7bmwm3gtr

I only met up with two of you guys, Richard and Henry. It was nice seeing you two, wish I'd talked to more people ( oh and of course Chris Phipps ).

Anyways, you can check out my blog for my race report and a few small pictures.
https://dbcyclingblog.blogspot.com/20...ill-climb.html

I don't know my official time yet, but I know it wasn't just me who got similiar - or slower - results compared to last year!

cccorlew

Pretty cool! Congrats, and good blog report!

Beaker

Great job Dom, and nice to see you again. This had been on my calender all year, so it was nice to come back. My cycling in 2010 has been patchy at best since March, so I wasn't sure how this would work out for me. I was mentally prepared for this to be cold and wet - our cats woke me a couple of times during the night and I could hear the rain coming down pretty heavily, but hey, that reminded me of last year's will it/won't it San Bruno climbg along with the Ronde van Brisbeen, that also ended up dry for me; and what do you know, we had wet roads but no rain for the race.

After registering, I got warmed up on my trainer under an awning just in case and then lined up for the festivities - no timing chips this year and 2 min intervals between waves (instead of 30s?? last year), so you spent more time with your category during the climb, but also had more time to cool off. This year I went with the 35+ 4/5 group, and as last year, we went pretty quickly out of the gate hitting the first deceptively steep part of of the climb. I found it a little easier to keep pace with the group this year, but we started to fracture by the time we got the lights after the flat part of Guadalupe. I got myself in a group of 4 and we traded pulls during the majority of the climb. It was pretty amusing in that most of us were clearly zone 5 "huffers", no sneaking up on anyone going on there. I got myself pretty well positioned by the time we entered the park, but my matchbox was looking pretty empty, also the wet pavement on the downhill right turn made me wary of carrying too much speed. Still, Radio Rd was more of a chore this year, many matches burnt on Guadalupe. I found a rhythm and traded positions with the other huff brothers until I finally broke free on the final shallower section to the finish where I emptied whatever I had left in the tank and pipped at least two of them (3?) to the line. Quite foggy from about halfway up RR, but not as cold as I was expecting to be honest.

Strava says I got a 22:01, which is a shade over 30s slower than last year (not bad considering), race results pegged me at 22:48 though (WTF?). Still, I know where I stand in the ranks of competitive cycling and that timing difference doesn't change that. Once again, a great time, and I'm glad I did it again this year. We need more NorCal-ers out there next year though.

7bmwm3gtr

Thanks cccorlew!

Nice report Richard, I was pretty shocked at how my time was off too, I was hoping at least a minute improvement because I need to get closer to the 16 minute neighborhood to place well when i start racing elites next year. Oh well the experience and fun was definitely worth it!

DRietz

Dom, good work regardless of the time. I was going to go this year, but decided to back out at the last second mainly because I've never ridden Mt. San Bruno.

Will I see you next weekend in Fremont, though?

Philipaparker

Great report, a credit to getting up on New Years day and racing. I really enjoyed your blog report, best of luck with your racing season this year.

JourneyLightly

Congrats!

FogVilleLad

Congrats to all BFers who started the New Year with a hill climb.

BlastRadius

Great job Dom, Richard, Chris, Mary Ellen, Ryan, Justin, and any other BFers who raced. I could only bring myself to come watch and yell at the racers.

gpelpel

Lots of admiration for all those who started the year with such an early wet race day. Kudos!

Beaker

If only my climb time matched my suffer face, this would have been an epic (photo courtesy of Michael Hernandez)

gpelpel

That's more the face of a very determined fighter to me.
It looks like you just swallowed the Pinarello guy.

Great action shot!