Fremont Peak Hill Climb Race Report-By Miles Keep

Race: Fremont Peak Hill Climb Race
Where: San Juan Bautista, CA
When: Sunday Sept 11th 2011
Stats: 10 miles, 2510 Vertical Feet in 45min +/_

CAT- Elite 5, Race 4
Teammate- Ken Spencer ( In prior race, and kicked butt! )
Field- 40ish in my race, 17 in my Cat
Place- 6th


I didn't know what to expect at this race, since I had not done it before. I had a chance to talk to Ken prior to get the rundown, since he has done it in the past.
Since the Mt Tam race got cancelled, I figured there would be a few extra that came looking to climb.
When I got there is was raining lightly, but not a deal breaker. The overcast sky kept the temps down nicely.
I was able to warm up well on some adjacent hills and was ready.
Our race had a mix of riders including the 55+ 4/5 men. Those guys can climb!

As the race started I was surprised at the pace out of the gate on the "flats". There was an immediate break a way at around mile 3 that had 4 riders.
Being a hill climb I thought that they wouldn't be able to hold the pace and just watched them ride off the front from the main group. Other than the break a way and me gaging on my GU, nothing much happened as the pain set in.
After a few miles on some rolling 3-6% hills we hit the real climbing. 10% gradients started to blow apart the group and this is were I usually make up time.
I hooked up with another rider (M55+) and hammered, passing the heavier riders that had set the initial pace.
I was surprised at how much some of them were sucking wind, being a hill climb I would've assumed they trained for this stuff.
We settled in to a uncomfortable pace and the vertical feet clicked away. The 55+ guy I was riding with was in 4th in his cat, he saw the 3rd place guy
up ahead and tried to catch him to no avail. I let him go since he was not in my cat. At the top of the climb there was a slight curvy
downhill and a bit of a false flat section for about 1 mile until the finnish. I hammered this section hard to make sure I was not caught and suddenly there was the finnish.
Remember that break a way group? Well, they pretty much held on and got the top 3 podium spots. They were all in there 20s...

To be honest, although it was very hard, I was surprised at how quick it went. On the steep stuff, I felt like I was just getting into a groove.

The race results were posted later in town at a Mexican restaurant. It was a great place to bench race, get a beer and chill. The whole race had a great casual vibe, and I'll definitely do it again next
year. This was a good learning year for me, although next year I'll do it in a different age group and CAT, I think I'll do a bit better since I now know how the course plays out.

Thanks for reading

Miles