Lisa hiked over to the top of the final climb, (what I've nicknamed the "Will Crusher"), and took this photo of me! It was one heckuva hot day, and after three laps of the 22 mile Gran Fondo course, I was ready to call it quits. Unfortunately, even when you decide you've had enough, there's still the 1/2 mile? climb back to the park/finish line that was at least as steep as any climb on the course.
The course for the Gran Fondo was the proposed road race course for the 2016 Olympics, had Chicago won the bid. It would have made for some interesting racing, and I can only conclude that the big sprinters would have had a hard time, this seemed like a climber's course.
Maybe next year it won't be quite so hot, and I'll be in better shape... It would have been cool to finish a full five laps, but I did have a good time and met some nice folks to boot!
Cheers,
Dave
4 comments:
That climb is beastly! From Mounds Park it is about 3/4 mile. The climb to get to the park road is 2.7. Did I mention it was 12% in spots? Can't believe you did it multiple times in the same day.
PS. In that picture it looks pretty flat to me!
;-)
The Gran Fondo had us leaving the park and going down the hill into the little town of Blue Mounds, but we came back up to the park on the backside of Mounds Park Road. This climb was the one I nicknamed the "Will Crusher", it was long, and just steep enough that it was difficult to spin or find a comfortable rhythm, (and that was with a 34 x 28 gear!).
Yep, I was talking about the backside of the hill (north), before the right hand turn onto the park road and rest of the climb (but, hey, there is a false flat right before the turn!). That first part is the 2.7 miles. Plus it teases you when first get on the road from Hwy K (?) because you can see the top and think - not so bad - but then you descend about 300 ft first. I call it the death march myself.
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