This Sunday, September 16, 2007, Eric Scheer from Rhode Island, and myself (Steve Relles) and Roland Kays (Rolandisimo) from Albany NY, rode in the second annual Whiteface Foliage Hillclimb Bike Race, in the Adirondacks in upstate NY. This was my fourth ride up this hill, even though you’d think I’d have learned my lesson by now.
The unicycle record, once again, got broken.
Here’s a link to the writeup:
http://home.nycap.rr.com/rduhan/wf200709/
Awesome ride guys. That elevation chart at the end of your writeup is sick!
I burst out laughing while reading about the “distraction ploy.”
So… wanna go for an easy ride tonight around the farm?
steveyo, I love reading about your hill climbing adventures. I wish we had events like that around my area (Huntsville, Alabama)! You have me inspired however as I plan to tackle some of the “tough” road hill climbs around my area this fall (too damn hot right now!) Perhaps some day I’ll get the chance to swing up your way and join you guys. If only I could swing the means and team to do Ride the Lobster…
It’s threads like this that’ll keep the troll-kiddies at bay.
Fabulous ride, fabulous race, fabulous write-up.
Thanx for sharing.
Thanks guys. It was fun, mainly because it feels good when you stop.
Well done Steve & co!
I like the “look, only one hill” comment under the elevation graph 
Rob
What is a troll-kiddie?
Why do we need to keep them at bay?
Rolandisimo
The race was crazy.
Actually, it started not crazy. It wasn’t THAT steep so Steve and I went barreling off at high speed. The craziness comes in when you keep turning corners and seeing no letup in the incline. Our high speeds slowed when reality started sinking in. Reality happened earlier to me than Steve, and as he pulled away and maintained a lead from about mile 2-3 I was starting to consider that 2nd place wouldn’t be soo bad. Then reality hit him too and I was rather quickly back next to him. The next few miles were a bitch with lots of banked turns that challenged me to just stay on the Uni, let alone ride fast enough to pass steve. Eventually at about mile 6 we had a long very steep strait section, it was great. Funny to be relieved to have a long very steep section, but I was just glad to be out of those banked turns. I figured now was my time to make a move since I didn’t want to loose in a final sprintoff, so I put the hammer down a bit. Steve stayed with me at first, but then faded. I just kept spinning and his huffs and puffs faded away a bit. I guess my carbo loading the night before paid off here because he wasn’t able to catch back up in the last mile, although it took all I had to stay a few seconds ahead of him.
23 seconds apart in a 1:15hr race - crazy
-Rolandisimo
Another fabulous write-up. You are beginning to make me want to enter one of these crazy uphill burn fests, just to experience the agony of the journey and the relief of finishing. Congrats on breaking your record again!
Next time I’ll have to match you beer-for-beer.
Thanks. Are you in Cali? In which case you should try Mt. Diablo, a similar race as far as distance and vertical gain.