Whos's 'King of the Hillclimb'?

For the past decade, the race has been the main annual fundraising event for Tin Mountain Conservation Center in Albany, which provides environmental and recreational education for local children, schools and families.

First held in 1973, the Hillclimb has been canceled three times due to weather and in 2020 due to the pandemic, but it’s back this year, and plans are already underway to celebrate the event’s 50th in 2023 in a grand way involving the community, notes Erin Holmes, Tin Mountain’s new events director, and Lisa McCoy, marketing and events director for the Mt. Washington Auto Road.

With an average uphill grade of 12 percent — and at 22 percent near the last grueling section near the top of the 6,288-foot mountain — the 7.6-mile course is a challenge not to be taken lightly.

Add to that the mountain’s well-deserved reputation of “Home to the World’s Worst Weather,” and you’ve got the makings of a true athletic and endurance test of any cyclist’s mettle.

The big news this year is that the last gravel stretch of the twisting roadway first built in 1861 has been paved — which may result in a faster time.

“We closed registration at 519 racers in early August, with the field ranging in age from 15 to 80,” said Holmes.

Holmes said the paving of that last grueling section “has created a buzz: some who did the practice ride in July gave us feedback that they were disappointed because they liked the gravel section; but most are excited to see how it might change people’s performance and time, so we’ll see.”

McCoy agreed that getting the Auto Road fully paved is a big deal.

“A new record depending on the weather is very much possible now with the last paved section, which is about a mile in length located on the 5-mile section that we paved in early June,” said McCoy this week.

“So now, from bottom to top, it’s a wonderful smooth ride for the Auto Road, and we love it!” she said.

One past multi-champion who is looking forward to riding the new, smoother road is Phil Gaimon, 36, of Los Angeles.

Author of witty columns and books on cycling, the former pro cyclist also has a video series called “Worst Retirement Ever” of his KOM (King of the Mountain hill-climbing attempts) posted on his website.

On one recent video, Gaimon takes readers on a training ride in the hill country near his home in Los Angeles followed by one in the mountain country of Big Bear, Calif., where he discusses the Mount Washington Hillclimb.

Gaimon notes that he won the race in 2008, 2009 and 2017 and is now eyeing a fourth “King of the Mountain” title on the demanding course.

If he does that, he will tie four-time past champion (but since disgraced as a doper) Tyler Hamilton.

He also notes that the 2010 record of 40 minutes, 24 seconds by another dethroned doper, Tom Danielson of Boulder, Colo., is also to be cleared.

Gaimon is an outspoken “clean” athlete advocate. (He has a bar of soap with the word “CLEAN” tattooed on his right bicep).

In the video posted at philgaimon.com, he says: “When you look at the Mount Washington race records, there’s times that go back to the ’70s that obviously get faster and faster as you go through the years.

“And then there’s kind of an era in the ’90s and they get a little too fast, and then they get slower again, as you can imagine, so my time the first time was like 54 minutes and then I got it down to 51,” Gaimon said.

“As of this year, they’re wiping the record clean for two reasons. One is the doping era makes those records a little bit questionable — as in insanely fast. You know, Tom Danielson and Tyler Hamilton are the top two, and they were definitely doping during their careers.”

The other is the freshly laid asphalt.

Of the new all-paved course, he said, “I didn’t think the old gravel section really affected my times there in the past that much. The conditions with the weather is more significant — it’s weird, because you can have just like a beautiful New England summer day at the bottom and at the top, it’s like on the surface of the moon. And some of the highest wind speeds ever recorded, like anywhere. So it’s very condition-dependent. So the winning time this year will be the newest record.”

Gaimon told the Sun this week that he feels the bicycle race up Mount Washington doesn’t get the national attention it deserves. It’s a true challenge, he said.

“It’s definitely like an event that as far as hillclimbs go, I’d say it’s the biggest one in the U.S. and maybe one of the biggest ones in the world,” he said in a phone interview on Tuesday from his cyclist pal Jeremy Powers’ place in Massachusetts. (Powers also plans to compete, as well as friend and fellow cyclist Ian Boswell, also of Massachusetts, like Powers, has never competed on Mount Washington.)

“It’s a great event. It’s New England. It’s summer. It’s Mount Washington,” continued Gaimon, who added, “There’s just not a lot of hillclimb-specific events (there should be, as they’re great). They won’t get like national media coverage. But as far as my world of riding bikes uphill, there’s nothing better.”

Gaimon rode professionally from 2009-16. He is currently part of Jukebox Cycling, a multi-discipline team of six riders.

He began his racing career while attending the University of Florida (“Not too many hills down there,” he quipped) and competed in collegiate races as part of the University’s Cycling Club.

He said he had no idea he was a hillclimber until after he left the flatlands of Florida.

“I didn’t really know I was a climber until I moved away from there and started traveling and doing American races. But yeah, I figured that out.

“When you look at me, it’s not a sprinter kind of body, put it that way,” said Gaimon, who is about 152 pounds and hopes to get trimmed down to 149 for today’s race.

With conditioning, and lightweight carbon fiber 12-speed Faster Vam bicycle (retail price: $15,000), along with good gear ratios, he hopes that will all add up to success on Mount Washington.

“Part of the fun for the Mount Washington — specifically because it’s so steep — is prepping your bike for it,” he shared.

“You take parts off that you don’t need — your really big gears that you might need if you’re on a flat course but not on a steep uphill course. Most folks put on an almost mountain bike gear on your road bike for it. You need that for the steep gradient,” Gaimon said.

As for his goal for today’s race, Gaimon said he thinks 51 minutes would be a good time as he hopes that “the fourth (win)” will be with him.

“Fifty-one minutes is a super fast time. As noted, a lot depends on the wind and the weather. I don’t know if it’s helpful to focus on 51 minutes, though — my goal is to win it, to finish 30 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher,” laughed Gaimon.

Since retiring from participating in professional event brands, Gaimon has generated social media engagement by attempting to beat “king-of-the-mountain” (KOM) records on the digital app Strava, according to Wikipedia.

For the uninitiated, Strava is a fitness app that connects millions of athletes worldwide and allows them to track and record their cycling or running routes. They use it to log distances and speed to compete against themselves or other users.

Like Gaimon, it is well-known in the elite cycling world.

As a professional first starting out 15 years ago, Gaimon rode for Jelly Belly Cycling Team, Kenda-5-hour Energy, Bissell, Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies and Cannondale-Drapac. A noted blogger, Gaimon has written for VeloNews; he formerly posted at Bicycling, ESPN and Sports Illustrated.

After five seasons competing domestically with Jelly Belly, Kenda-Gear Grinder and Bissell teams, Gaimon signed with the Garmin-Sharp squad for the 2014 season.

He won his very first race with his new team in stage 1 of the 2014 Tour de San Luis, and managed to hold on throughout the race to finish second overall, behind Nairo Quintana, who claimed the leader’s jersey during an individual time trial.

Gaimon went back to the American scene in 2015, riding for Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies on a one-year contract. After riding the 2015 season at UCI Continental level, Gaimon announced he would be returning to the World Tour with Cannondale for 2016.

Gaimon announced his retirement at the end of 2016.

In June 2019, while training for the 2020 Olympics in the Team Pursuit, Gaimon suffered a serious crash breaking his collarbone and five ribs, and partially collapsing a lung.

Gaimon began writing books during his professional career, including “Pro Cycling on $10 a Day: From Fat Kid to Euro Pro,” which was released in 2014 by VeloPress.

He has continued writing in retirement, including 2017’s “Ask a Pro: Deep Thoughts and Unreliable Advice from America’s Foremost Cycling Sage” (also published by VeloPress) and “Draft Animals: Living the Pro Cycling Dream (Once in a While),” released by Penguin Books.

Gaimon also hosts a weekly podcast called “The Peloton Brief’ as well as an annual charity event ride in Simi Valley, Calif., called “Phil’s Cookie Fondo.”

As noted, Hamilton won the Hillclimb four times, Gaimon three times and is seeking his fourth — but that pales to what women’s multi-winner Aimee Vasse, then of Black Hawk, Colo., accomplished last year, when she won the women’s title for a record sixth time at age 43.

Reached Wednesday, Vasse said she feels at home on Mount Washington.

“Although I grew up in Michigan, New England has always felt like home, as all of our relatives were there, my siblings and I went to college there, and my parents later moved to New London, N.H. After vet school, I lived in a lot of different states, so every time I raced Mount Washington, I was coming home, in a sense.”

Now she really is home, as she, her husband and their 2-year-old daughter moved to New Hampshire. She says she is now working as a veterinarian at the Cat Doctor of Bedford and Nashua.

Last year, she finished almost 15 minutes ahead of her nearest challenger, Gabrielle Vandendries, 22, of Chestnut Hill, Mass., who crossed the line in 1:20:20, good for 45th overall.

Patricia Karter, 65, of Guilford, Conn., was third fastest female on the day in 1:27:56.

Rounding out the top five was Julie Smith, 48, of Boston, with 1:29:07, and Lydia Mathger, 46, of Norwich, Vt., 1:30:58.

In the men’s race last year, Erik Levinsohn, 31, of Boston sped away from the pack to win in 51 minutes, 59 seconds.

Levinsohn, who had finished second and third in 2013 and 2018, won the Hillclimb in 2019 in 53:42. He used a similar strategy in 2021, when he broke away from the lead pack in the second mile and pedaled relentlessly to break the tape at the summit.

John Jantz, 30, of Arlington, Mass., was second overall, finishing in 54:09, while David Talbot, 32, of New Caanan, Conn. claimed third in 54:54.

Rounding out the top five were Philip Mason, 35, of New Haven, Conn., in 58:50, and Darren Piotrow, 23, of Jackson, in 1:00.02.

Also returning this year are Vandendries, Mathger, Vasse, Levinson, Jantz, Talbot and Karter.

Piotrow is among the local racers in the field this year, along with Elizabeth Seabury (who is also a Tin Mountain Board member) of Kearsarge, and Randy Chapman, also of Jackson.

Piotrow, 23, will be competing in his fourth Mt. Washington Bicycle Hillclimb. As a kid growing up in an athletic family, he says he thinks it’s pretty special to get the chance to ride to the “Top of New England.”

“It’s my hometown race, so that obviously makes it special. In addition to that, it’s one of the hardest hillclimb races you’ll find anywhere,” said Piotrow, son of active parents Meredith and Steve Piotrow of Jackson.

“I’ve been to the top many times hiking so to get to ride it just 15 minutes from my house is pretty neat,” he added.

Seabury, 64, has done the Early Bird practice rides in July twice — once in the fog and rain two years ago, and on a sunny day last month — but this will be her first actual race entry.

“I know the top athletes will be there vying to win, but for me, I just try and go as slowly as I can to enjoy getting the opportunity to ride in the alpine zone and take in that beautiful environment above treeline,” she said.

“It’s spectacular, and I love to support all the great programs that Tin Mountain does for the valley, especially the kids,” said Seabury.

Another story of note is the return for his third time of Brian Hall, 60, of Hampton, who has battled Parkinson’s for more than 40 years and who competes on an e-bike.

The privately owned Mt. Washington Auto Road allows bicycles only two days a year; during the Early Bird (formerly the practice ride) July 17 and the Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb Aug. 20.

The Early Bird is a ride — just the rider and the mountain to give them a feel for the challenge. The Hillclimb is a timed race.

For a look back at the race’s history, the Sun spoke with longtime former event media director John Stifler of Lawrence, Mass.

Stifler spoke about Vasse’s achievements in particular, noting that “she told me how one year she got blown off her bicycle by the wind, and had to unclick from her pedals on the ground, get up, turn the bike downhill to get rolling and click back into her pedals, then turn around and start climbing again. She’s amazing!”

As for the race and its often challenging weather challenges, he pointed to the abysmal year of 2007.

“You can’t do anything about the weather: If it’s going to be lousy, it’s going to be lousy,” said Stifler, a longtime runner, writer and event promoter.

“I think back to 2007: there were two races in those days, Newton’s Revenge in July and the Hillclimb in August. They postponed it for the first race from Saturday to Sunday, and Sunday turned out to be even worse than Saturday, so they canceled it,” Stifler said.

He continued: “Then, for the Hillclimb, the same year, Howie Wemyss (then Auto Road general manager) looked at multiple weather reports and canceled it — they had been so excited about the race being held on lucky 7-7-07 — but that didn’t turn out to be the case.”

Weather, mountain lore, the athletic challenge — it’s all part of the allure for all athletes who come to wage their cycling battle not only against themselves and their fellow competitors but also to try and win the graces of Ol’ Agiocochook (the name given by Native Americans to the mountain, which they believed was the dwelling place of the Great Spirit).

The race starts at 8:30 a.m. with six waves of riders, all headed up the mountain by 9 a.m. If you would like to spectate, you can offer to be a support driver for a participant needing a ride down. For more, go to the race website at tinyurl.com/24cuz9se. For more about Tin Mountai

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Here is the race schedule for Saturday:

8:25 a.m. National Anthem

8:30 a.m. Wave 1 — Top Notch Racers (red bib numbers).

8:35 a.m. Wave 2 — 19 & Under and 20-34 Age Groups (blue bib numbers).

8:40 a.m. Wave 3 — 35-39 Age Group and Non-Binary Category (yellow bib numbers).

8:45 a.m. Wave 4 — 40-44 and 45-49 Age Groups (purple/pink bib numbers).

8:50 a.m. Wave 5 — 50-54 and 55-59 Age Groups (green bib numbers).

8:55 a.m. Wave 6 – 60-64, 65-69, 70-74 and 75+ Age Groups (silver bib numbers).

Noon: Auto Road opens for down traffic or will remain closed until Auto Road staff deems safe to open.


12:05 p.m. Official timing ends at 3 hours and 5 minutes after the start.

2:15 p.m. Awards.