My First USAC Event of 2015: The San Bruno Mtn. Hill Climb Time Trial

Hoisting my "holiday belly" through he final 200 meters
photo: Katie Truong

This is a mass-start time trial from Brisbane, California, that ascends approximately eleven hundred feet up San Bruno mountain for 3.4 miles. I rode in the master 45 cat 4/5 group, although we were combined with the master 45 cat 1/2/3 group. Though the event is billed as a time trial, the fields ride as packs and there don't seem to be any rules against drafting.

The pace for the first mile was comfortable, but at one mile, the speed increased and a gap opened up. I was able to stick with the lead group of a dozen. The pace picked up more, and soon the gap to our chasers grew. At mile two, fellow Low Key Hill climber (and cat 2 racer) Daryl Spano (team San Jose BC) and I drifted off the back of the group. My heart rate was averaging 178 bpm, which is about four beats faster than I can usually maintain (for efforts that are to last more than ten or fifteen minutes at least). Daryl is usually one to two percent faster than me on climbs.

At 2.2 miles the course leaves the main road, loops under, then climbs a narrower service road for the final 1.2 miles to the summit finish. I tried to regain contact, but as Daryl slipped further behind, I ultimately rode alone in the widening gap between groups.

At the line I had no idea how many cat 4/5 riders had finished ahead of me, due to the mixture of categories in the field.  I didn't care too much at the time, as I was experiencing some respiratory distress that turned me into a coughing, spitting, snotty mess. The air has been chilly lately, and maybe my airway got a bit chapped and fried.

After putting on my vest, booties and leg warmers from the sag wagon, I pulled myself together long enough to stand with the rest of the team for a photo, then rode back down to wait for results to be posted. I was happy to see that I placed third, with a time of 17:55.9, yet less than thrilled that I was nearly a minute and a half behind Rob Easley (iRT-Reactor p/b JL Velo) and Shane Kinney (Body Concepts). Teammates Neil Leary (cat 5) and Rob Lytle (cat 4) placed fifth and sixth respectively in our group. Teammate, Jim Forester, chose to ride with the master 55 cat 4/5 group, placing first.

My average heart rate for the entire climb was about 178 bpm. The estimated average power for the nearly eighteen minute effort was just under 4.6 watts/kg. While that's nearly my highest sustained power for that amount of time to date, my time on the final 1.2 miles was about twenty seconds slower than it was for the same section a month and a half ago. Prior to leaving the house for the race, I stepped on the scale for the first time since eating myself silly through the holidays, and I was five pounds heavier than I was the last time I'd ridden part of this hill.

While I've had several top-three finishes, this is my first podium ceremony.
Left to right: Shane Kinney (2nd), Rob Easley (1st), and me (3rd)
photo: Jim Forester

So what did I do afterwards?... did I cajole the rest of my buddies to go for a ride? No, I went to brunch with Rob E. and his wife Kelly.