Rain City Story

Stalking Mt. Evans

When I first received a call from the Verizon recruiter last November and found out the position was in Colorado Springs, one of the first things I thought of was Mt. Evans (14,264 feet). Though at least 90 minutes from Colorado Springs and about 50 miles west of Denver, I knew instantly that I’d be close enough to participate in the annual Bob Cook Memorial Mt. Evans Hill Climb, a 28.3 mile race that gains 6,725 feet. Not that I was anywhere near racing shape but I could take care of that.

Mt. Evans and I go way back to one of the first memories I have about deciding to want to race competitively. I went to Kroger’s grocery with my mom one afternoon and bought a copy of Bicycling Magazine after some guy told me that I should race after I rode a couple of miles with him on my bike route. I knew nothing about competitive cycling at the time but was fascinated about a story of a race that climbed up to the top of a real mountain (we didn’t even have hills in Ohio). A few months prior, the family had taken a vacation out to Colorado and I remember flying over some of those snow capped peaks and couldn’t imagine cyclists racing up to the top. I distinctly remember thinking that I would definitely ride that race someday.

I had a pretty successful career as a junior (especially without a coach), going to Nationals and still hold the Jr. 20 kilometer time trial record for the Midwest region (lol). But life got in the way and I never raced to my full potential, let alone do a race like the Evans hill climb.

In 2000, I got out of the banking business and into technology with a job at Qwest. Qwest, based in Denver, required quite a bit of travel prior to their purchase of U.S. West. And bam, there Evans was, staring at me from the office windows. I managed to take a trip up to the top and was certain that I’d be moving out there in just a few months. Well, that didn’t happen and I ended up moving to Seattle instead. But every July, I stayed glued to the Internet for updates on The Tour De France and the Bob Cook Evans Hill Climb.

So now I’m within two hours of the mountain and my bike is in my garage. Last Saturday, I took a recon trip and got some serious goose bumps when I saw the first signs for the Evans road. There were lots of riders on the road but the route was impassible above Summit Lake (12,830 feet) due to snow. I hung around the lake for about 3 hours seeing if I would be affected by the altitude which I wasn’t. The road up to the lake looked in excellent condition and I took tons of notes on the way down, counting the switchbacks, noting the grades and the altitude every half mile.

When I finally do race up her in July of next year, I’ll be shooting for 2 hours and 30 minutes. The race is basically a time trial (something I always did extremely well at) and though I’m night the lightest climber out there, I think I can make up for it with my ability to concentrate and suffer for extended periods. The all time record of 1 hour 41 minutes and 20 seconds was set in 2004 by Tom Danielson who now rides for the Discovery Channel Professional Cycling Team.   1:41:20 is insanely fast when you consider the previous record was 1:53:39 and had been raced by all the top U.S. professionals except Lance Armstrong.  The course profile is unrelenting with the only brief respite coming at Summit Lake before the grade jumps up an average of 16% for the last 3 miles. 

I'll probably make 3 or 4 more recon trips this year and if I'm lucky take a few recon rides though I'll need to meet someone at the top because I'm sure as hell not going to ride down that mountain.  The mountain is the first thing I think of everyday I wake up and I'm constantly checking the weather conditions up on top. In the meantime, I've got some serious work to do on the bike.