Mount Whitney Stage Race - Results

Before the start of the first stage, two loops around the Alabama Hills, then upward and onward to Whitney Portal.  I laugh at Whitney Portal!  What a fool...

Finish line, Whitney Portal.  Second, down by a minute and forty seconds.

All of the above photo credits go to Lorraine Wajda!

Finish of stage two, the daunting climb to Horseshoe Meadows at just under 10,000' of elevation.  I took first by one full minute.

And now the story.  It was already hot at 10:30 and we still hadn't started yet.  For a variety of reasons the start was delayed and the temperatures were already in the mid to upper 80s.  This year's stage was five miles of hard climbing longer than last year's, and included two loops through the Alabama Hills, which feature sharp, rolling climbs, a fast descent, and then the chance to do it again.  On the climbing part the road had been resurfaced and was radiating heat like an oven.  It was so hot the asphalt was softening under our tires.  Our racing group included the 55+/60+/65+ fields as well as the women and juniors.  I'm guessing at least 38 starters.  The field this year was more than three times the size it was last year.  In my combined group, there were 17 riders.  Kim Bleth from Swami's enticed a few juniors to attack on the first lap and he was off, down the road.  The notorious Herb Johnson, legendary climber (he's 67!) took off after them.  At this point there was Kim and two or three juniors, then Herb, then me, then everyone else.  This was not good.  After coming out of the Alabama Hills there is a rolling down hill to Whitney Portal Road where we made a right and descended quickly back the the start of the loop again.  I could see a group forming behind me, so I sat up and let them catch me.  On the second time up the Alabama Hills climb the group narrowed itself down to Josef Lemire and an unknown, Jeff Golden.  Jeff was still drilling it up the climb, so I let him do it, and took the occasional pull.   As we returned to Whitney Portal Road, where the real climbing begins, Jeff was looking like he was having some difficulty.  I myself was feeling a little dehydrated already and killed what was left in my water bottle, and picked up two fresh ones at the feed zone.  We now turned left and began the 8 mile climb to Whitney Portal.  The temperatures at this point were already in the 90s and I was feeling the heat.  Mr. Lemire gradually rode away from me, but never got much more than a hundred yards on me, until we hit the first switch back.  The last 5.5 miles of this climb are over 9% average, with a maximum gradient of 13%.  About half way up the first switch back I started to crack and for a moment, unclipped and put my foot down, took a long drink, then headed back up hill.  I probably didn't lose more than 40 or so seconds.  Not long, but it came back to haunt me the next day.  After that brief rest, I actually felt energized and continued up the slope, passing dropped riders from the first wave, and actually gaining back some of what I lost to Mr. Lemire.  I took second, one minute and 42 seconds down.  My time over this course was 2:15 over nearly 30 miles.  Last year I did 2:10 over a slightly less than 25 mile course, so I rode five miles further uphill in five additional minutes.  That has to count as an improvement, yet I had been concerned that I was less than 100%.  Third place was over twelve minutes behind me, Steve Close.  Following Steve were Mike Marotta, Leo Longo, and Bob Wright.  Out of the more than 100 starters, at least seven didn't finish because of the heat and the severity of the climb.  Even more failed to start the following day.

Stage Two:  Horseshoe Meadows

Horseshoe Meadows is rated as the third most difficult climb in the continental United States after the Onion Valley Road.  It is nearly as steep as the Onion Valley Road, but is much longer.  The temperatures were a little cooler than the day before, but in place of heat was a strong wind out of the north.  As the day before, we headed up into the Alabama Hills, but fortunately, we only went once, turned right on Horseshoe Meadows road to follow it down to where it Ts into Whitney Portal Road.  We did a quick turn around, picked up water, and headed up the road to Horseshoe Meadows, 19 miles up the road. At the intersection the elevation is 4551'.  At the point where we turned around I had left Mr. Lemire behind and had fallen in with a group of category 4 and 5 riders.  We took advantage of the tail wind at this point and were drilling it up the road.  The climb starts out like many in the Eastern Sierras, gentle at first, but increasingly steep as the climb progresses.  At thirteen miles to go it never drops below 6%, and the last 12 miles hover around 8% with a maximum grade of 12%.

I thought I had it made when I reached the base of the first switch back, which is already at an elevation of 5532'.  I looked behind me, and there was my nemisis, Mr. Lemire.  He had apparently done what I had been doing, latching himself onto the wheels of the various cat 4 and cat 5 riders loose on the course, and had caught me.  I began climbing the bottom switch back (you can see it in the photo above) at a good rate of speed, hoping that his catching me was a fluke (the first switch back is well over a mile long).  We caught another rider about mid way up the second switch back, and since we were now climbing into a head wind, I tried to pull off and let Mr. Lemire or the other rider put their nose into the wind for awhile.  This is where things broke down.  Mr. Lemire looked at me and said, "I know when to be in front, and when to follow.  This is following time."  I gave him a look, and then proceeded up the mountain.  Mr. Lemire wasn't content to let it go at that.  He then proceeded to lecture me about bicycle racing, and that if I didn't like it, maybe I should choose another sport, blah, blah, blah.  Grr.  I then proceeded to surge, ride precariously near potholes, cracks in the pavement, boulders, whatever.  If he was going to suck my wheel and refuse to work, then he'd better be paying attention.  He held on like grim death.  At about 7500' or so, I grew tired of his game and unclipped a moment, just long enough to zip up my jersey.  I quickly caught his wheel and now I was following him.  He clearly didn't like it.  He began to slow (deliberately?).  Was he tired, or just hoping I'd pull through and lead again.  I knew that not far up the road there was an unexpected (if one hadn't ridden the course before) and very fast descent before the final pull up to the finish.  I came through.  I surged repeatedly.  Each time he caught me, but it was taking longer and longer. I continued to surge.  Finally, I snapped the tether and saw that I'd gapped him.  I stood up and upshifted and started pushing it.  I had a surge of adrenaline and I knew that the descent was coming up soon.  When I hit it, I threw the bike into the 50x11 and flew down that descent, passing a car and another rider on the way.  I no longer saw Mr. Lemire behind me and over the remaining two miles to the finish I nearly turned myself inside out.  I took a full minute out of Mr. Lemire.  It wasn't enough.  He still had 42 seconds on me (about the time I lost recuperating on Mt. Whitney...ah, well).  He came up to me afterwards and began to berate me, telling me I had an attitude problem, and that being competitive at 62 "doesn't mean shit", and all manner of other bad behavior.  I had never said a word to him other than I didn't really want to talk to him.

Here are the full results.

Fun facts:

Stage One Timed Distance: 29.71 miles

Stage One Total Distance: 40.86 miles

Stage One Elevation Gain: 5836' (1778.8 meters)

Stage Two Timed Distance: 30.08 miles

Stage Two Elevation Gain: 7840' (2389.6 meters)

Stage Two Total Distance: 51.78 miles