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John loves to climb hills. In recent years, more
and more pure hill climb events have been added to the calandar
in New England. In 2009, the Bike
Up the Mountain Points Series was started. We'd planned to
do many of the races in the series, but the new championship would
add to the incentive.
We met up with our friends Cristine and Dominique
for many of the events. After racing on Saturday morning, we'd
often head off and explore some off the beaten path dirt roads
over the remaining part of the weekend, and enjoy some fine food
and wine in the evenings.
We were away touring in Oregon for the first two
events, not realizing the significance of the multiplier on the
Mt. Whiteface race, but we made it to all the other events.
Newton's Revenge was the first. After having a
phenomenal race on the tandem on Mt Washington in 2008, we decided
to give it another go and see if we could improve a bit more.
Again, we didn't take into account the significance of the multipliers,
and even with a good time on the tandem, ultimately the points
would go against John in the overall standings. But more importantly,
I (Pamela) wasn't quite in the same shape as the previous year,
and it showed in our slower time. We still managed to win, with
some real competition, but I'm retiring now. I don't need to ride
up Mt Washington anymore!
Cristine put in a phenomenal ride for her first
time up Mt Washington, coming in at 1:30.33.
This is the tandem that beat us in our first attempt
in 2006, when they broke spokes on the way up and ran across the
finish line. We knew it would be close. We didn't race head to
head, as we got to start in the top notch group, so they didn't
even realize they had competition. It was a tough wait to see
if they'd come in with a better time. We got them by 4 minutes
though.
Dominique had a great ride as well, finishing
3rd overall in 1:23:42 (beating that tandem)! Both ladies were
first in the age groups.
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