September 3, 2004 - Mt Washington

Wong 2nd at Mt Washington Hillclimb, August 21

Under typical Mt Washington weather, the 2004 race lived up to the usual epic conditions with sustained winds at 40mph, plenty of rain and summit temps at 40 degrees. After talking 2nd in 2003, I was determined to try my best to get the victory. From the gun I lead out the first 200metres of flat road. Once we hit the hill, Jesse Anthony(ECV) attacked, completely blowing the race apart in the first half mile. As he started to feel the effects of his sharp acceleration, I took up the lead.

I had a good gap for the first 2 miles. At which point Justin England (Webcor) got on my wheel. He soon put in an acceleration and put 20-40 seconds into me. I steadily closed the gap by the 4 mile marker and right away we started to work together to shelter each other from the wind. However I ended up doing the lions share of the work as his pulls were a little slower and I didn’t want anyone else to come up to us. As we suffered along in the wind and muddy unpaved sections, the remaining miles counted down. With 1 mile to go I accelerated but England stuck to my wheel.

I knew he would also try to attack so in the last 3/4 of a mile I ramped up the pace hoping to leave it to a drag race up the final 22% grade to the finish. But with 500 meters to go he attacked on a steep pitch and got a 10 second gap. I tried to claw my way back but I wasn't making up any ground. I hit the final 22% section sprinting as he started to blow up. I closed his lead down to 5 seconds by the finish for second place again and the closest race in the history of the event.

You can check out photos from the race at Jonathan McElvery’s site.

Huseby Wins Land Mine Classic Short Track Mountain Bike Race - Wompatuck State Park, MA, August 21

I decided at the last minute on Friday afternoon to head down to this race. I have done well in these races in the past, but hadn't done one for several years and heard that there was a fairly decent prize list. I got my new Cannondale Scalpel all set and headed down there. There were not a lot of people and I thought immediately that there wouldn't be enough people for my category, but it turned out eight guys showed up for the Pro/Open class. It was a short, probably 3 minute loop and we raced for 30 minutes plus a lap. It was fast from the start and there were a bunch of guys battling for the front spot. The course was mostly flat with one very minimally technical section in the woods - otherwise it was an open grass field.

I attacked very hard a couple of laps in and we shed all but 3 guys. We then rode together for awhile and one guy was yo-yo-ing off the back and I attacked again - this time only dragging one other guy along. He is a seasoned Pro and I knew he would be my challenger. We then switched lead every lap and helped put a big gap into the third place rider. With one lap to go, I let the other guy lead and he tried to accelerate hard very early and I took advantage of this and attacked for the final time winning the race! I was excited as I had felt good and felt like I had timed it perfectly. Soon after we went to go collect our winnings and I was prepared to get a little over $100. To my surprise, I was handed a check for $500! Whew. For 30 minutes of work - it was a great payday. Our moonlighting teammate, Jon Page has also won this race in the past. Next year, I am expecting Hamblen to be out there - in his skinsuit!