Mt Ascutney Hillclimb

Mt Ascutney

Mt Ascutney in Vermont is about 50% the distance and very similar in slope to Mt Washington which is what makes it a popular training ride for cyclists preparing to ride Mt Washington. In fact, they will tell you at the toll booth that Mt Ascutney is actually steeper than Mt Washington. In some ways, I find Mt Ascutney more difficult that Washington as its short length makes it seem like you should be able to push hard the entire climb. If you do, you will pay for it on the upper slopes. The first few times I climbed Ascutney, I was constantly suffering and had to stop to regain my breath before continuing on. Eventually I learned that I needed to set a pace and ride within my self. Once I figured out that, I really started to love doing hillclimbs. I've seen good athletes struggle here until they learned how to pace themselves.

I rode in the 2006 race up Mt Ascutney setting a personal best of 41:23. I have also ridden the mountain several time in training. I like this climb as the steep slopes are challenging.

An additional good sources of information on this climb is on a web page called NortheastCycling.com run by another guy named Doug who does a fantastic job organizing data related to bicycling hill climbs. If my pages can be half as information filled as his, I'll consider myself successful.

When you look at my detailed plots, realize that on the early ones, the distance noted on the ploy is the round trip distance.

July 19, 2008 Mt Ascutney Race: Official Time: 45:37, 158th, 46/51 Mens 35-44 Division

Once again I had a tough day riding on Ascutney. I'd like to say that it wasn't a good ride, but in reality, it wasn't a horrible time for me. I was disappointed that I wasn't close to my best time from two years ago. It was quite hot this year. The mountain just doesn't seem to fit my riding style as I don't place well overall or in age group. I felt pretty good at the start, but after about 1 mile, my lack of training on hills this year started to show and I settled into an easy pace. I was really maxed out on heart rate the entire race. But that isn't unusual here. You will also notice a discontinuity in the data on the climb. I inadvertently stopped the GPS timer during the ride when I meant to hit the lap timer. Race Results

I don't have data for this specific ride as it was part of the loop we rode from Ascutney to Okemo (Ludlow) and back to Ascutley. See here for more information.

July 22, 2006 Mt Ascutney Race: Official Time: 41:23, 159th, 49/61 Mens 35-44 Division

This day I rode My Ascutney with Tom and Bill. We rode several times, Tom (4), Doug (2.5) and Bill (1). The plot below is for my second climb. The data on my watch was messed for the first part of the first climb, so I am not posting here. Likewise, since I only did a partial third ascent, I am not posting that here either.

This was the second ascent of Mt Ascutney in two days. It was very warm, but it was one of the first times I figured out how to ride to the top of a mountain without severely bonking. The time isn't great, but I was happy to be at the top.

This ride was my first assent of Mt Ascutney and if you look closely at the data you can see that I was suffering. You may also be able to ascertain that I stopped frequently at the upper slopes to catch my breath which is why the heart rate is so staggered. I was also riding a 39X27 gearing which is doable, but you will suffer on the steep sections.

Date	Event	Time	Overall Place	Age Group Rank	Age Group
July 19, 2008	Hillclimb Race	45:31	158/187	46/51	Mens 35-44
May, 24 , 2007	Practice	41:38	N/A	N/A	N/A
July 22, 2006	Hillclimb Race	41:23	159/220	49/61	Mens 35-44
May 31, 2006 (2)	Practice	48:23	N/A	N.A	N/A
May 31, 2006 (1)	Practice	44:13	N/A	N/A	N/A
June 5, 2005	Practice	48:31	N/A	N/A	N/A
June 4, 2005	Practice	52:24	N/A	N/A	N/A