I was thinking about climbing Mt. Ascutney on Saturday morning. Anyone else interested? Was planning on riding from my house over to the mountain, climb and then try to ride back home. If she is willing, I was also going to try to coordinate with my wife to bring me back down the mountain. If that happens, I should be able to take 2 additional people down in the van.

The plan is to get there as early as possible. Does anyone know when the road opens?

-- Ken
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini

The wife will provide a ride back down the mountain. Sounds like the plan is to ride to the top, eat something, take pictures and then drive back down. It will be a little tight, but I can fit 2 additional people in the van and have a bike rack to carry the bikes back down.

Tosh is not an early bird, so the ride will probably be leaving a little later in the morning, probably closer to 9-10am.

If there are no takers, I will make sure to let you know how much it hurt.

-- Ken
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini

put me down. email me with directions to your house and final time.
Dan

I'm going to wish I had that 28 but I'm in.

Dan I know how to get to Ken's if you want to drive or follow me.

What time should we get to your house Ken?

Ryan

Nothing set in stone yet, but I'm thinking 9am would be good. Have a nice warmup over to the mountain and then suffer. Tosh will probably head over around 10am.

That is the plan as of now, I will update if there are any changes.

-- Ken
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini

FYI, there is a fee to go up the toll road. I think it is the normal day use fee of $3.00 but it could be higher. As we are all going up separate I suspect each bike will have to pay and the car.

It's only about 8 miles from Ken's to the toll road we may want to tack on a few extra miles to get a good warmup in before we hit the climb. Going the direct way the climb actually starts as soon as we turn onto 44a a mile before we even get to the Park.

We could go up 12a to the Cornish Windsor Bridge and take 44 to 44a to the toll road. This way tacks on another 6 miles giving us a 15 mile warmup with a short downhill before the Park which sounds about right to me.

Ryan

I just called. The cost is per person. $3 per person 14 and older. $2 per person 4-13. Free under 4. Looks like Hannah and Isabelle are the only freebies.

Road opens at 9am on Weekends, 10am on Weekdays.

-- Ken
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini

I hope there isn't a lot of traffic on Saturday like there was up to GG. That would not be fun.

Ryan

Don't worry, you will be in too much pain to notice the cars.

I remember on Lincoln gap last year there was a pretty good amount of traffic but it didn't cause a big problem. The worst part about that was when they would go by at the steepest part so you could not zig-zag. That sucked.

There is also a 15mph speed limit, so it shouldn't be too bad.

-- Ken
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini

Are we allowed to do the warm up only, and skip the steep ride up? Then ride home?? I am a little confused why riding down is a bad idea too. Maybe we should take the van UP and ride down on bikes! :D

Brian
 
When in doubt, ride

I will ride down with you if you come Brian as there will not be room in the van for all of us on the descent.

It would seem like going back down the hill on our bikes would be the fun part, but that would be an incorrect assumption.

Really steep long descents like Ascutney can be worse than going up because all your weight is forward, that and the constant braking gives your hands, arms, neck, and back serious fatigue. We experienced this on the Kearsarge toll road and that is not nearly as steep or constantly downhill as Ascutney.

If we end up riding down I will plan to stop along the way at least once.

Ryan

Hey Brian, would love to have you along for the ride. If Ryan is willing to ride down, just tell him to lead and you will follow, then jump in the van and follow. :twisted:

All kidding aside. I have ridden down King Hill, scarry. I have ridden down Eastman, scarry. I have ridden down Kearsarge, kinda scarry, very painfull and bad on the brakes and rims of the bike. You have ridden down Lincoln, so you already know what that was like. None of those downhills are as long or steep as Ascutney. That is the main reason my wife will be driving the van to the top. I have no interest in riding down if I don't have to.

-- Ken
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini

Now I understand. I heed your warnings, and agree that we should rest a couple times on the way down. I will likely rest a couple times on the way up also. I am feeling as though this could be a lot of fun, so I would like to go unless it is pouring out.

Ryan, I can drive us and our bikes to Claremont if you like. I might be able to fit one more (Dan?), but our bikes might be a bit crammed in the back.

Brian
 
When in doubt, ride

Thats great. See you there.

Dan, sounds like we will be the only 2 in the van.

I am already getting a bit of a groove in the rims of my bike, so there is no way I am riding down.

-- Ken
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini

Brian,

I haven't heard back from Dan about car pooling so I will take you up on your offer to drive. Let me know if you don't know where I'm at and I will give you directions. If you could meet me at my place about 8:30am on Sat, that should give us plenty of time.

Ryan

Here is a bit of info on the Mt. Ascutney ascent and descent from an acquaintance George Hanna.

[quote:3a883625b7="George"]
Ahhh Ascutney. My enemy and my friend. This year I only went up one time and that was the race day. In the past I've done it a few times each year. I even did a night ride last November and descended on the bike. Scary.

I've always only had a 39t ring in the front. In the past I've put a MTB cassette with a 32t on. But that was with my 9 speed. This year I have a new 10 speed and MTB cassettes don't come in 10 speed, at least not that I know of. So I went with a 27tooth in the back. I wish I had a little bit more, but probably really need it up front. I think I'm going to put on a triple or a compact on my old road bike for this reason. Spinning at a higher cadence is best on Ascutney.

Descending is okay, but truthfully not that fast. Because of all the turns I am always riding the brakes. My triceps are a little sore at the bottom. A lot of people stop halfway down, maybe at the bathhouse at mile 2 to let their rims cool down. I've only done this once, usually I go all the way down. My rims were scorching hot, but it's pretty easy to make it down.[/quote:3a883625b7]
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini

Ryan,

Sounds good. If you have not moved since last year, I know where you are.

See you at 8:30 Sat AM.

Brian
 
When in doubt, ride

Brian, I'm in the same place, Apt#30.

Ryan

Check your equipment prior to descent, that is my .02$, "If your brakes fail, you lose". Kinda like Cipo says...but different.

I ascended Ascutney a couple seasons ago. A friend and I did a ride from Center of Unity to Ascutney and back. It was a dousy. My buddy and I got to the top and both were sure it was the hardest climb we had done..evah.

The following week I led another buddy on a ride up through some towns and we ascended what we later found out was the backside of "Whaleback", the ski hill. He says it was the hardest climb he has done. On the way up he later told me he thought of getting off to walk on the steepest part and thought better of it cause' of the ribbing I would give him. He dug it out and the descent off the top was awesome. I had to tell him that it was not even close to Ascutney.

Good stuff, have fun.

From our friends that brought us the 6 gap ride details, [url]http://www.northeastcycling.com/asc_oke_loops.htm[/url]
 
[img:7c60f52a7e]http://www.team-pinnacle.org/albums/bc_personal/120x90.png[/img:7c60f52a7e]

Oh, I meant to add that if you do Ascutney in Spring, there is no toll. I don't know the dates, but I think we did it in May and there was nobody there, we just went right up.

Weather is looking tenuous for Saturday but we still plan to ride if it's not raining at 9am. Any hint of thunder and we will not do the Ascutney climb.

Ryan

Rain is still coming down and it doesn't look like there will be much of a clearing by 9. I still plan on riding the following loop at 9 even in light rain. The only thing that will stop me from getting out is lightning or torrential downpour.

[url]http://www.team-pinnacle.org/local-loops/loop.php?loopID=361®ion=19&sport=1[/url]

-- Ken
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini

I'm Out. I'm made of sugar you know.

If we get a clearing later in the day I'll probably do a ride.

Ryan

Javy is out too.

Ken, I be over between 9 and 9:30am to ride the loop with you. Looks like it may clear between now and noon.

Dana

Thanks for riding with me Dana. Ended up being a great ride. Had some good climbs, some fast tempo riding and some fun town/state line sprints.

-- Ken
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini

Saturday afternoon Helen and I picked up some chicken from the Fireman's Barbecue on the Town Common and drove to the top of Ascutney for lunch. It rained off and on but I was able to scout the road for a future bike ride. This one will be a stinker. It looks like 3.7 miles of pure torture. I would not ride down unless I wanted to buy new brake pads and didn't care about normal life of my rims. But I'll ride up it.

Thanks Dan. You have just confirmed my thoughts. Hopefully we can do it sometime soon.

-- Ken
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini

I like that route that we rode yesterday.

Based on what Ken said yesterday Dana, I suspect it wasn't as much WHAT you rode, as HOW you rode.

Sounds like you had a hard but really good ride.

Ryan

Alright, looks like tomorrow (10/12) is the day. I have replaced break pads on the bike. I have the afternoon free and am planning on heading out at 1pm from my house to climb Ascutney. No assistance, will be riding back down the mountain.

If your interested in a hill climb, be at my house by 1pm. Plan is to ride over, climb the mountain and head back to my house. After returning, I am planning on heading back out to do the Mt. Ascutney loop.

-- Ken
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini

I made it to the top of Mt. Ascutney today, not stopping and no zig-zagging. As Sammy said, it is a tough SOB. Like Dan said, that last quarter mile sucked, but I made it under 40min by 3 seconds.

The first 2.5 miles were pure torture. I am 20lbs lighter and much stronger than the last time I climbed Lincoln, but this climb is sooo long that it required much more concentration to not stop than Lincoln. Mile 2.5 to mile 3.3 wasn't too bad, but the last .4 miles just sucked. It kicked up one last time. My legs were screaming, but I was fortunate enough to have this lady drive by me going downhill yelling out her window "YOUR GONNA DO IT, YOUR ALMOST THERE!!!!!!" That gave me enough energy to put in one last big effort and I finally hit the top in 39:57. There is still a little bit of a finish line at the top.

The ride down was actually kind of fun. I stopped at a couple pull-offs, drank some liquids and ate a few things.

I made it back to my house and Ryan was there a few minutes later ready to head out and ride the Mt. Ascutney loop. My legs were definitely tired and thanks to Ryan's pace at certain points on the ride, it hurt more than I would have liked. My legs started having some massive cramping as we were getting closer to home, but we made it.

I will definitely be doing the Mt. Ascutney hill climb again. It is close enough to me, and I now know the downhill isn't bad, that it would be a crime to not use it as a training tool.

-- Ken
 
"If you brake, you don't win." Racer Mario Cipollini