2012 - Classic Climbing Challenge

My recent move to Northern California has been exciting on many different levels.  One of my favorite features of the area is the great number of cycling opportunities.  I can now ride 10 minutes from my door to begin a Cat 2 climb through a forest of redwoods in the Santa Cruz Mountains.  This is very different from NYC where it took 45 minutes just to ride out of Manhattan!

Over the past two months I have enjoyed exploring my new home the best way I know how: via bicycle.  The variety in terrain, ecosystems, and climates is unlike anything I have ever experienced.  My curiosity to explore new routes, coupled with a compulsion to climb things, has given me plenty of ways to spend my free time.

Enter the Classic Climbing Challenge.  Through Strava, a website where users upload their endurance exploits to share and compare performances and routes, competitors were given 47 days to climb 105,213 vertical feet (2,239 ft/day).  I couldn’t pass on the opportunity to do some climbing and see how my rides stacked up against the other ~11,000 participants from around the world.  By the end of the 47 days I climbed 107,284 feet, putting me in 522^nd place.  The winner, who lives in Alabama, edged out a guy from the French Alps by climbing 468,661 feet.  Now that’s serious…