7/14/07 Mike Horgan Hill Climb

Today in Boulder five BlueSky'ers kitted up for the Mike Horgan Hillclimb. The race seems to have a rotating schedule of climbs, and today it was the mammoth of Boulder -- Magnolia Rd. It requires a brave soul to tackle the 19% steeps of this climb ... and indeed, attendance was notably smaller today than a year ago when the route went up Sugarloaf.

BlueSky Racers:
Isaac (SM3), Jose (SM4), Jason (35/4), Jenna (SW3), and Brenden (JR15/16)

Here's what happened in the Cat 3 race. The race started out very mellow -- last year in the 4s we were flying up Boulder Canyon at 25+ mph -- today we were maybe doing 17 mph for a while and then the position battle started before Magnolia and we were up to about 20 mph. As Magnolia started I was sure to stay to the left to avoid the ridiculous grades of the inside lines ... however even on the left side of the road I was pulling my front wheel off the ground through the first two corners. The race quickly settled down and I watched all the guys I was competing with last year float up the road ahead of me. I discovered the joy that is my 34x25 low gear and commenced the trudging.

Reaching the dirt above the climb was a sweet salvation. The dirt was smooth and hard and a welcome respite from 9 miles of uphill. Not much to report race-wise ... I was caught by a couple guys, dropped one of them, and worked with the other to chase. We caught another 2 guys just before Nederland High School. As we hit Shelf Rd it was total carnage ... the road looked like a wall with different insects scattered along it. It wasn't racing anymore, it was survival. I crossed the line in 1:34:43 and 18th place. We'll see how that compares to 2009...

Lots of good finishes to report:
Jose 1:40:21 (11th in SM4)
Jason 1:44:10 (26th in 35/4)
Jenna 1:53:08 (5th in SW3)
Brenden 1:47:14 (5th in JR15/16)

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