Mount Hamilton Road Race E5/ Public
Teammates: None in my field but Bill in M45 ¾
Field size 40
Result 15
This race was a sprint up to the observatory and would be my first time climbing Mount Hamilton. The road surfaces were nice and I had plenty of time to enjoy the scenery because after the fist climb I was off the back. The pace was much quicker then I had expected. By the top of the first climb more than half the pack had fallen away from the leaders. I was able to work to with one other rider who had a similar pace. Two other riders were able to bridge the gap and now I was working in a group of four as we started up the second climb. After sitting in for a while I realized my placing was not going to be very high and so I decided increase the pace of the group, even though I knew I would be unable to hold on if they held the new pace. I was dropped soon after. I found a comfortable pace and stuck with it for most of the way up. I would occasionally try to push the pace a little harder to try and make up some ground on the leaders. The last six mile climb seemed to go on forever and there were many twist and turns before I finally made it to the finish. I finished in 1 hour and 24 minutes which I was pretty happy about. The guy who got first was able to make up 5 minutes on myself. I finished in 15th place.