ACC Blog

The clouds and rain threatening to put a damper on this year’s Smuggler Hill Climb subsided just in time to run another lung-searing hill climb on Aspen’s backyard testpiece. Was it the weather that kept everyone away this year or the pain?

Breaking the 12 minute mark on Smuggler has been done by a handful of riders over the years but remains a difficult goal. Road conditions, soil moisture content and even wind can play a factor from year to year. Rishi Grewal’s standing record of 10:50 stands as the benchmark and besting that will require wicked early season fitness and perhaps equipment choices specific to the task.

Alex Hagman has posted many fast times on Smuggler and this year was no excecption as he put on a clinic with a winning Senior Men A time of 11:27 – on a borrowed bike no less. Now based in Athens, Georgia, but staying with his folks in Carbondale for a while, Hagman has been chasing his road racing dreams as well as coaching. He claims to have increased his power to weight ratio for Smuggler simply but cutting his shoulder length tangled locks. Len Zanni and Max Taam rounded out the podium.

Ambre Levy hammered out a fast 14:28 to take Senior Women A honors with Kelley Cullen and Annie Gonzalez rounding out the top three. Singlespeed is a new category this year and Michael Hayes was first to officially receive points for his effort on 1×1 on Smuggler. Michael, any comments on your gearing choice for future Struggler singlespeeders? My suspicion was that former valley resident Andrew Gardner was probably also on his single but I didn’t see him.

To junior Keegan Swirbul a congratulations is in order but where are all your friends who ride?

** A reminder to all racers to make some effort to let passing riders by – especially on this type of course with plenty of room - without speeding up and pulling the subtle pinch move on the passing rider. See the section in the newsletter about Good Sportsmanship. Don’t know who you are but you pulled this just before the finish. Comments welcome!

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 5th, 2008 at 10:23 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.