It’s not too hard to find a story at the top of Mount Washington. On a race day, it’s even easier. Hang around the finish line of the Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb and you’re bound to find a rider not too far from here.
Like Lyme’s Scott Nichols riding the grueling 7.6-mile event for the first time last Saturday with blissful 50-degree summit temps.
He likes hills, rides them a lot in the Upper Valley with a group of buddies. He does a handful of cyclocross races every year and even took advantage of the practice ride in July.
“It helped me understand where the steep parts were,” he said. “In this particular race the steepest stretch is between mile 2 and 3 so you need to control yourself through that section. It helped to know where that was.”
Nichols, 45, competed in the June Whiteface Uphill Mountain Race in Wilmington, N.Y. outside of Lake Placid. That is an 11-mile grunt with about an eight percent grade.
“I’ve done that one twice,” he said. “I just like to ride a lot of hills a lot.”
And Mount Washington certainly is one big, 6,288-foot hill.
“I’ll tell you, the character of the mountain was the people racing,” he said. “Everyone was so nice, cheering each other on and it’s just a happy occasion on the mountain today. Just a big rock pile.”
Nichols was content with his 1:13:25 finish.
“I’m riding Clydesdale class today,” he said. “I think I did pretty well and beat my practice time by about three minutes. I didn’t hit my goal of an hour ten. That might have been a little nuts.”
Irvin Gordon (2:01:51) of Contoocook was racing up Mount Washington for the second time, the first time in 2014.
“You have to learn how to do it and I certainly didn’t do it as well in 2014 as I thought I could,” he said. “I came out of my clips. I had to stop for water and sugar. So I came back this year, I couldn’t come back last year, determined to fix some of those errors and it went much better today. And I’m two years older.”
Gordon has competed in several other New England hill climbs and says Mount Washington is the longest and steepest.
“Mount Washington also gives you no recovery opportunity,” he said. “You have to learn to keep it steady right from the start.”
There are also some rough sections where you can come out of your pedals, he said.
“You are very aware that when you reach my age you have to work a little harder if you want to go up the same hills at the same speeds. That represents its own challenge,” said the late middle aged rider.
Gordon manages the Mount Kearsarge Hill Climb in Warner for the Hopkinton Rotary Club. He’s also runs an annual spring overnight recreational ride between Concord and Waterville Valley that’s been done for 34 consecutive years, called the Killer Bee Ride.
“I’m a great believer in cycling,” he said. “It solves a lot of problems.”
Sixth-place finisher Andy Officer, 27, of Northampton, Mass., has New Hampshire roots. He was born in Lebanon, both of his parents grew up in Hanover and some family members live in the area.
His father, Tom, raced in the 1970s, and eventually got Andy hooked on competitions like the Killington Stage Race and Lake Sunapee Road Race.
Andy was a rockpile rookie.
“I didn’t really know what to expect,” he said. “I think I came in a little hotter than I would have liked to. The first mile I went a little harder. I just felt all right. I thought I would be a little better. But for the first time it went pretty well I think.”
His time was 59:28, just about seven minutes behind winner Eneas Freyre of Norwalk, Conn.
“That last pitch (22 percent) was really intense,” he said. “I got excited when I saw all the people and started going really hard. But that last pitch just killed me.”
The category 2 racer won the Mt. Equinox Uphill BIke Climb in Manchester Center, Vt., on Aug. 6.
But Washington now stands out.
“I’d never been up here before,” he said. “It’s really wild.”
(Marty Basch can be reached at onetankaway.com.)