My wife had the foresight to sign me up early so I got in the 1st wave. 10.8 miles of sheer pain. Breaking 1 hour mark gets you the coveted gold t-shirt.
http://www.savemountdiablo.org/Bike%20Challenge/MountDiabloChallengeHome.htm
My Garmin from 2006 DC when I did it on my tri bike:
South gate side is newly paved. I’ll be riding up to the junction at about 5pm today if anyone wants to join me.
While Lieto is not doing it this year he does I believe hold the 2nd fastest time ever at about 45 min:
I’m in the first wave also.
I think that there is a very good chance that Nathan English will come close to if not break the record. he was 2nd last year, but was a new Cat 5 at the time. Now he’s a 1 and has been racing with the 1’s all year and I suspect is that much stronger. Also, look for Justin Lau and Chris Phipps to ride really fast.
I’d like to ride my age (47), but realistically I’m not quite that fit right now and will be satisfied as long as I go under 50’.
BTW, my team mate Rob Anderson won two years ago at the age of 50 by riding about 47:30… Who says that you have to slow down as you get older!
BTW, I looked up the times. Lieto did a 45:56 or so for 2nd that year. Greg Drake did a 44:58! I’m not sure if that’s the record or not. I think John Hunt might have gone a bit quicker a few years back.
i’m “doing” it but not “racing”. still on break and going to help a buddy in his quest to try and break an hour. i’ll be in a zteam kit. my money is on current teammate nate english to destroy the field (he dropped toc kom scott nydam on a hill climb earlier this year), with next year’s teammate chris phipps (morgan stanley) close on his heels. they went 1-2 at tam last weekend.
Nate English was impressive. He was really far ahead and broke the course record by a minute I believe. What is his story to go from Cat 5 to Cat 1 in one season?
How did you end up? I was pleased with my 54 but was hoping for a gold shirt, not green.
48:31 for me. 7th place. When Nate went by I didn’t even try. His time was just insane. Very impressive.
I am not sure what Nate’s background is. He is pretty young, around 24 and I suspect that he might have been coming from another endurance sport background, but I’m not sure. Last year at the Challenge it was pretty obvious that he would not be a cat 5 for long.
While we were freezing our asses off at the top, my wife was in San Francisco doing the Bridge to Bridge run and enjoying the heat! Go figure…
nate (one of my teammates) doesn’t have any formal background in competitive endurance athletics. he did some running and mountain biking for fun but nothing serious. pretty much just pure talent and a huge love for riding. otoh, justin (finished second today) was the 2nd ameteur finisher at wf oly two years ago. he was also a cat 5 at the begining of the year.
Pretty incredible that a race with a 27 year history has the course record broken by a minute, on a windy day by a guy who was nobody last year AND he was all alone, no draft. What does that power file look like? He didn’t appear to be a small guy either.
Sure about that? Adam Switters said he remembers him racing juniors.
That is an impressive ride. Nate certainly is strong. Has the re-paving effort at all made the conditions faster? Or just all “hammer”?
Doubly impressive that it is in October- I think a race up more in the heart of the road season would net more fast times and more faster riders.
I bet Lieto could give the course record a run for its money, especially if he could use his tt bike. Also, Diablo is his home climb.
Sure about that? Adam Switters said he remembers him racing juniors.
According to the USA cycling site - he has no results as a junior or even evidence in having registered for a race as a junior (as the site lists all the way down to DNP and DNF for each event). It doesn;t look like he did any races prior to the 2007 season - where his results weren’t nearly as impressive as this year.
His history looks like as a 5 he gained the expereince to auto-upgrade to a 4 this season. He placed in either 1st or 2nd for 5 races as a Cat 4 to upgrade to a Cat 3 in February. He won the first three Cat 3 races he entered including a stage race in March and upgraded to a 2 by late March. He then placed Top 10 in his next 7 races as a 2 including some high profile races (Sea Otter Classic, San Dimas) and was upgraded to a Cat 1 by mid June.
That is a very impressive history, as not only did he move from a Cat 5 to a Cat 1 in one season, he technically did it in just over 5 months.
Mark
Any word on the Cal cyclist that was down in the road on the descent? /me knocks on wood that he’s okay.
USA cycling results site is pretty incomplete. Doesn’t matter- as you said it is still an impressive track of improvement/upgrade.
Hopefully in 2009 he can ride for a team that gets him to big races and helps him continue to develop. I think the only big race he did in 2008 was tour of Pa.
That is an impressive ride. Nate certainly is strong. Has the re-paving effort at all made the conditions faster?
I’m sure it helped, but probably not nearly as much as repaving the top did a few years ago. The lower part of the mountain wasn’t nearly as chewed up as the upper half was.
Doubly impressive that it is in October- I think a race up more in the heart of the road season would net more fast times and more faster riders.
That might be a double edged sword as there would be more possible conflicts to draw the better cyclists away from a “race” that really isn’t a “race” for USAC members.
I bet Lieto could give the course record a run for its money, especially if he could use his tt bike. Also, Diablo is his home climb.
Chris is a really good cyclist, but he was there on the day that the previous record was set and lost by nearly a minute. Nate another 1:20 out of that record. Maybe if Chris gave up triathlon and trained full time as a cyclist…
One factoid to ponder. Nate’s average speed over 10.8 miles and 3400’ of climbing was 14.9mph.
His history looks like as a 5 he gained the expereince to auto-upgrade to a 4 this season. He placed in either 1st or 2nd for 5 races as a Cat 4 to upgrade to a Cat 3 in February. He won the first three Cat 3 races he entered including a stage race in March and upgraded to a 2 by late March. He then placed Top 10 in his next 7 races as a 2 including some high profile races (Sea Otter Classic, San Dimas) and was upgraded to a Cat 1 by mid June.
Goooooodnessss.
Maybe you are right, Nate did ride Scott Nydam off his wheel at the Ross epic hillclimb.
