draft for the first 3-4 miles which aren't very steep. After that the peloton started to get strung out and I fell off the back. Trashy had just purchased his first road bike the weekend before and I expected him to fall well off the pace right from the start. Heck, he didn't claim to be a biker and had never ridden Mt. Evans before. I figured he would take it conservatively.

At the first switchback, 7 miles into the race, I looked back over my shoulder not expecting to see the Trashman, but there he was! Probably only 20 seconds behind me. I couldn't believe he was that close. Mainly because I didn't think he'd be aggressive enough with his drafting. This race was all about toughness and climbing ability. For me this race is at least 50% mental. It is extremely difficult for me to endure this type of constant pain for over 2.5 hours. It would be so easy to sit-up and shift down. It would make the pain go away…

For awhile I was between groups and rode alone until a group of two passed me and I jumped on the back of their wheels. I stayed with this group until Echo Lake - about the halfway mark for mileage, but definitely not the halfway mark for time. I made the turn after Echo Lake at 1:08.

I had ridden this race two times previously. In my first attempt, I finished in 2:44:40. Last year I finished in 2:44:20. At least I was consistent. And I had set a new PR, but only barely. This year my goal was sub-2:44. I had done more biking this year, but hardly any in the past two months. I had been trail running instead to train for Pikes Peak. In fact, I was riding this race more as training for Pikes Peak than anything else.

Above Echo Lake, I started to reel in and pass some riders. Once above tree line the wind started to slow me down a bit. I wanted to get to Summit Lake by two hours. If I did, the PR was a definite possibility. Last year it had taken me 38 minutes to ride from Summit Lake to the finish on top of Mt. Evans and at over 14,000 feet. I passed a couple of riders near the top of the last hill before Echo Lake, but they passed me back before I crested the hill. These two sat up and rested as the road heads downhill into Summit Lake (this is one of only two short sections on the ride that doesn't climb). Instead, I shifted into my big sprocket and cranked it up to 30 mph, leaving these two riders far behind for the duration of the race.

I passed Summit Lake just under 2:05. "Damn," I thought, "but the PR is still possible if I equal last year's time for this section." I kept my bike in second gear for the last five miles. Whenever my cadence dipped, I stood. I worked hard over this section and passed numerous riders. Near the finish one rider caught me and I couldn't stay with him for the last 200 meters. I finished in 2:40:25 - a four minute PR! This is an average of 10.5 mph.

I was wasted and staggered over to a bench to lie down. I had only eaten two Power Gels on the entire climb and needed nourishment. I got down a Power Bar and the rest of my Gatorade. After ten minutes I was finally able to stand and I moved over to the finish line. I wanted to cheer on the Trashman. At the start of the race I told him a good goal for him would be to break three hours.

Soon I saw the Trashman cranking up the final switchbacks and I urged him on. He finished in an outstanding 2:58! He also looked a lot fresher than I did. He immediately wanted to hike up to the summit of Mt. Evans (200 feet above the end of the road). I was starting to get cold, having been on the top for twenty minutes, and could see a storm brewing. With only a thin wind shell and no gloves, I needed to start down. We agreed to meet at the car and while Trashy hiked towards the summit, I headed down with freezing hands.

The descent is a cruise, of course, and I hooked up with another rider for the lower section and we worked hard together at over 30 mph on the flat section into Idaho Springs. We traded off the draft constantly - about every 5-10 seconds. It was a blast! I ended up with an average speed of 14.8 mph for the roundtrip.

Back at the car, I stretched out and read the newspaper while waiting for Trashy. It started to rain just as Trashy arrived. We packed up and headed for home, quite satisfied with our results, but in awe of the professional riders.

Results from the Trashman two days later:

-----Original Message-----
From: George Bell <gibell@uswest.com>
To: Bill Wright <wright@genomica.com>
Date: Monday, July 26, 1999 10:01 AM
Subject: Re: Fw: Mt. Evans Hill Climb

>The race results are already on
>
>http://www.bicyclerace.com/
>
>In senior men 5, there were 101 finishers (+ 7 DNF), you would have
>been #37 and I would have been #74 or so. So almost half the pack
>came in between us!