Date: 9/16/2006
Race: Mt Tam Hill Climb
Category: Elite 3
Time: 51:14
Teammates: Michael (in other cat)

I haven’t done this race in a few years and I probably wouldn’t have but my buddy Larry coerced me into doing it. I’m not a climber but this is such a great location and a fun way to cap the end of the road season.

Woke up early and headed over to Marin and to Larry’s place. Loaded him up and then drove up Tam to the top of Pantoll. We parked up there, unloaded the bikes, and then headed down towards Stinson and the start. The gray foggy weather had left and it was a beautiful day. The ride down to Stinson was a little chilly but the views were awesome.

At Stinson beach we grabbed our race numbers then started warming up. Well, not much warming up since Larry was being a chatty kathy. I eventually headed down Highway 1 for my warmup. A quick out and back and then lined up to start right on time. They don’t fool around for this race. If the start is 9:05am then that’s when the whistle blows. Sure enough at 9:05am we rolled onto Highway 1 and off towards Bolinas-Fairfax Road. I stayed tucked in as we cruised along the flats. Nobody attacked and the pace was fast but casually.

We reached the turn off around 10 minutes in. That sure seemed longer than I had remembered from the past. Around the corner and up the climb we charged. A few riders attacked and the pace picked up. Well, the pace picked up for most but not me. I was already beginning to hit the red line. I didn’t want to blow up so I settled into a high end pace. Not fast enough though to keep up with the main group. So I watched as the group slowly slid away. Soon there were just three of us grinding our way up the hill. One guy on the back with me laughed and said “I guess we aren’t the climbers”. Heh, yup.

There were mile markers along the course. I’m not sure if that helped or not. Knowing the climb and how hard it is, then seeing a sign saying 5 miles to go made me think:

1. Only 5 more miles of pain
2. Only 5 miles and it takes so long
3. Only 5 miles maxing my heart rate

Then the 4 miles to go sign came along and I thought:

1. Only 4 more miles of pain
2. Only 4 miles and it takes so long
3. Only 4 miles maxing my heart rate

Hmm, I don’t think those signs were helping me.

But then we reached the intersection at the ridge and turned right to head up the 7 sisters. This section I actually enjoy since it’s composed of rolling climbs. Any chance for recovery does me well.

At this point I started enjoying myself. Hard to believe during a hill climb. But this is one of my favorite sections of Mt Tam. The views are amazing and the climb isn’t that bad. Well, one portion sucks, but the rest aren’t bad. I think the enjoyment distracted me and I started slacking a bit. My pace dropped off and I just started riding rather than racing. I should have focused.

By the time I reached the final peak I knew I was way off my time in the past. Oh well, just keep the pace and finish. I passed one rider before the last rise before the finish. He then hopped on my wheel and I knew he would try to sprint me to the line. So that motivated me to pour it on for the short finish line climb. Sure enough he tried but I had enough (from earlier slacking) to pull away and beat him easily to the line. Might as well take a small victory! 🙂

Afterwards I waited around for Larry to finish. I overheard a conversation about someone finishing around 40 minutes. Argh, that was 11 minutes faster than my time. Oh well I.N.A.C. (I’m Not A Climber).

Once Larry was done we regrouped and headed back down to Pantoll. The weather was so beautiful I almost wanted to ride some more. But a pair growling stomachs convinced us otherwise. So we packed up the bikes in the truck and headed home.

Cheers.