Mount Equinox Uphill Race Writeup

Hey everybody!

Rolandisimo, Mark P (from VT) and myself raced in the Mt. Equinox Uphill Bike Race last Saturday, August 4th.

Short version: My old record, and only previous ascent by a uni, was 1:50:17 and we all crushed it. There was trash-talking, fun, pain, food, and fun.

Click here for long writeup. Warning, there’s a lot of words.

Equinox2007_1.jpg

Good show! Everyone beat the old record.

What crank length did you use on the 29er?

Gah! I can’t believe I forgot that in the write-up again!
Our unis:
Roland: KH24 (slick tire), 150mm cranks
Mark: Sun 700c tire, 170mm cranks
Me: KH29 (BA2.0 tire), 165 mm cranks

wow you were probably about till you got to the top. :astonished: Sometime I should come join you.

Not sure what you’re saying, but yes, you should join us!

Bravo to all of you hillclimbing lunatics. Can you say fast, wow. Nice to have others to ride with as well. Much respect !!!

Congratulations and great write up. I especially liked, “We don’t need the training wheel anymore.”

Wow, I guess you actually read to the end! Thanks!

Thanks, Mike. That’s weighty coming from you, my climbing guru. Oh, and you’re a bigger lunatic! :smiley:

Awesome - loved the writeup. I wish it weren’t so far away as that sounds like a fantastic place to race (and beat) bikes!

—Nathan

Wow another “big dog” weighing in. Thanks, Nathan.

It’s true, the NE US doesn’t have huge mtns, but we have a good series of hardcore hillclimbs every summer: Whiteface, Ascutney, Equinox, and the big kahuna, Mt. Washington. All sustained and steep. We’d love to have you attend one or two. I bet we could push each other to log some pretty fast times.

Great job Steve, it sounds like the grade was brutal! I’ve done Smuggler’s Notch in Stowe VT quite a number of times on my roadbike, and have had the experience of looking just 25 feet up the road & around the switchback to find it way above my head - a vertigo experience! I guess I’ll have to start riding Smuggler’s on my uni if I’m going to join you on Equinox next year.:smiley:

There are two more short hillclimb races in VT this fall, the Burke Mt. bike race, http://news.alpinezone.com/17008/, and a race up Appalacian Gap near the the Mad River Glen ski area, http://www.achillclimb.org/ . Mark P. and I will be doing the Ap Gap, and since I can’t afford to go ride the passes in Colorado with AspenMike, I hope to do Whiteface NY again in September!

Thanks, Bill. Yeah, Equinox has some very steep sections.

I can’t make the ApGap and Burke is just too far away (and $100 - WTF?) but they both look fun. I think I may be up for Whiteface in Sept. though.

That’s awesome! Great write-up. Very inspiring! Up until now, I’d only really wanted to MUni, seeing things like this opens it up a bit.

Congratulations to all of you guys, very nice!

Thanks for writing that up Steve, it was a really nice read.

In fact, thanks for doing the ride! It’s good to have unicyclists out there doing visibly cool stuff. Whatsmore, it’s always nice to see unicycles not finishing last in a bike race! That’s a good tradition to maintain too :wink:

Awesome that you got some riding buddies and that you all smashed the record! I’m not sure I could hack a hill climb like that; certainly not at those times. We don’t have an awful lot of hills round these parts :smiley:

Inspiring

Truly inspiring! I’m sorry I didn’t make it over there. I got tied up in Ludlow that morning. Thanks for sharing the narrative. What you guys accomplished is truly mind boggling. I’m in awe!

Impressive:D

Well, you met two of your three initial goals (sort of). No rest breaks and beating your old record.

Nathan, have you (or anyone else here) ever done the race up Mt. Diablo in the East Bay? (10.8 mi, 3,249 vert) I think there are several riders who do it just about every year.

Mt Diablo is way easier. It’s about a 3300’ climb in 10.8 miles. The only slight hard part is at the top - 17% grade for about 1/5th of a mile. The race is the first Sunday on Oct - very fun. I first did it in 2001, but Gary and Scot started in 2000 I think. I’ve done it every year since. http://www.mtdiablochallenge.com/ Some photos:

2002: http://nhoover.smugmug.com/gallery/1207071
2006: http://nhoover.smugmug.com/gallery/1965912#99998296

Great fun. Anyone up for it this year? I thought I would be out of town but it turns out I can make it.

—Nathan

What size cranks did you use on your 36?

Steve many thanks for such a great write-up. Just the right length to read over a morning coffee.

Congratulations to all three of you for some very impressive climbing and times.

Nice writeup Steve, I enjoyed reading that. Good to see you guys beating a few two wheelers along the way :stuck_out_tongue: