Uhl in Eagle, ID – With 4,500 feet of climbing in 16 miles, Mt Harrison Hill Climb is tougher than Bogus. Not only that, but the steepest parts come in the last few miles...ouch! Ben and I carpooled to the little town of Albion, just past Burley. This was definitely a low-key race as there were only about 40 or so participants. I think the 2.5 hour drive each way deters a lot of people. It has for me as this was the first year I did it.
Heather and I have actually ridden it before as reconnaissance when it was stage finish in the International Women's Challenge many years ago. Back then we only rode to the Pomerelle Mountain Resort lodge. So I hadn't ridden the last few miles to the look out, and those proved to be the hardest. I was duly warned that it was steep so I had my 12–27 cassette. I also used Heather's PowerTap wheel so I could pace myself. I used it the same way I did on the Bogus Tuesday Nighter and it worked really well. I fell off the front group early on, even before the turn up the hill. But then I started picking people off after the corner and then all the way to the lodge.
By the time I got past the lodge, I was struggling to match my target of 300 watts. At that point I was in survival mode and was happy to see 270 watts. I think the lack of oxygen had something to do with that. Did I mention that the top of the top is at 9,300 feet above sea level? Yeah, there was still small patches of snow up there. The views were incredible but once I stopped riding I got cold so I didn't stick around and just headed back down to the car. I managed to do it in about 1:18 which was good for 8th place overall and 2nd in the 1/2's. Not bad, but I still felt like I could have used more recovery from my Tour de Park City. It was certainly a great LT workout!
