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Hill Climb and Ultra Widowmaker |
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Written by Tim White
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Wednesday, 17 September 2008 |
30th Annual Snowbird Hill Climb and Ultra Widowmaker
Snowbird, UT
August 16th, 2008
 This year marked the 30th anniversary of the Snowbird Hill Climb and the first ever year of the Ultra Widowmaker race.
The Snowbird Hill Climb is a 10-mile road race that climbs from the Salt Lake Valley, up Little Cottonwood Canyon to Snowbird ski resort, gaining 3,500 vertical feet.
The Ultra Widowmaker is the Snowbird Hill Climb combined with racing the Widowmaker hill climb course starting at Snowbird and ending on top of Hidden Peak, where the Snowbird Tram docks. This mountain bike climb adds 4 miles and 3,000 vertical feet to the race totaling 6,500 feet over 14 miles.
 There are some logistical odds and ends to work out when combining road and mountain bike races. My wife was also racing the Snowbird Hill Climb, so I wouldn’t have a support crew to help make the switch from road to mountain bike. I left the mtb in a car at Snowbird near the transition area early that morning and went back into SLC to line up for the start.
I didn’t get very good position for the start and had to put out a pretty big effort to get sight of the leaders. I settled in behind the lead pack to get through the initial rollers before the canyon began. I saw several fellow expert class mountain bikers and even a couple of pro mtbr’s on the citizens start line, so I knew the pace would heat up. I felt pretty good during the Snowbird Hill Climb while being careful to stay fed and hydrated for what would be a long effort. With about ¼ mile to go, I saw a racer I had narrowly beat in a previous race 100 yards ahead. I figured I could go hard and maybe catch him, or save the effort for the Widowmaker portion. I felt good, and decided to put in the effort to chase. I was able to bridge the gap and when he saw me behind him, he jumped and I tried to stay seated and hold his wheel. He couldn’t hold the jump until the finish line and when he settled back in, I was able to jump and hold on until the finish line. I ended up placing 1st in the 40-49 Citizens category with a time of 51 minutes and 29 seconds.
After weaving through riders who were catching up after the finish, I raced to Gad Valley, traded the bikes and shoes and headed up the dirt road to a peak that was far enough off that I didn’t want to think about it. I have done some long races before that involved a lot of climbing, but I haven’t ever done a race that long that was ALL climbing.
I was spending a lot of time in my granny gear trying to spin some fatigue out of my legs and found myself having to walk more sections that I had cleared in training. This climb had some great views to it, but truthfully it was a grind up service roads (not even doubletrack) that were mostly made up of loose gravel, sand and rock. My pace was still good and I was able to catch a few other racers before reaching the top.
I finished the Ultra-Widowmaker in 2 hours 9 minutes and 15 seconds taking 10th place overall. Of the 350 racers who competed in the Snowbird Hill Climb, 37 went on to race and finish the Ultra-Widowmaker.
Full results can be found here.
Tim
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