race results: wednesday night worlds

sometimes i find it difficult to convey to anyone who has never competed in a cycling event just how brutally hard the sport really is- much less an alpine time trial that goes straight up the mountain. this discipline favors the "true" climbers who often make it seem effortless as tonight's pro/open class winner Barkley Robinson did in some 33 minutes & small change, which puts the guy right up there with some of the best in the world... and a new course record to back it up. the rest of us mortals just suffer, more or less quietly and with varying degrees of dignity.
here's a couple of links for those who care to read further about the technical aspects and science of climbing as it relates to cycling by the infamous Dr. Ferrari. his observations and formulas are legitimate and useful for cyclists looking to better their performance, but his crack about EPO being "no more harmful than orange juice" pretty much relegated him to the doper's dustbin for all eternity.
there is much to be learned, however, about riding clean and of sound training and racing techniques in all of this. stay off the dope, it's not necessary at all.

on cyclingnews

and his own website 53x12

the parcours for tonight's race was 7.6 kilometers (4.75 miles) in length and gained 670 meters (2200 feet) in altitude for those interested in doing their own VAM calculations at home . i don't know what the average gradient is, but it's easy to figure out. base altitude is 2042 meters and the climb tops out at 2712 meters, which makes the air kinda thin, so to speak. i do know that my weight is 64 kilograms and my time was a somewhat less than stellar 43'25" (which was actually good enough for a win in the men's singlespeed division).
as i have mentioned earlier, i will not be starting Le Tour in a couple of week's. maybe there's still time for me to get some of that orange juice, though...

nah.


Jen shows good form and a prime demonstration of dignified suffering while rolling across the line. she was on the podium again- 3rd overall in the novice women's division, 2nd in her age group. an outstanding performance from someone who has until this year never done sustained climbs such as this one.

taking in the view of the Yampa Valley on the way down, looking towards south Routt and the Flat Tops Wilderness. the bottom of S.H. 40 going up Rabbit Ears pass is visible, center left.

that 670 meters of vertical suffering is quickly forgotten when blasting down the Huffman's and Valley View singletrack on a Midsummer's evening.