Tuesday, March 27, 2007

JMU's Reddish Knob Hill Climb and UVA's Jefferson Cup Road Race - Bike race weekend #4, March 24th and 25th

On the morning of Saturday March 24th I picked up another Georgetown graduate student Mary at 7:30 a.m. and took off down to Harrisonburg, Virginia to meet up with the rest of the Georgetown cycling team and participate in James Madison University's Reddish Knob Hill Climb Individual Time Trial. The course was an 11.7 mile climb over which riders gain approximately 2800 feet of elevation to the top of Virginia's tallest peak, Reddish Knob. The course begins on a straight road with a gentle false flat climb. At the 6-mile mark riders pass the dam and the grade increases and remains sustained for the next four miles. The last two miles involve several steeper pitches and one or two short rolling sections as riders roll along the ridge road up to the summit of Reddish Knob at 4400 feet elevation. See the course map above and elevation map below.
Lin Distance: 11.7 mi
Elevation Gain: 2,881.4 ft
Average Grade: 5%
Climb Elevation: 3,196.5 ft
Descent Elevation: 315.1 ft
Max. Elevation: 4,369.4 ft
Min. Elevation: 1,487.8 ft
The first rider of the day was sent off from the start line at 11:30 a.m. and additional riders were sent off the line at 30-second intervals. Men's D went off first and then Men's C. I was the 5th rider out of 30 to go in my category and started around 11:40. The first 6 miles were not too intense at all, and I was chit-chatting with a UNC rider most of the way. But when we hit the 6 mile mark, HOLY SHIT! I had never done anything like this before. I have no idea why it was called a hill climb because it was certainly a mountain that we biked straight up that day. D.C. is totally flat and I just don't get too much training in on hills which was definitely not a good thing come this Saturday. My legs were screaming, several people passed me, and all I could think about was "please god get me to the top" for those last few miles. It wound up taking me 1 hr 10 min 57 sec to reach the summit good for 26th place out of 30 riders. It was ridiculously chilly at the top of the mountain even though it had been a warm but rainy day at the start of the ride and the last thing I wanted to do was go flying back down the mountain in the cold wind. It was an intense but fun ride back down the mountain and I wound up riding the last several miles with a rider from UNC talking about the big game the next night to see who of our teams in the face-to-face battle would win to make the final four. Mike from our team is a monster rider and finshed the climb in 48 min 50 sec, the fastest time on the mountain that day. I am inspired. Next year, next year.

After the hill climb, we all drove up to Charlottesville, Virginia to stay for the night and then participate in the University of Virginia's Jefferson Cup Road Race on Sunday March 25th. "The race is held on a classic loop road couse with plenty of ups and downs and one longer steeper climb to keep you honest. The roads are usually slow (rough) which can make it a job to even sit in on some sections, and the hills are not long but enough to chew you up if you do not ride smartly." Everyone else's race went off early in the day including a USCF Category 1-2-3 race which was awesome to see all the sponsored and semi-pro riders racing. Men's C was the last scheduled race of the day at 2:30 p.m. but it was closer to 3:45 p.m. by the time we started lining up in the parking lot of the elementary school the race was staged at. There was a 2 mile neutral roll out to the start line of the 10 mile loop course we would be riding 3 laps on. It turned out to be a hot hot day (the first of the season) and getting warmed up before the race had not been difficult. The race didn't go too well as I got dropped by the pack only a few miles into the first loop when I just couldn't keep up with everyone on the hills. It was a pretty ride for the hour and half or so I was out there. There were 54 riders who started the race, and I was listed as crossing the finish 7 from the bottom. Ouch. Need to start training harder. "The guy who trains the hardest, the most, wins. Period." - Floyd Landis

2 comments:

Robert said...

Dave: This post is from 2007. If you are still in Virginia, I would love to talk with you about a Reddish Knob event I'm creating to create awareness for prostate cancer. You can reach me at robert.hess@29000men.org. Best regards, Robert

Anonymous said...

Very interesting. Thank you.
http://www.box.net/shared/skltn3ss3f