Originally Posted by
aaronmcd
I'm pretty sure 10 minutes straight climbing at 4 w/kg would drop at least a few cat 4s. Was it just a straight up 10 minute climb 7%? Cuz if there are any easier parts, or a headwind, or if it's only 5% and you are setting a 4 w/kg pace everyone behind you could be doing 3.5 or less.
I did the same race but in the 1/2 field and I honestly hate that climb. It has punchy sections that make me sad and overall the gradient is lowish and dumb. Then you "crest" the top and it turns into a crit for a few minutes cuz it stays rolling and there are a series of turns you have to sprint out of. It is not the kind of climb where you can sit at a steady wattage, or really ride people off your wheel.
My race was pretty uneventful. 2 of our guys got in the winning break from mile 1, those of us on teams with representation let a few solo strong guys that could help the break bridge to it, then I spent 2.5hrs bouncing off of dude's hips and elbows. Notable events...I think it was determined that one of my vegan teammates could eat a person if the person signed a waiver stating they were consenting to it? Also I accidentally spit in a dude's face, which I still feel bad about cuz it was one of those Clif Blok camel slime things. Tried getting away with 15k to go with a solo slow roll but it was pretty short lived. With 10k to go the pack was exploding into various bits and pieces, and around 3-4k to go the guy in front of me whipped his rear wheel into my front wheel and nearly took me out, so in the interest of self preservation I decided I would sit out the finale and rolled in 10-15sec behind the last stragglers left in the bunch.