Some crazy close results tonight. Jake and Ryan separated by (to the best of my Strava and real time sleuthing) one second, as were Zinj and Darren (I hope I got his name right) and Madeline and Henry. We had a very mild wind out of the south at 6 pm so for the first time this year, I don’t think the wind played a huge role.
I love this climb – great pavement, short, intense, steep, great views and one of the best and scariest descents around. 23 folks participated at some point today on a perfect weather day. We had 7 PRs (including both Gus and Donna besting their previous PRs by over 2 minutes!) and also included Schuyler, Melissa, Chris, Tim and Henry (who did the climb at least 4 times that I’m aware of).
There were 4 potential hazards and risks today – the wind, the broken pavement, the downed branches and eventually, the rain. The rain held off until I had just written down the last time for the ten 6 pm starters but I’m expecting everyone got home without too much problem.
Today’s podium includes screaming times by Charles (first timer) and Jake and (5 minutes behind them) Joe. Great job guys! Only 2 PRs in our mob tonight, Henry W by a whopping 1:23 and Andy by 3 seconds. The wind was gentle out of the south and sometimes southeast so was a minor factor.
I tried to shame Melissa into hosting an impromptu lobster and margherita after party at her house at the top of the hillclimb but I guess she didn’t already have all the necessary ingredients on hand. What kind of people are these Shutesburians?? I thought most households had at least 24 lobsters on hand at any given time, just in case.
Today was a good day to do the TT sometime during the middle part of the day. There was a sweet screaming wind from the north to give an awesome power assist. By 6 pm, the wind was generally out of the east, making the first 7 miles a bit challenging but the last 2 miles were really nice. I can’t remember a time when there’s been an east wind for the short TT.
Based on the times I’m seeing (since I’m generally way off the back and don’t get to see too much of the real action taking place amongst the younger, faster, fitter set of riders), I think there were some pretty good battles brewing this evening.
The forecast for the hillclimb between the hours of 5 and 7 pm changed from mostly sunny, to rainy, to a weather advisory, to locust and tornadoes, back to full sun and then a tsunami at 6:45 pm. Luckily, I decided at 4 pm not to cancel …
