Mt Evans Hill Climb

A bike race from 7,000' to 14,130' in 28 miles up the highest paved road in north America?  Searching for a bike race in my short triathlon break I was in for this one for sure.  The Mt Evans hill climb has been an annual race for the last 46 years making it one of the oldest and highest in North America.  I had been looking forward to this race for quite a while, also trying to get others in the area to do it with me, but on race day I found myself alone.  No worries there were 150 others in my Men's CAT 4 division.  I arrived at Idaho Springs early 7/23, got my bike and gear setup and rode around the small historic mining town at about 7k'.  I was early so I watched a few of the other divisions start and got ready for the CAT 4 men's start.
It was a slow roll out of town and then the group held steady as the climb was mild towards the start for a few miles.  The entire profile of the race is all climbing ending at the top of Mt Evans, hence the Mt Evans Hill climb.  The first 10 miles or so I stayed with the group as did about 40 riders, but once the climb really started I found it more and more difficult to stay with the group and the group quickly splintered into single riders the rest of the way up.  I thought I was out in front of many riders in the initial pack, but found many lighter riders passing me on the way up.  The route is absolutely beautiful all the way up and was quite enjoyable till about Echo lake at mile 13, my Kestrel RT 800 climbed great and was comfortable all the way up.  I have been doing some good climbs on the road bike prior to this race in preparation, but I think I should have at least rode the course here at least once.  Because I had no idea what I was really in for here, it was getting tough.  My legs were burning already as the course leveled out around summit lake at mile 22, by leveling out I mean it dropped to a 4-5% grade.  I was riding with a few guys from my group here and passing riders from the previous group starts.  After summit lake as I looked up the course on this perfect weather day all I could see was switch back after switch back the rest of the way straight up.  This is where the race really took a turn for the worst, I was having trouble holding my power at even 250.  I think I need much more climbing work to be good at these hill climbs longer than a few miles, but I did notice that most of the guys that had passed me were a lot smaller and lighter which sure helps climbing.  I did see a huge marmot sitting on a rock right next to the road I said what up and continued on my way.  The race continued up the switch backs as the air got cooler and thinner towards the top.  I was pretty much out of steam by the end and managed one last push to the finish line.  The top was cool and the view spectacular above all of the surrounding mountains.  I found my gear bag with food and warm clothes, this was brought to the top by the race crew for the decent back down.  It was in the high 80s at the start and 50s at the top, pretty much perfect weather.  I stayed up top and spoke to a few of the guys I had been riding up with, took in the sights and then headed back down the 28 mile decent.  It took me 2:24.48 to climb up and about exactly 1 hour to get back down, the decent was pretty fun too.  I ended up taking 20th place in CAT4, of course the race paid through 10th, not too bad but I expected better.  I enjoy the road races so I know this will not be my last, and as much as this race was painful, I am sure I will be back again next year.