Sunday was an eventful day; my cycling team hosted a race up Mount Seymour.
I know, sounds fun, right?!
Racers gather in their respective categories, then race as fast as they can, lungs burning, muscles screaming, to the top of the mountain. Whoever gets there first, is the winner. Of course, anyone who finishes the race, is awesome too.
It's a 12 km ride up the mountain with nearly 900m of elevation gain. Whatever you do, don't forget to start your Garmin before you begin the climb --- don't forget, like I did!
So, where was I? Back to Sunday!
My morning started early (5 am) so that I could get myself, my dog, and my bike organized in time to pick up my lovely friend who volunteered her time to help at the event (big thank you!!). We were at the bottom of the mountain just after 7 am to help with the race set up. Winston was pretty excited to be out and exploring, taking in all the aromas of North Vancouver.
We had the registration table open at 8 am and cyclists were already started to trickle in.
At 9:30, the first wave of cyclists departed from the start line and began their race up Seymour. My partner was in that race, with the cat-4 men. He achieved a personal record on his climb, and placed in second in his category! So proud of him!
At 10:10, we - the women - took our start. There were 8 or 9 of us in total, which is large in comparison to some races. I hadn't had a chance to even really warm up, having just tossed the wheels back on the bike and managed to change right before the start time. My legs were slightly sore from the Gibson's Grind the day before, but I knew they would warm up in time. I had no intention of sprinting from the start line anyways!
I did the climb in 1:00 hour and a few seconds. This shaved 10 minutes off of my personal best!...which I only achieved about a month ago! I placed second in my category as well (women's cat-4), so I'm pretty happy with the results and my performance. I had a goal of keeping my speed above 10km/hr all the way up, and I manged to do just about that. Seeing everyone's speed and pace on the results after the race made me realize just how much harder that I can and need to, push myself. I was just barely suffering, if at all, on my climb. I would like to shave another 10 minutes off of my time before the end of 2016., and have a comfortable climbing time just under 50 minutes by next summer.
I was really impressed with all of the riders who came out to race up Mt Seymour. We had riders of various ability levels and experience, all taking a chance. It's great to see more women getting out and riding and racing too!
As I do with any race, I realize how much further I have to go. I have so much more room for improvement, it's crazy! The other women who rode up the mountain have given me a bit of inspiration to push harder and climb faster on my next ride.
Have you ever done the Mt Seymour hill climb? What was your time? What was your favourite part of the ride?
Some pictures of me getting to the top of the road - finished the climb!
