Mt. Washington Hill Climb cancelled . . .

[BumbleBeeDave]

From VeloNews.com . . .

<<Horizontal sleet, rime ice, 87-mph gusts of wind and freezing temperatures forced the cancellation of this year's Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb on Saturday.>>

Yeee-OW! :eek: :eek: :eek:

BBD

[Bruce K]

Love ya Dave, but you're a little late to the party on this one. :rolleyes:

It was really a bummer for folks who travelled, some a long way, to do this ride.

Fortunately, some were able to cancel plans before making the trip.

BK

[BumbleBeeDave]

Did somebody already post this? I was out all weekend . . . sorry if this is a repeat!

BBD

[jeffg]

for Mt. Washington.

Part of me says I should train for it and do it once, but the other part of me says skip it since:

1. The Mt. Washington toll road is only open to bikes as part of an expensive charity event.

2. You can't ride back down and need to organize a support car.

3. Notwithstanding the weather, there are equivalent climbs you can ride for free, descend, or ride as part of a supported ride that doesn't cost very much.


Maybe I can get my wife to buy into this one:

http://www.glocknerkoenig.com/#

The Grossglockner is free for bikes! :banana:

[Bruce K]

Jeff;

I understand your point, and I am not trying to slam you in ANY way, but:

1. What's wrong with a charity event?

2. I will arrange for you to get a ride with one of our group if you come next year.

3. Best reason not to, but then again, it IS Mt. Washington.

Good luck with the wife, maybe you can arrange a local shopping trip while you are driving yourself to the verge of an asthma attack. :D

BK
(Who would never dream of trying to drag this butt up that rock!)

[Fixed]

for Mt. Washington.

Part of me says I should train for it and do it once, but the other part of me says skip it since:

1. The Mt. Washington toll road is only open to bikes as part of an expensive charity event.

2. You can't ride back down and need to organize a support car.

3. Notwithstanding the weather, there are equivalent climbs you can ride for free, descend, or ride as part of a supported ride that doesn't cost very much.


Maybe I can get my wife to buy into this one:

http://www.glocknerkoenig.com/#

The Grossglockner is free for bikes! :banana:
bro 2000 starters that is a lot imho

[jeffg]

Jeff;

I understand your point, and I am not trying to slam you in ANY way, but:

1. What's wrong with a charity event?

2. I will arrange for you to get a ride with one of our group if you come next year.

3. Best reason not to, but then again, it IS Mt. Washington.

Good luck with the wife, maybe you can arrange a local shopping trip while you are driving yourself to the verge of an asthma attack. :D

BK
(Who would never dream of trying to drag this butt up that rock!)

Bruce,

1. Nothing is wrong at all with charity events. The fee for Mt. Washington goes to the Tin Mountain Conservation Center, but that is nothing like the fundraising that goes on for the Pan-Mass Challenge, no?

2. Thanks for the offer!

3. Agreed.

My main point is that it is just a hillclimb and one of the more expensive and logistically complicated I know of. Not saying I won't do it, but I think the hype is a bit overblown.

[Bruce K]

Jeff;

You are right on #1, but TMC does good work up there and yes, the PMC effort saves lives vs land, etc., but still a good cause.

#2 Any time my freind, any time.

#3 Being in NEw england and knowing folks who bust their guts training for it, I guess it's special to us around here.

Now, how about that bottle of Obstler I'm craving?

BK

[jeffg]

Jeff;

Now, how about that bottle of Obstler I'm craving?

BK

Obstler is good if it is the right type. For years it was a sort of second class schnaps but there are some true quality obstlers to be had.

Truth be told, the best I have found in Norcal is an Alsatian Mirabelle eau-de-vie. I promise to bring you back an Obstler from South Tirol next time I am there, deal?

[Bruce K]

Deal.

I don't think I have EVER experienced anything like the first time I had some. Several of us from my college were skiing in Innsbruk back in the 70's and ran into a bunch of local students on vacation, sunning on the top of the mountain, eating wursts and drinking Obstler.

That first shot went down fairly easily but it exploded in the pit of your stomach like a nuclear device!! :crap: :beer: :banana:

A truly memorable experience!

BK

[rickygarni]

I support the idea of charity (of course) and TMC charity specifically, but the problem I had with the Newton Ride this year was that the expense was so great (ticket for my son & myself, as you all know, would have run $600) that it became a question of either paying for a cheap motel for a few days (driving from NC) or both of us riding. So...paid for the motel and let my son ride it. Of course, as you all (also) know, both rides were called due to inclement weather, so it has taken some of my spunk about the idea of 'riding' it again.

Would love to, though ... but it becomes a four figure plus proposition.

Ricky

on the more or less flats of NC

[stevep]

for Mt. Washington.

Part of me says I should train for it and do it once, but the other part of me says skip it since:

1. The Mt. Washington toll road is only open to bikes as part of an expensive charity event.

2. You can't ride back down and need to organize a support car.

3. Notwithstanding the weather, there are equivalent climbs you can ride for free, descend, or ride as part of a supported ride that doesn't cost very much.


Maybe I can get my wife to buy into this one:

http://www.glocknerkoenig.com/#

The Grossglockner is free for bikes! :banana:

theres only 1 mt washington.
trying at best.
gotta do it once to call yrself a man.

[jeffg]

theres only 1 mt washington.
trying at best.
gotta do it once to call yrself a man.

Was that meant to exemplify what I meant by overwrought hype?

I'll call Gibo and see if he wants to trade his title as King of the Zoncolan to beat Tommy D's burrito-powered Mt. Washington record or if he feels he's man enough as it is. ;)

I honestly believe riding the Gavia and the Mortirolo back-to-back is tougher than Mt. Washington but maybe I'll vacation next year with Sarkozy and find out for myself. Are you saying you are going to race me?

[stevep]

Was that meant to exemplify what I meant by overwrought hype?

I'll call Gibo and see if he wants to trade his title as King of the Zoncolan to beat Tommy D's burrito-powered Mt. Washington record or if he feels he's man enough as it is. ;)

I honestly believe riding the Gavia and the Mortirolo back-to-back is tougher than Mt. Washington but maybe I'll vacation next year with Sarkozy and find out for myself. Are you saying you are going to race me?

whatever you think jeff.
stick to it man.
you know a lot about something you have never done.

i can say for a fact that its way harder then:
stelvio, ventoux, tourmalet, galibier, izoard, aspin, alpe d'huez.

more than that i defer to you who have never done it.

[93legendti]

whatever you think jeff.
stick to it man.
you know a lot about something you have never done.

i can say for a fact that its way harder then:
stelvio, ventoux, tourmalet, galibier, izoard, aspin, alpe d'huez.

more than that i defer to you who have never done it.

I've done the stelvio, galibier, alpe d'huez, marmolada, joux-plane, madeleine and others in Europe and I would do each one twice in a row (well maybe not the Stelvio) before I would do Mt. Washignton.

[Bill Bove]

Ah, whata bunch of weeners. Real men would have just slathered on the vasiline and headed off for the summit :p

I did the running race up that b!tch one year when the temp at the base was in the 80*s and I was wearing shorts and a singlet. We got going and halfway up it started raining. By the time we got to the gravel it had turned to snow and they were not letting the cars go up any further. As I crossed the finish line there was nobody there but Fred Brown holding a stop watch and calling out your time and telling you to remember it. Nobody would stand with him to record it. I did a little "warm down" jog looking for the cars to get into before I froze to death when I heard Fred tellingthe fellow behind me that there were no cars, that we had to run back down to the pavement to catch a ride down the rest of the way. As me and this other guywent down we would yell to the others still going up that you had to run back down, to turn around now but theyall just grunted and kept plodding up into the snow. It was a tough day. I didn't go back to New Hampshire for about five years after that.

[jeffg]

whatever you think jeff.
stick to it man.
you know a lot about something you have never done.

i can say for a fact that its way harder then:
stelvio, ventoux, tourmalet, galibier, izoard, aspin, alpe d'huez.

more than that i defer to you who have never done it.

First you claim you have to do it once to call yourself a man and then don't permit its toughness to be questioned as if the rest of the world does not have equivalent climbs.

The European climbs you mention are tough but you would need to compare to the Angliru, Zoncolan, Mortirolo, etc.

So, I defer to you as the judge of all that is manly in the world and expect if I ride next year you will be lining up too.

93LegendTi,

I assume then that you have climbed Mt. Washington?

[Ti Designs]

First you claim you have to do it once to call yourself a man and then don't permit its toughness to be questioned as if the rest of the world does not have equivalent climbs.


I think what steve is trying to say is that nobody else would be stupid enough to put a road someplace like that. I'm sure there are other hills where the weather changes, but that much and that often??? If you ignore the hill (which is pretty damn hard to do), just the wind, driving rain, sections of dirt, rock and what seemed like peanut butter, snow and that freakish 2 minutes of bright sunshine, makes that one climb the hardest to be ready for.

[93legendti]

I think what steve is trying to say is that nobody else would be stupid enough to put a road someplace like that. I'm sure there are other hills where the weather changes, but that much and that often??? If you ignore the hill (which is pretty damn hard to do), just the wind, driving rain, sections of dirt, rock and what seemed like peanut butter, snow and that freakish 2 minutes of bright sunshine, makes that one climb the hardest to be ready for.

You did the climb in what 1:05 for 7.6 miles, right?. And the record, I think is around 55 minutes. Incredible! Imagine, a place that the highest wind speed in the USA was recorded and where the winner averages around 8 mph.

[davids]

Mt. Washington has some of the worst weather on the planet. Until you experience it for yourself, it doesn't seem likely - I mean, it's only 6,600' tall or so, it's steep, but not hellacious...

But it's true. The last time I climbed it (on foot), it was 95 in Boston, probably 80 at the AMC lodge at its base, and 55 and spitting rain at the top. That was a nice day.

The temperature was topping out around 70, and there was a steady 10 mph wind in central Maine last weekend, so it's easy for me to imagine that there were blizzards on the mountain.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . they have snow every month of the year at the summit and it holds the record in Guiness for recorded wind speed--over 230 mph! That was my reason for originally posting that snippet from VeloNews . . . just unbelieveable weather for an August day!

BBD

[Ti Designs]

It's not so much that the mountain has the worst weather, but you have no idea what to expect. It wasn't that bad at the bottom, riders were on trainers warming up, having no clue what was going on above. They clearly wanted to wait til the very last minute to cancel, so they sent up a number of support cars. In the space of 5 miles it got ugly with 70 MPH winds and freezing rain. One of the guys I coach said his wife came back down looking as if she had either rode her bike up or had seen a ghost or both.

I've only done it twice, but I've seen more strange changes in conditions in those 15 miles than I've seen in 20 years of riding elsewhere. Things you just don't expect to see. Both times I rode the mountain I got to the top thinking "what the hell was that???" The first time it was kinda snowing, cold, windy - all the things you would expect. About half way up my back was hurting and I was about to give up the attempt at a fast time and drop back into survival mode when the snow stopped, the wind died and the sun came out. I felt recharged, I got back on the pedals and passed another rider. That lasted for about two minutes. I know it's not possible for a mountain to have a sense of humor, but Mt Washington does. The second time I did it I was there to set a good time, so I kept telling myself to focus, stay in good form and the time and distance will just pass. The mountain threw everything it could at me to break my concentration. At one point I even saw a $20 bill go past in the water that was running down the hill. There were groups of people gathered under tarps (holding an umbrella on Mt Washington is a big mistake) along the way, then there was one section with a bunch of ducks - I'm not making this up! The last few years have had what's become known as the peanut butter section where running water and dirt create brown moving mass which the riders get to ride in. Once again, it's the mountain's sense of humor. One of my shop's customers was using Rolf wheels, they added drain holes to allow water to escape. Well, crunchy peanut butter doesn't work the same as water, so by the time he got to the top he had two deep rims packed FULL of dirt. There's an old joke where you sneak a six pack into someone else's pack before a hike, then at the top when you're joking about a cold beer, you tell them that they've been hauling it up the mountain - yeh, it's kinda like that...

[93legendti]

...There's an old joke where you sneak a six pack into someone else's pack before a hike, then at the top when you're joking about a cold beer, you tell them that they've been hauling it up the mountain - yeh, it's kinda like that...

The Eiger Sanction!

[MassBiker]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=PQEVcCv_xkQ&mode=related&search=

:beer:

[Your_Friend!]

MB!

I Bet That They Could Teach Me

To Make Good Ice Cubes!

Love,
Your_Friend!

[djg]

for Mt. Washington.

Part of me says I should train for it and do it once, but the other part of me says skip it since:

1. The Mt. Washington toll road is only open to bikes as part of an expensive charity event.

2. You can't ride back down and need to organize a support car.

3. Notwithstanding the weather, there are equivalent climbs you can ride for free, descend, or ride as part of a supported ride that doesn't cost very much.


Maybe I can get my wife to buy into this one:

http://www.glocknerkoenig.com/#

The Grossglockner is free for bikes! :banana:

I think that point number 1 may not be true. At least in the past, there's been a "practice" climb -- same mountain, same road -- with a much smaller entry fee. "Much smaller" doesn't mean "free," of course, but it's really more on the scale of park entrance fees, etc., and cheap compared to getting to the base from just about anywhere.

As to what anybody must do to prove anything to him or herself ... gee, I dunno. They told me I was a man the day of my bar mitzvah and I believed them. Personally, I've hiked and climbed up a couple of different ways, but I haven't ridden Mt Washington on a bike. It is a beautiful and cool place to see, however, if things go right. And the weather really is something -- like many here, I've started at the bottom in warm (80-ish) summer weather to find it snowing on top, and there aren't many such easily accessible places where you can see the clouds roll in, in real time, as if in time-lapse photography. Come in the spring and you can climb and ski the ravine side without the entry fee.