Finds from the Grind - Mount Wilson First Time Up 2018

This was my first ride all the way up to Mount Wilson in 2018, on May 5th.

Before all the tequila and nachos on Cinco de Mayo, I went up to Mount Wilson. This was the earliest I'd been up there during the year since my first summit in 2016. I expected to be slow, which I was, but thankfully for my ego I was not the slowest. In fact, Purple Banana Guy (he wore purple, the banana was not) almost matched my average pace exactly, but he finally faltered on the last two miles of the 19 mile climb.

There's an old adage in road cycling that was borrowed from horse racing, "horses for courses," meaning some terrain is better suited for different riders. I experienced it exactly this particular day, where I was much stronger on the relatively flatter sections of the climb, but Purple Banana Guy (his name was Nathan, okay?), was stronger on the steeps.

That was how he caught me and passed me during the first ten miles, which has the steepest gradients. But near the top, the grades are shallower, and perhaps I managed my fatigue better, or maybe because it was cooler away from the direct sunlight, I had the much better pace to beat Purple Banana Guy up those last 5 miles by 3 minutes even though he had a two minute head start from Red Box. Horses for courses.