New Jersey Pain - King of the Hill Duathlon

I raced in the King of the Hill Duathlon today. If you live in the New York/Philadelphia area, it is a challenging race that is worth checking out. The race takes place at Round Valley recreation area, one of the best parks for mountain biking in the area. There are big climbs, fast descents, singletrack, doubletrack, rocks, and roots. They also have an X-Terra triathlon that takes place at the same time. Some of those triathlon dudes are pretty fast.

The race started out with great sunny, cool weather, but clouds moved in and it started to rain lightly after I finished. The course was a little wet from the rain last night, but it has hardly any mud because the trail is rocky and drains well. The race started on the beach with a 1.7 mile run up some small hills, on roads and gravel. The pace of the group was quick with a couple of guys taking off right from the start. After the transition I hit it pretty hard on the bike leg; my plan was to stay consistent and not burn out on the long climbs, smooth and powerful on the flats, and really bomb the downhills. Over the last few years I've gotten faster and more confident on descents and that paid off. I also was with a group of fast triathletes on the major climb; they kept me moving.

The last leg was a 2.2 mile run up the brutal "Tobaggon Hill". This thing is so steep that I didn't see a single person running it. After a while, my quads started to seize up and I had to walk. After that, I had a strong finish and ended up placing. It's a fun race with a very hard course; if you want to try something different I recommend checking it out.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ooze and Rubber; or the Ups and Downs of Tubeless Tires

Some people love Stan's tubeless system , some people hate it. If you look at internet review sites, it's either got 5 stars or 1 star. I haven't made up my mind yet. I think it is a killer system because of how it performs, but you must recognize that setting it up is an exercise in frustration.  These are the things I have learned since using it.  Lower tire pressures are really nice for mountain biking, like everyone claims. The sealant works. When you get a puncture, it will seal up right away.  You can waste a whole day trying to set it up before you shallow your pride and go to a bike shop where they can do it in 10 minutes. Don't even bother trying to get your tires to seat with a floor pump. Use a compressor. Take your wheels to a gas station or bike shop if you have to. Tubes are way easier. Except that they get flats. Last spring, I decided to jump belatedly on the tubeless tire bandwagon and find out what the big deal was. I bought the Stan's No Tu...
Read more

24 Solo

Image
I watched 24 Solo last night from Netflix. It is a documentary about 24 hour mountain bike race champion Chris Eatough . While most mountain bike films are about "gravity" events like downhill and freeriding, this movie makes racing cross-country for an entire day interesting. On the surface, you wouldn't think that there would be much drama in a race where the contenders can finish 30 minutes or more apart, but the filmmakers do a good job of condensing the important events into a shorter format. They also have some excellent photography, both with helmet cameras and cable cameras. What is remarkable to me is how the guys that do 24 hour races solo are not really in it for the money or the fame, because there is not much of either. They either really like what they do or are extremely obsessed and driven. The amount of pain and suffering that they experience must be astronomical. I would really be interested to know how it compares to the exertion required for the T...
Read more