The Obsession of Hurricane Mountain

2.28 miles long
1,176 ft of elevation gain
9.6% average gradient
16% max gradient

And a ripping technical descent off the backside, where once past the access gate that closes Hurricane Mt Road in the winter, where the road straightens out and the brakes are released you'll accelerate from 5 mph to ludicrous speed in mere seconds.

That's Hurricane Mt and I fell in love with this climb a few years before I successfully ascended it.

The CCCP out of Portland Maine, runs the White Mountain Memorial Day Classic each Memorial Day.  The ride is a fully supported 80 mile ride that goes up the aforementioned Hurricane Mt, over to Pinkham Notch and the Mt. Washington visitor center (not the summit) and then over to Evans Notch and then back to the start in Fryeburg, Maine.  2/3 of the rides 5,000 ft+ of climbing is done within the first 30 miles.  Donations are accepted for the support provided and seriously who wouldn't put a few scheckles in the proverbial hat.

I first road the ride back in 2010.  Back then I was hovering around 200lbs and riding a Trek Madone 5.2 OCLV with Shimano Dura-Ace 7800 11-27 standard cranks and Bontrager Race XXX lite components & Mavic Ksyrium wheels.  On the CCCP event site it suggests running a compact crank and a 28 tooth cassette if possible.  They are not kidding.

I walked more of the climb than I rode.  It's steep enough that depending on where you stop if you do so in the wrong place, you aren't getting started again until it levels out a bit.  My buddy Tommy who rode with me is a lot lighter than I and he got to the top without stopping or walking.  I just did not have the right gearing and was too heavy.

The same thing happened again in 2011, except that I was a bit lighter due to doing a paleo light/ NSNG light approach.  This time though I rode slightly more than the previous year, which I took as minor win.

Then that July a car pulled out in front of me while I was descending a hill doing 35 mph.  The Madone was destroyed.  In the two months inbetween the accident and reciept of my new bike, in dealing with Progressive I was super stressed and my weight ballooned.  That fall I had a bit of a scare, where I over reacted to a chest pain that was a result of overdoing it at the gym, but having been told I had bad cholesterol back in 2006 I got scared.

That's when I gave Paleo a second go after reading whatever book Loren Cordain PhD had just put out.  By February 2012 I was already noticing differences on the road.  Come that year's Hurricane ride I was around 185 or fewer lbs.  I was riding it with the guys who I ride up to Sunday River with each year.  I hit the lower slope of Hurricane on my Cervelo S5 running SRAM Red, Zipp 404s and a 3T cockpit and made it all the way to the top without walking.  My mind got the better of me at one point so I stopped to make sure my rear tire wasn't squishy.  I was pushing it and at one point could feel that vein in my forehead pulsing against my helmet.  My heart rate got into the high 180s.  But I got up before anyone else in my group of folks I was with.  I was flying.

By the time we got down and regrouped I realized that there was a huge bump in my self esteem for making it up all the way without stopping.  It made the ride way more fun than it already was.  I was in such good form, that no matter what I asked of my bike it did.  After lunch, we shot downhill into Gorham, NH and crossed a set of RR tracks.  The course turned right and approached those same tracks again, but this time they were at a sharp 45 degree angle.  We approached them doing 25mph and I hit them at the wrong angle.

In a flash my front wheel dropped into the tracks, turned and flung me across the road into the soft shoulder.  My helmet hit and cracked.  And with that my ride was over.

Since then I have been chasing that dragon.  The subsequent years going up Hurricane I have not been as fit as I was in 2012 but fitter than 2011 or earlier.  Thus I have gone up it in one fell swoop but not as easily and in one year I went so deep overall that on the way home I came down with a nasty cold/ sore throat.

The last 2 years it has rained on Memorial Day and thus I have not done the ride.  Those that do it have an option not to tackle Hurricane.  But for me part of the attraction is Hurricane Mt so why would I do the ride if I didn't do Hurricane and I'd rather not slip n slide up it or chance a wet descent off the bike side.

As always I'll plan on being there next spring and hope to be in better form than 2012.  And as always I'll spend the winter on the dreadmill churning out 5 miles at a time 5x a week chanting my mantra "hurricane mt, hurricane mt, hurricane mt...."