Mt. Diablo Hillclimb TT, June 21, 2014

Copyright 2014 Craig Huffman

Event	Mt. Diablo Hillclimb TT
Date	06/21/14
Group	M45 Cat 4/5
Bib #	148
Result	4th of 22
Course	(from the race flyer) 10K (6.2 miles) time trial up the North Gate side of Mt. Diablo. Course begins at the entry kiosk on North Gate Rd. and finishes at the ranger residence just short of the junction (intersection of North Gate Rd. and South Gate Rd.) covering over half the total distance to the summit. Climbing with gradients up to 15% begins after 1.5 miles of gentle rollers. Total elevation gain of 1,740 ft. Road has good pavement.
Details of Race	While I enjoy solitary, brute force efforts while cycling, I don't focus on time trials (TTs) much because for me they lack much of what I love about cycling in the peloton. We have several local stage races which usually include a TT on the same day as the criterium stage. This one TT won't have any impact on my ranking, nor will I accumulate any upgrade points for it. But the Diablo Hillclimb TT is a local classic “must-do” because of the climbing (another being the new year's day San Bruno Mt. Hillclimb TT). It's a good opportunity to compare my ability with other good climbers that I've raced against during the year. While USAC currently ranks me nationally in the top 5.6% of all ages of male cat 4 road racers (#392 of 6978), I don't expect I'll develop as high a ranking in the TT discipline. Since this TT is a climb, and my bike, Tweety weighs 21 pounds, I geeked out a bit, prepping for this time trial. I used a scale to weigh each of the elements of my total payload, such as bottle cages, bottle cage bolts, bib shorts, jerseys, CO2 inflator vs pump, etc. By selecting my lightest, most essential kit, I managed to reduce my usual load by about 1.25 pounds. I could've foregone the CO2 inflator and spare tube, but I figured I'd want to ride the rest of the way up the mountain after finishing the TT. My body weight has been dipping nicely, hovering now at 135 lbs, so that's 2 pounds lighter than during my most recent race. I even priced the rental of a carbon bike, but just couldn't justify the expense. When totaling the gross weight (rider plus clothing, bottle, bike & accessories), I estimate I saved almost four pounds, compared to how I'm outfitted for my usual rides (gross wt: 157 lbs vs 161 lbs). The week prior was hectic, so training was limited to two hard rides, totaling only 80 miles. Warmup consisted of spinning on the rollers at high rpm, while drinking 2 bottles of electrolyte and supplementing my breakfast with a few Medjool dates and a banana. I usually spin at 100 rpm in a small gear, with occasional 130 rpm intervals for 1 minute. The first 130 rpm interval, one of my fan belts failed and I had to stop quickly to keep the remnants from jamming the rollers. With 15 minutes to go before my start time (9:33am), I put everything away and rode the 1.2 miles to the start ramp. Another rider on the start ramp Riders are started every 30 seconds. The first couple of miles of the course are fairly flat, rolling, big chainring terrain with a couple of downhill sections. Then the climbing begins. I caught my minute-man here, and a couple minutes later, Shane Kinney, who started 30 seconds after me, said “C'mon buddy! Let's go!”, encouraging me as he came past. Shane has been an "animal" on the road this year. I checked my heart rate to see if I could afford to match his pace, but I was already at 177 or so. I know from experience that I can't maintain 180 bpm efforts on warm days for long, without cramping, so I stuck to my pace. I kept Shane in view for 2 more miles until the road began getting more curvy (and he drifted farther ahead). I passed many earlier starters, so while I lost sight of Shane, I knew I was doing fairly well. Copyright 2014 Craig Huffman I've raced several times with nearly all of the 22 starters and had a pretty good idea of their climbing performance. I estimated that I was likely to finish at least as high as 5th. Copyright 2014 Craig Huffman I monitored only heart rate and cadence on my Garmin device, trying to maximize my effort based on them alone. I've done this climb several times over the past 40 years, but not frequently enough to know the road as intimately as those on my own side of the bay. I was lucky enough to read another racer's report, which mentioned that the finish was only a few hundred meters beyond the “2000 ft. elevation” sign., so I didn't know how close I was getting the finish until I saw this sign. I hit it with everything I had left at this point and was rewarded with a finishing time of 29:29.6, good enough for 4th place. Since the course ends only 2/3 of the way up the mountain, I ascended to the summit before returning to the registration area before seeing the official results.
Advice Results	Gearing: A 53/39 x 12-25 is ideal for this course. I thought about shedding the big ring, front dereilleur and cable to save another 12 ounces, but the big ring is needed for the first two miles. Hydration: No more than 1 bottle needed Feed: If you're well-fed through warmup, there's no sense in hauling more in your pockets. This is only a half-hour effort. http://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2014-2054&bypass=1