Newton's Revenge-Mt. Washington Hillclimb

Another odd weekend...I drove up to Berlin, NH on Friday and did my ride from the hotel. Everything went fine until about 2 minutes from the end, when a dog jumped away from a group of teens on their porch and started to run directly at me. I'm used to being chased by dogs, so I faked him out, sped up, and started to get away from him while I yelled at the kids to tie up their fucking dumb dog. He was running about 5 feet behind me when I realized that the stop sign I was heading towards wasn't a 4-way, and I had to come to a sudden stop to avoid certain death. The dumb dog plowed right into my leg. He wasn't big, and the bite wasn't bad at all, but he broke skin, so I knew it had to be dealt with.

I went back to the hotel, took a quick shower, and called the police. I met an officer in my car near the scene of the crime, and he followed me while I found the right house (the kids were hiding inside). We stopped, and I was telling the officer that it was one of the two houses on that block, when a man painting his house across the street came up. He had seen the whole thing, and was tired of his neighbors "letting that damn dog run around all the time." I went to the ER down the street for a tetanus shot, and the dog was arrested (I hope he has a good lawyer). The officer said they would hold it for ten days, and he'd call me if it got sick or died.

That whole thing was a good distraction, but it was worse when I showed up to registration for the race and saw none other than Anthony Colby. There are about 10 guys in the country that can outclimb me, and he's one of them. I was instantly relegated to 2nd place.

The race started at 8:40 AM the next morning. As I predicted, it was between me and Colby from the beginning. After 2-3 minutes, we had dropped everyone else. We climbed side by side for the first 20 minutes, until we hit a steeper dirt section. Colby had the advantage of having climbed Mt. Washington several times before, so he knew how important gearing was. When the road hit 22%, his easier gears made the difference, and I couldn't hold on. He put about 15 seconds on me there, and I kept him in sight from then on, gaining time on the flatter (8-10%) stretches, and losing it when the road turned up.

The peak of Mt. Washington claims that it is home to the "worst weather in the world." The highest winds ever recorded were there in the 1930s (250-something mph!) I was skeptical, but started to rethink it when we passed the treeline and the temperature started to go down. Soon, we passed the "any life can live line," and the claim was confirmed. I could see about 10 feet in the fog, wind was gusting up to 50 mph, and it was about 40 degrees. It didn't help that the gradient went up to 25% on that section. 

Anthony Colby ended up beating me by just under a minute, with 3rd place 7-8 minutes behind me. About what I expected. I'm doing the same climb in a bigger race in August, so I've learned me lesson on gears, and I'll know a little better how to pace myself. Hopefully my time will improve then.

I'd like to thank Veronica and Alex, the awesome couple who drove me back down the mountain (tragically, you're not allowed to ride it...that descent would be really fun).