Our 4-day Climbing Challenge has come to an end. The Challenge was just that- it was challenging and hard. The 4 days of climbing over and over again, on top of our Saturday ALP Ride got people out of their comfort zones. It forced them to do things on their bikes that they would not normally do. It forced mental toughness by pushing through the fatigue, fear, and discomfort.This year's climbing challenge results are really impressive. Twenty riders joined the Challenge, and five climbed over 20,000ft in the 4 days.
Our winner, ALP Athlete Lynne Anderson, was motivated and up for the challenge. She was creative with her routes, her time allotment (11hrs), and finished with 23,051 ft in 10 hours and 58min. Lynne participated in our ALP Climbing ride on Saturday and followed the rules of the challenge to a ‘T’. Congratulations Lynne! Really impressive!
Second place goes to ALP athelte Marisa Rorabaugh. Marisa completed the challenge on her own in New Hampshire and Vermont. Marisa made a comment on her Saturday ride that sums up the goal of this challenge (to do more than you though you were capable of)- "So today was kind of awesome because it was badass. I got thoroughly rained on. But I managed to do the Bolton Access Rd 3 and a half times! Which is something that NOBODY does so that makes me feel pretty good." Great job Marisa! You had the least amount of time to climb and you made the most of it.
Third place goes to ALP athelte Steve Harrop who climbed 21,548ft in 10.5 hours. He chose to do climbing repeats on Flagstaff and Magnolia (from Boulder) to get his vertical. Well done Steve!
As judges of the event, ALP coaches had to pay attention to everyone's rides to make sure they included ALL their ride times (including descending), and did not go over their ride time allotment for their age (we had do some DQ'ing).
Special shoutout to ALP athelte Kate Hrubes who lives in St Louis. To achieve her vertical the first two days of the challenge she did 126 repeats of ~30sec and 18ft of elevation.
Great job to everyone who participated and pushed themselves outside their own comfort zones. You are now a better bike rider because of it.
We now present to you our top 10 finishers in this year's ALP Cycles Coaching Climbing Challenge.
1. Lynne Anderson 10h 58min 23,051ft
2. Marisa Rorabaugh 9h 59min 22,494ft
3. Steve Harrop 10h 24min 21,548ft
4. Tamira Jenlink 10h 22min 21,096ft
5. Rachel Plessing 9h 55min 19,447ft
6. Terry Petersen 10h 56min 18,212ft
7. Libby Russell 10h 24min 16,013ft
8. Alison Powers 9h 14min 15,935ft
9. Kate Hrubes 9h 43min 13,596ft
10. Kathy Hix 10h 24min 13,116ft
For the top 3 finishers, you win ALP Cycles prizes. Expect an email with your prize. Great job and enjoy some rest and recovery.