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Crank the Kanc |
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Team Bikeman -
Race Reports
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Written by Dennis Morgan
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Thursday, 24 May 2007 |
Kankamagus Bicycle Hillclimb Time Trial
Conway, NH
May 19, 2007
 | | Course Profile |
This past Saturday morning was Crank the Kanc. A 21 mile time trial up the Kancamagus Highway in Conway, New Hampshire. It's basically up hill the whole way. I decided to try out the new team format this year with Sven Cole of Team Bikeman.com and another of our riding buddies. It sounded like a good idea anyhow. We met at 6:30AM to stage a car at the top of the course as the weather was not looking to nice to ride back down and we wanted to drive down and cheer on our wives who were riding it for the first time as their first bike races ever.
After registering and getting our start time we had a bit of time to hang out and wait. The weather was misty and cool, but not terrible, or it coulda been worse anyhow. We rolled up to the start line and got ready to roll as the timer ticked down and we were off. I started out front and was supposed to do a 30 sec. turn on the front. We were quickly moving along at a pretty good pace and I didn't peel off as soon as I should have. We were pulling close to a minute right out of the box. Once we stared to climb it became evident that we were not all riding at the same level this wet chilly morning. Sven was feeling great and the other two of us were just not right. I did not feel bad, but there was no snap in my legs. As we hit the 6 mile mark we were having trouble staying together and were staring to get strung out a bit. Sort of defeating the whole drafting thing.
The end of the first third of the ride was a 1/2 mile section that was under construction and all the pavement was torn up, so we were riding on dirt that was a mess. My HR quickly went from a comfortable 165 to 180ish and I was in the red. It was basically like riding uphill on a sandy beach for half a mile or so. We regrouped once we were off the dirt but I had burned a match or three trying to keep momentum over the uneven dirt section.
The middle third of the course is the flattest, well its a false flat that continues to climb. Our other teammate seemed to start to feel his legs again and gave Sven a break out front and put in a nice pull but all of the sudden he peeled off and was spent. I was fortunate to be on the front for a couple town lines, probably the only uncontested lines I'll see all season, but I'll take em.
As we hit the 16 mile mark the real climbing began. I was starting to feel a little better and we made our way up the climb. I was just staying on the wheel in front of me keeping pace. At about the 18 mile mark I pulled in front of and rode up with Sven and was feeling better as we progressed up the hill. Figures that it took this long to find any legs. Problem was our third was not feeling it. As we hit the last mile to go marker we picked off another team that was in front of us, but that joy was short lived as another team came by us with about 1/2 mile to go. We regrouped for the last 100 yards and rolled across the line.
Dennis |
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; "Course Profile")
