Climb to Kaiser 2007

Wow, what an experience!

I mean we climbed and climbed, and then climbed some more.

And then we climbed even more.

But then it was down hill, speeding short and narrow like a flying arrow.

Damn that was fun, and I'll be there again for sure.

So the story starts out with Jeni and I reaching Fresno on Friday afternoon and hitting a wall of heat as we opened up the Honda. With reports fo 110F weather in the lowlands last year this was not a good sign. But the skies were clear, and things did cool down quite a bit at dark. We did the race check in and scored some home made chocalate chip cookies - thank you to whomever baked those. Wow, they were good. We grabbed a meal and went to bed.

5:30AM mass start and people are everywhere. 378 rolled out, with 330 people doing the full race and the others doing a century. I started with Jeni in mid pack then took off toward the front and ran into El Freako from Rico, and we worked our wayto about 15 back from the front. No shame in this one for drafting as I had every intention of staring at wheels until the climbs came. Nothing really amazing at this point, but the surges were less up front and when we hit the first steep climb I went with the small group on the break away. Perhaps about 8 of us, and a couple of guys set a pretty high pace. Eventually I got to my limit HR and I backed off and rode about 15-20 yards behind the group. A few riders behind us pushed hard and caught the group - but I knew better. I've gone all out to catch a wheel before and it's better just to maintain a steady pace in these things. Especially with all the climbing in front of us.

Ran into Doc Fish and Keith Brodsky on the climbs and we rode together at times. Somehow I passed Keith and later watched Doc Fish drift away in front of me as he had a good climbing groove going.

I skipped the first 2 aid stations thanks to my trusty 3rd water bottle, and continued on the climbs. The 12-25 with the 53/39 was actually the best setup for me as I could maintain a fatser pace than those with the easier gearing. Give me bigger cogs in back and I'm lazy enough to go slower. By the time I got to the top of Kaiser at roughly 80-miles and 11,500-foot of climbing, I was in 8th place overall, and saw Doc Fish was about 10-mins in front of me in 5th place.

At this point I knew the challenge - I had 75-miles to go - mostly down hill, and I had to make sure that I would not get caught from behind. I knew the guys in front were stronger than me, and I knew the guys behind me might start to work together and ride in a pack.

The downhills were perfect ofr since I'm not a good descender on the road bike this year. Too little time on the skinny wheels to be comfortable right now. But these were mostly straightaways and I hit some nice long stretches in the low 40-mphs.

I road pretty much all the way back to Fresno, and a couple of miles out, out of no where I see Keith Brodsky come up on my left and say "get on." He had one other guy with him, and they were moving. So we worked those last 3 miles together and rode hard - I mean hard. I wanted a sub 10-hour time, so sure I felt like it was good - but turns out Keith knew there was a huge pack right behind us and he wanted to make sure we scored a top 10. Damn he was right on, because as we finished and did the check in, a big pack came in right after us.

El Jefe rocked and came in about 40-mins later and mi amiga Jeni did her awesome adventure and fininished a few hours later. Doc Fish kept his 5th place and came in around 10-mins before me. Ran into Richard Hoff, and his buddy Roehl and got to hear some good stories.

Fresno is awesome and this race is a must do. Climb to Kaiser - pencil it in as something you must accomplish in your biking list of goals.

My Garmin measured 14,604-ft of climbing, 152.9-miles of riding, and 9:38 of total time. What a day!