San Bruno Mtn Hill Climb

I’m really excited to start racing in 2013 and i love climbing so this was a great way to get going. No better way to ring in the new year then to race up a mountain. The course is about 3.7 miles and about 1100ft up. The first half is about 7-8% up Guadalupe Parkway before the turn into San Bruno Mtn Park, and then 8-10% up Radio Rd to the top. Temps were chilly but not too bad low 50s and the winds were coming out of the south about 5mph at the bottom and 8-10mph at the top. Teamates racing that day were John Lem 45+4s , Cynthia Wang Jnrs, and Darryl Leung E5.

I meetup with my brother at his place in South City to swap wheels and get my shifting dialed in. Headed over to the start around 9am, got ready and warmed up on my trainer. Wasn’t going to go too hard on the warm up just get my heart rate up a bit and spin the legs. I had pretty high expectations for this race since this race suits my style pretty well but with the weather recently I hadn’t really been able to train as much as I would have wanted too. I knew the other guys i’d be racing with were going to be strong. Guys winning this race do it in the 16 minute range so my goal was to do it under 17. I prerode the course a few days prior in the rain and did around 22 minutes so lots of room for improvement.

I lined up at the start around mid pack, downed a Gel Shot, whistle blows and we’re off. It was a combined E4 and E5 field with 15 and 35 riders for a total of 50. My plan was try not to go too hard at the beginning and then try to follow wheels up to the top but I knew I’d have to go pretty hard from the start to have a good time. Up the first section i worked my way to the outside and started to move up. Guys were moving over to the middle when they hit the front and soon i found myself at the front of the pack at the top of the 1st incline section. It didn’t feel like i was going that hard yet i was leading the pack on to the flat section before the 1st stop light. There was a slight tailwind pushing us up the hill and the other guys must have been holding back quite a bit. The guy that eventually won my category finally came by me and asked “How’s it going?” and I replied slightly out of breath “Great!”. I stuck to his wheel for a little bit then two other guys came around us and the second guy got out of the saddle and attacked. That was that pretty much the last i saw of them.

I’m pretty much in the red zone by now hitting the second incline section after the stop light so my strategy from here was to try and hold on to the wheels of the guys going past me. It’s pretty obvious that i’ve gone harder then the other guys up the 1st section so I am now on the defensive. Another group of 3 guys go by me. I dig deep to hang on to these guys. Just before the second section flattens out the 3rd guy in the group starts to get gapped so i pass him and stick to the wheel of the guy he was following. This guys pretty big so i’m content to stick to his wheel and we are motoring into the right turn into the park over 22 mph. Slow down, right turn into the park, right turn, sweeper under the overpass and then out of the saddle to the second parking lot. Coming out of the trees I’m still sitting on the big guys wheel. He is strong. The road rises and turns to the left and into the wind. Once we hit the wind I find it even harder! Even with the big guy infront of me I’m struggling and start to lose his wheel. I know with a head wind I’m going to lose a lot of time if i’m by myself so I dig again to try to catch back on and do but not for long. I lose it again and start to slow down, 7-8mph per my Garmin hitting the steepest part of the climb. Just before i reach the switch backs a few more guys go by me. I’m trying my hardest just to keep going now. About 200 meters to the finish I feel more guys breathing down on me. 100 meters, when is this going to end?!? The guys behind me start to sprint, I do as well. Two of them get by me but i am able to hold off a third and finally cross the line. My chest feels like its going to explode.

I finished 6th out of 15 in E4 and around 12th out of 50 in the combined field. My official time is 17:59. Strava says I did it in 17:50. I checked John’s time as well since i know we’re pretty similarly matched and what do you know. We have the same exact official and strava times as well. Crazy. My take aways for next time are: Don’t go so hard out of the gate. Follow wheels as much as possible but try to go at a pace you can sustain. Train harder. I lost quite a bit of weight towards the end of last year which is great but it’s time to make more power. Until next year.