The Toughest Hill Climb on Earth

In August of 2009, I got a call from Rob Kantor my Tour de France Challenge teammate. He said he was doing the Mt. Washington Hill Climb and wanted to stop by afterward. We had a pleasant ride and a beautiful meal on the deck. The more Dr. Rob talked about the challenge, the more I wanted to do it. A couple of months later when registration opened, I was online at 8:00 am clicking "register" to make sure I got in. The event can sell out in less than an hour.

Josh Powers agreed to be my coach and we created a training regimen designed to get me to the top in under 1:20:00 without destroying my life. That's an important distinction. The training for the Tour consumed 20 hours per week. I was frequently sick, tired, sore, and sleep deprived. Ultimately, I developed an infection in my leg that the doctors thought could land me in a hospital in France. So I didn't want to repeat that.

We concentrated on 12 hours a week of quality work, and agreed to compromise on my weight. The Tour training brought my weight down to 163 pounds in the States and 155 pounds at the event. All things considered, I believed a race-day weight of 167 would be about right. So we dusted off the scale and noted that I had 18 pounds to lose. Yikes.

The problem in the beginning was my mind remembered what it was like to be in Tour de France shape but I had become fat and lazy. So the road test results I generated on the powertap, a device to measure power output, were humiliating and degrading. I was fat, slow, and a disgrace.

But I had eight months ahead of me to train, so we settled into the routine and got to know my old friend, the trainer. After five months of training, I made big gains on my fitness and saw a 25% gain in strength on the bike. My weight was at an acceptable level. While I never did get back to my Tour de France fitness, and I never had the same sensations on the bike when I could lay down 240 watts for three hours, I felt I was coming into form.

Coach Josh advised me that I could get back to that level of fitness. It wasn't a question of was I too old. But he wanted to know if I was willing to pay the price. And I said no. I'm not. Because when I push it all the way to the edge of the razor, I tend to get really sick and my entire life falls apart. Is it really worth it to save three minutes up Mt. Washington if when I get to the top there's nothing to go home to? I don't think so.

At the event, I warmed up near the Marblehead contigent. Tyler Hamilton's brother was whirring away next to me. He was a nice guy. My Destination Cycling kit was the right gear to wear. Joe Tonon's wife Marti would go on to win the Women's Event kitted out in DC.

Having attended the practice ride, I learned a few key things. Bring your trainer and your milk crate to put your front wheel up on to warm up in the parking lot. Leave everything off the bike. No flat repair kit. Bring just one bottle. Drink a bottle or two before you start. Bring one gel pack. I brought two, but only got one in me.

At the start, I wasn't shy. I went to the front of my group and put my front wheel up against the ribbon holding us back. I didn't want to get knocked over by a big guy. I talked with my competitors and discussed which side of the fork they were going so we wouldn't crash into each other. At the gun, I went out a bit hot to get away from other cyclists.

At the ramp up the mountain, I settled into my cadence and tried to keep it at no more than six miles per hour. A couple of guys passed me but I let them go. You can't climb at someone else's pace, you have to stay within yourself. At mile two I started reeling in the stragglers from the group that started five minutes ahead of us.

The new wheel set, a Mavic Kysrium K-10, felt good. The bike was fine. The gearing was barely low enough. I got a new chain ring and ran a 33 x 34. If you had something smaller for me up front, I would've taken it.

Around mile four I felt good, mile five I felt like shit. The road was getting very steep. When it switched from pavement to dirt, it was difficult in that you can't stand without spinning out your back wheel so you just have to grind along, seated, weight as far back as possible. I was still reeling people in so that kept morale high. On the last mile, a couple of guys I passed previously reeled me back in and there was nothing I could do about it. I just couldn't go any faster. It wasn't like I was going to die but that was all I had in me.

The ramp to the finish hits 22% and it is very sketchy. I would later watch a couple of guys hit it and just fall off their bikes. I crossed the line, a couple of guys caught me, told me to unclip and asked me if I could talk. I could, so they wrapped me in a blanket, threw a medal around my neck, and sent me on my way. When I looked at the clock, I was thrilled. It read 1:32:07. Since I started 15 minutes after the elite group, that meant I clocked a 1:17:07. My goal was to get under 1:20:00 so that did it.

It's human nature to think, "I could've done a little better." Yeah, I suppose if I spent $7000 on a climbing bike I could've shaved 30 seconds off my time, as it would've been four pounds lighter. And maybe if I had lost four more pounds, I could've shaved another 30 seconds.

But I could've done a lot worse. I was blessed I didn't get hit by a car in training. I can't tell you how many close calls I had. I didn't get sick. I didn't get an infection in my leg. And I was blessed with good weather. At the top of Mt. Washington, where the average wind speed is around 40 miles per hour, the wind was caressing the mountain at less than five miles per hour, and the temperature was quite pleasant.

All in all, it was an excellent outing and there is no need to repeat it. Special thanks go out to Coach Joshua Dean Powers. He's the best coach I've ever had. Special thanks go out to Elizabeth Evans Borden. She was a great pit crew, and was very cool with the training. Special thanks go out to my Chief Morale Officer, Lance Armstrong Berkeley, the most righteous Labrador retriever to ever walk the earth.