September 17 - Mt. Tamalpais Hill Climb, Stinson Beach
Race website & results

Nick Hanni of Fusion Sports Russ & Nancy Wright/AbbiOrca.com

Race photos provided by: AbbiOrca.com Photography  

Men's Elite 4 report by Nick Hanni, Fusion Sport

Well…. this is a race I have been wanting to do for a while, but for one reason or another I never got around to it. This year it was time to try my hand at a very challenging event. I haven’t been doing much climbing-specific training all year so I knew it would be demanding. I was hoping, at best I could hang in long enough to help Josh (Lerner) if possible; at worst I would be riding a solo TT up to the finish. Well, the latter is pretty much how it panned out.

After the flats on Hwy 1 we turned right to start the climb. There are two steep kick-ups in the beginning and after the second my legs and back were really aching. I knew I was in trouble. I slipped off the back for a moment but managed to recover slightly and close back to the group and hang on for about a minute or two. Approaching halfway on Bolinas/Fairfax Road, I slipped off the back again and was on my own for good. A FFBC rider was a little ahead of me and I used him as a carrot to keep my pace up until I was feeling better and could start to pick it up.

A brief descent on Ridgecrest Road Russ & Nancy Wright/AbbiOrca.com

I knew I should be able to use the big ring on the top of the course and was waiting for the lactate acid to finally get flushed out of the system. I managed to start pushing the big ring over the top and proceeded onto Ridgecrest and the seven sisters. In the past I have been able to big ring almost the whole thing to the parking lot and thought I might start to reel in some other riders. I could see Josh up ahead. I was trying to bridge and thought maybe we could work together. I couldn’t quite do it, but I did manage to catch and drop the FFBC guy I was chasing. No sooner had I caught my breath that a Pen Velo rider passed me on a short steep climb. My legs were trying to lock up and I was backing off a little, hoping to avoid a meltdown. I drank the rest of my sports drink, snapped out of it, and reached the final kick-up before the somewhat flat rolling section with only the Pen Velo racer in sight.

I do know the ride somewhat well and was actually starting to feel good now (40 minutes into the race)! I was in big ring the rest of the way hauling ass and staying tucked in the drops. Approaching the 1km sign I pulled the trigger with a two-stage sprint. Big push up the small riser leading onto the final 300 meters and again down the road spinning it up to the finish line. I was 10-15 meters short of catching the Pen Velo rider and finished real strong.

Climbing continues on the Ridgecrest rollers Russ & Nancy Wright/AbbiOrca.com

I only got 20+ minutes of warm up with no real hard efforts and it was painfully apparent that it was not enough to cope with the pace the front guys were pushing up the first section. Next time, I will probably ride out over four corners to get the legs ready for the punishment that lies ahead. I had set a target time of 50 minutes and narrowly missed the mark. I have to say, half way up, I was thinking if things didn’t improve soon, I was going to be lucky to break an hour! I am happy with 22nd and the time. With no real warm up, and not much climbing in the bank, next year can only get better!

Although the road season is over, race season is just starting up for me, and I now will focus 100% on Cyclo-Cross.

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