7/3/10: Mike Horgan Hill Climb

This year's hill climb started in Boulder at Canyon/6th St. and headed due west, first up Canyon before a sharp right-hander on to Sugarloaf Rd., ascending several miles of dirt roads before being spit out on to Peak-to-Peak Highway for the final press to Nederland Elementary School. All in, about 15 miles.

Sugarloaf Rd. is a bit insidious. The first part is a 5-mile ascent, averaging around 7.6% gradient. It never gets really steep, but it also never really relents. And, there are no switchbacks, so there is little in the way of reprieve. The road simply goes on and on and on, one false summit to the next. Miles 6-8 are more rolling and can be a great place to catch one's breath before the 3-4 miles of dirt. The dirt isn't super tough, unless you've already blown your legs. In which case, it sucks. The main challenge with the dirt is gritting the teeth during the couple fast descents to (1) stay upright and (2) not get dropped by the group in which you might find yourself. Once the race hits Peak-to-Peak, it's about 10 minutes to the finish line over some rollers and a final gradual climb up to the school.

I felt pretty good heading into this one - physically and mentally. I had come off a strong 9th overall at the Dead Dog Stage Race the weekend before, had recovered well from that effort and felt poised to do well this weekend. I was planning on carrying forward the lesson I learned at Dead Dog, which was to climb within my own limits when the pace heated up too much rather than explode by trying to stick with the leaders "for just a little longer." Horgan is not the race to over-extend yourself too early.

A sizable and strong peloton rolled off the start line and immediately an Aussie National Team member and another rider bolted up the road. Given we would be racing for a little over an hour, the pack was content to let them go. That's not to say the pace was pedestrian as we headed up Canyon. Several riders from different teams laid themselves out for their team leaders to keep the pace fast-but-consistent for the first 15 minutes or so. That we hit the Sugarloaf turn-off in 15 minutes demonstrates just how fast we were motoring. We hit the right-hand turn on to Sugarloaf and the road immediately ramped up, initiating a cacophony of clinks and clanks as everyone shifted out of the big ring and got out of the saddle to propel the bike up the steeper pitch.

The best of the bunch were like wind-up toys, preparing to pounce at any moment. The accelerations started and the pack was quickly whittled down to the final 15 or so. Another attack and I decided to let it go. About 10-11 folks went up the road, but I was confident I would see some of them again. I looked down and saw I was pressing in excess of 320 watts; right where I felt I could be for the duration. True to form, guys started to get shelled off the back of the front group, which was now 5 after catching the initial two escape artists (1 of which stayed with the front group, 1 of which started climbing backwards he was so shot). I climbed right past several riders and finally found myself in a small group with 2 others. We traded pulls, kept the effort smooth for the most part and then one guy dropped off. Right up the road was Kevin Nicol, one of the strongest Cat 1 climbers around. My "buddy" and I caught Kevin, who settled in behind us and (understandably) didn't do any work given he had a teammate up the road. The 3 of us constituted 6th - 8th place.

I was pretty spent when we hit the first crest on Sugarloaf but recovered surprisingly well before we hit the section of dirt. As we rolled onto the dirt, it was my turn to pull through. This is where I made my tactical mistake. Given how I felt, I pressed the pace. Because I felt good, not because I was trying to drop the other 2 guys. In other words, an effort which lacked purpose and focus. As Nicol continued his free ride, the other guy pulled through about a mile later and I found myself in a spot of trouble as he upped the pace. Over the ensuing rollers, I had to let he and Nicol gap me. As we hit Peak-to-Peak Highway, Nicol had dropped back to me, and we were roughly 45 seconds behind the other guy.

In between bouts of kicking myself for my blunder, I tried ignoring the burning in my legs and closing down the gap. I've developed a bit of a rapport with Nicol this season (my first racing against him), which is why I believe at this point he started taking pulls. First, he realized we were not going to catch his teammate (who ended up 5th) and second I'd like to believe he was trying to help me (and himself) gain a chance at 6th place, which was just up the road. Try as we might, we could only pull to within 30 seconds of 6th. With about 3/4-mile to go, Nicol attacked me. I had nothing left in my legs, so I shouted "Go, go, go!" in the hopes he might be able to bridge up to the guy in 6th. He stalled about 10-15 seconds in front of me, so I dug even deeper the final few hundred meters and tried to claw him back.

End result, 8th in 1:09:36. 6 seconds out of 7th and 30 seconds out of 6th. My best time on this course by well over 3 minutes. Can't be disappointed in that. The body's responding better to the accelerations as I continue to learn how to race in the Pro/1/2 ranks. Now, a 3-week break until the double-whammy of Mt. Evans on Saturday, 7/24 and SMK Memorial on Sunday the 25th.

Ride Safe,
Nate