Mt. Baker Hill Climb 2012 (RIDE 542)

Author:  Conor Collins

            This ride was a blast! We left home on Saturday around noon, to get up to Bellingham around 3ish. After a late lunch, the evening was dedicated to relaxing and analyzing the Mt. Baker STRAVA segment, which could only tell me so much about what the race was actually going to be like… The next morning came fast, and we left for Glacier by 7 a.m. The hour drive to Glacier went by fast, and we were parking alongside the road about ½ mile from the race start. I quickly put my tire on my bike, and rode into town to check-in, and get my number. Over the next hour I paced up and down the ½ mile strip of road until the race official started staging us in town. Once everyone was there and ready to race, we then ‘rolled’ ¼ of a mile to the race start. My positioning at the start of the race was poor, not where I would have liked to be, something to keep in mind about mass starts.

Start of the race: passing through the town of Glacier

            At the start of the race, we quickly gained speed, going faster than 25 miles per hour within the first ½ mile of the race; I couldn’t believe the group I was with! The first ‘little’ climb of the race whittled down much of the start group. I got stuck right in the middle of the whole group, so I wasn’t able to catch the high paced leading group. I was all on my own the next 11 miles of the relatively flat part of the race, not knowing how far behind the lead pack I was. Once I passed the USDOT barn, I knew the actual race was about to begin. The real climb started shortly after that, and quickly started to gain altitude. I slowly found myself passing guys that were a part of the main breakaway group. They told me there was a fairly large group not too far ahead of me, so that became the next target. After about 2 miles, I passed the whole group, and enjoyed seeing the surprised look on their faces. Soon after passing that group, I passed quite a few guys one by one. Once I reached the ski resort (which I would find perfectly acceptable to being the summit after 10 miles of climbing) I thought the end of he race was near. Well it turns out it was, I just had to climb another 1000 feet, and navigate through the most intimidating switchbacks I’ve ever seen with under 25 meters of visibility. Thankfully all of that went by fast, and I crossed the finish line with a time of 1:38:24.

Overall I think it was a good race, with lots of room for improvement over the next few years. This ride also being my first ever bike race offered a great learning experience. The best high paced sprint riders, and the mountaineers from the Pacific Northwest area all come to this race, making it a good experience ride.

Race finish at Artist's Point (38 degrees)

The descent was brutal; having only half-finger gloves on, the 38-degree weather at the top did not make the descent any fun. Once I got to a more comfortable level, I was finally able to take in the beauty of the ride. The river, and the dramatic mountain cliffs make the ride amazing. Once I got back to Glacier we decided to wait another 3 hours for the results… that, naturally, never came.

 

I have to say thank you to all the Cyclopaths that helped prepare me for this race over the past 2 months; and, of course, thank you to my parents for taking the time and supporting me on the start to my cycling career.