Registration for the 37th annual Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb will open in less than two weeks - on Sunday, February 1, at precisely 8 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Veterans of this 7.6-mile all-uphill bike ride know how important that registration hour is: Last year the field for this grueling race filled to capacity - 600 riders - within eleven minutes of when the race's web site opened for registrations. This year many of those same riders, plus numerous other hopefuls, will be poised at their computers early on February 1 in order to complete the on-line application as rapidly as possible.

For more information and to register, visit www.mtwashingtonbicyclehillclimb.org. Riders can also enter at the Bikereg web site, www.bikereg.org. The Mt. Washington Bicycle Hillclimb site includes useful information about the Bikereg site as well.

Sponsored by Polartec, with additional support from international corporations as well as local businesses in the Mt. Washington Valley, the Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb is the primary annual fundraiser for the Tin Mountain Conservation Center in Conway, N.H. For the opportunity to pedal up the unrelenting grade while battling Mt. Washington's famously high winds, elite and amateur cyclists this year will pay an entry fee of $350, from which all proceeds go to the educational and environmental programs of the conservation center.

That fee is up fifty dollars from the $300 it was for the previous seven years, and the increase is understandable and inevitable: Costs of presenting the event and conducting environmental education programs at Tin Mountain have risen substantially, while the current economy has sharply cut into the endowments and investments of non-profit organizations such as Tin Mountain. The increased fee will allow the conservation center to continue its support of school programs that reach nearly 4000 students, nature camps for over 300 children, a large series of community nature programs, and other educational and environmentally helpful events.

And it will probably not keep riders away from this amazingly popular race. Cyclists recognize the ride up Mount Washington as more arduous than the most difficult climbs in the Tour de France, and they enjoy the bragging rights that come with simply finishing.

The Auto Road rises at an average grade of 12 percent, with a 22-percent grade in the final yards before the 6288-foot summit. Then there's the added challenge of Mt. Washington's famously bad weather. In some years the winds have blown riders off their bikes on the upper slopes above the tree line; in others, rain, fog and general chill have made the experience all the more unforgettable.

The Hillclimb's popularity is due also to its being an open event, which means that amateur riders can compete along with professionals. Top professional riders in the Hillclimb in previous years have included world mountain bicycling champion Ned Overend, Olympic gold medalist and Tour de France stage winner Tyler Hamilton, legendary French cycling star Jeannie Longo, Canadian champion and current women's course record-holder Genevieve Jeanson (54 minutes 2 seconds in 2002), and the men's course record-holder Tom Danielson (49:24, also in 2002).

The size of the field is limited by the ability of the road crews and race officials to monitor the safety of all participants, and by the number of vehicles that can be parked at the summit to bring cyclists back down the hill after the race.

All riders who successfully register for the Hillclimb may also apply for the annual Practice Ride, which will take place on July 19 between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. There is no additional fee for the practice ride, but the number of riders is limited to 300, and the ride is not open to riders not also registered for the Hillclimb. Registered participants will receive Practice Ride registration instructions via email.

Cyclists who want to tackle the legendary Mt. Washington Auto Road but fail to get registered for the Hillclimb in August - or who think one race up Mt. Washington isn't enough for one summer -- have another option. Once the Hillclimb field is full, registration opens for Newton's Revenge, held July 11 on the same course. More information will be available at www.newtonsrevenge.com. Newton's Revenge also includes a practice ride, June 7.

The Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb and Newton's Revenge are two of nine events in the recently established Bike Up the Mountain Point Series, familiarly known as BUMPS. The series includes Mt. Ascutney in Vermont, Mt. Greylock in Massachusetts, Whiteface Mountain in New York State, and other uphill races. For further information see www.hillclimbseries.com.

[not for publication:] For press credentials and further information about the Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb, phone or email Ryan Triffit, Mt. Washington Auto Road, at (603) 466-3988 or ryan@mt-washington.com, or email John Stifler at jstifler@econs.umass.edu. For information about the Tin Mountain Conservation Center, visit www.tinmtn.org.

36th Annual Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb August 16, 2008 (weather date August 17)

August 12, 2008 - Pinkham Notch, N.H.

After years of getting up before dawn to prepare themselves for the 7.6-mile grind up the Mt. Washington Auto Road, the cyclists competing in the 36th installment of the Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb will get an extra hour of sleep - or an extra hour of warmup time, depending on their preference  before the start of this year's race.

The 2008 Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb will start this Saturday at 8:40 a.m., when the first wave of cyclists begins the 4650-foot ascent of the highest peak in the Northeast. Following this elite group -the race's official name for them is Top Notch - three successive waves of other riders, including tandem bicycles and older and younger competitors, will follow at five-minute intervals.

Pedaling uphill without a break on the Auto Road's 12 percent grade, they will all try to reach the 6288-foot summit, the culmination of a climb generally considered more difficult than the Alpe d'Huez in the Tour de France. Besides the sheer effort required to propel a bicycle up so steep a grade, the race is usually made more challenging by Mt. Washington's famous winds, which have gusted up to 70 mph. in some years of this race, and which typically blow in the 30- to 40-mph. range, frequently accompanied by various forms of precipitation, especially fog.

The entire field consists of 600 cyclists, the maximum allowable in what participants consider to have been an extreme sport before the term "extreme sports" came into use. The size of the field is limited by the ability of the road crews and race officials to monitor the safety of all participants, and by the number of vehicles that can be parked at the summit to bring cyclists back down the hill after the race.

Despite the $300 entry fee, the Hillclimb is in such demand that this year the field reached capacity in the first 11 minutes of on-line registration, on February 1st. The popularity of the Hillclimb is due partly to the pure challenge of such an athletic effort, partly to the race's being an event in which both ranked and unranked amateur riders can compete along with professionals.

This year's Top Notch group will contain 70 riders. Official finishing times for riders starting in subsequent waves are calculated, logically enough, by subtracting five, 10 or 15 minutes from the time shown on the clock when the rider finishes. Thus, a rider in the second wave could win the race by finishing less than five minutes behind the first Top Notch finisher. (It hasn't happened, but in last month's Newton's Revenge, the other Mt. Washington bike race on this same course, a rider in the second wave did in fact finish third overall.)

This year's Hillclimb will include many riders who are especially motivated by the pursuit of delayed gratification. These are the cyclists who were entered in the 2007 Hillclimb, which had to be canceled because weather conditions on Mt. Washington were prohibitively dangerous. The only compensation to riders last year was a guarantee of a place in the field for the 2008 race. If Saturday's weather is sufficiently severe to make conditions unsafe, the race will be postponed to Sunday at the same hour.

The first man and first woman to finish will each collect a first prize of $1500. The race also offers $5000 to any man or woman who sets a new course record. The men's record belongs to Tom Danielson, who clocked 49 minutes 24 seconds at Mt. Washington in 2002 and went on to race with a top professional team in Europe. The women's record, held by Canadian cycling champion Genevieve Jeanson, is 54:02, far faster than any other woman (or almost any man) has ridden here. Jeanson has not raced here since 2003.

Sponsored by Polartec, with additional support from international corporations as well as local businesses in the Mt. Washington Valley, the Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb is the primary fundraiser for the Tin Mountain Conservation Center in Conway, N.H. After the expenses of putting on the race are covered, all proceeds go to the educational and environmental programs of the conservation center.

For more information about the Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb, visit the race Web site at www.mtwashingtonbicyclehillclimb.org

The race site includes access to a complete list of entrants for the race.

For information about the Tin Mountain Conservation Center, visit www.tinmtn.org.

For press credentials, to secure a seat in the media van at the race, and for further information about the Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb, phone or email Ryan Triffit, Mt. Washington Auto Road, at (603) 466-3988 or ryan@mt-washington.com.

36th Annual Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb August 16, 2008 (weather date August 17)

July 27, 2008  Pinkham Notch, N.H.

As the Tour de France concludes, cyclists in North America are gearing down  'way down  for next month's Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb. The race, a 7.6-mile ascent to the summit of the highest peak in the northeastern United States, is steeper, and widely regarded as more grueling, than the famous climb up the Alpe d'Huez in the mountains of eastern France. On August 16, 600 riders will battle the Auto Road's 12 percent grade and the unpredictable Mt. Washington weather, as they grind their way to the 6288-foot summit.

For 385 of those riders, the satisfaction of reaching the top of Mt. Washington will be a year overdue. These riders all were entered in the Hillclimb that was to be held a year ago, but the 2007 race was canceled by extremely inclement weather, including severe winds, precipitation and ice on the course - prohibitively unsafe conditions. These cyclists' one consolation was the knowledge that they would get priority in applying to enter the Hillclimb in 2008.

The Hillclimb's popularity speaks for itself. Registration each year opens on line at 6 a.m. on February 1, and within minutes the field is filled to its 600-rider capacity. The size of the field is limited by the ability of the road crews and race officials to monitor the safety of all participants, and by the number of vehicles that can be parked at the summit to bring cyclists back down the hill after the race.

Demand for a place at the starting line, at the foot of the famed Auto Road, is due in part to the appeal of the extreme-sport element of the race, and also due to its being an open event, which means that amateur riders can compete along with professionals. Top professional riders in the Hillclimb in previous years have included world mountain bicycling champion Ned Overend, Olympic gold medalist and Tour de France stage winner Tyler Hamilton, French cycling star Jeannie Longo, Canadian champion and current women's course record-holder Genevieve Jeanson (54 minutes 2 seconds in 2002), and the men's course record-holder Tom Danielson (49:24, also in 2002).

The Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb is the primary annual fundraiser for the Tin Mountain Conservation Center in Conway, N.H. For the privilege of pedaling up the unrelenting grade, sometimes with winds of 40 mph. or more, elite and amateur cyclists pay an entry fee of $300, from which all proceeds go to the educational and environmental programs of the conservation center.

Those who didn't get an entry spot for the Hillclimb this year had another option. Two years ago, in response to the overwhelming demand for entry to the Hillclimb, the management of the Mt. Washington Auto Road created an additional bike race, called Newton's Revenge and held on the same course. In a stunning bit of bad luck, what would have been the second annual Newton's Revenge in 2007 had to be canceled just like the 2007 Hillclimb, on account of impossibly bad weather, but this year that race bounced back with excellent conditions earlier this month. The Mt. Washington Auto Road is open to bicycles only four days of the year: the Hillclimb (August 16), the Hillclimb Practice Ride on July 20, Newton's Revenge on July 12, and the Newton's Revenge Practice Ride on June 8.

The Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb starts in four waves, beginning at 8:40 a.m. with the Topnotch group and continuing with slower groups at five-minute intervals. Spectators may hike up the Auto Road prior to the start of the race. If severe weather makes it impossible to hold the race on the 16th, the race will be postponed to the following day.

For more information about the Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb, visit the race Web site at www.mtwashingtonbicyclehillclimb.org

The race site includes access to a complete list of entrants for the race, arranged by name, hometown or state.

For information about the Tin Mountain Conservation Center, visit www.tinmtn.org.

Information about Newton's Revenge is available at www.newtonsrevenge.com.

For press credentials and further information about the Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb or Newton's Revenge, phone or email Ryan Triffit, Public Relations for the Mt. Washington Auto Road, at (603) 466-3988 or ryan@mt-washington.com.

36th Annual Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb August 16, 2008 (weather date August 17)

Pinkham Notch, N.H., February 5, 2008 

Anyone wanting to ride a bicycle up the Mt. Washington Auto Road this summer has two choices: Get on the waiting list for the 36th annual Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb, to be held on August 16, and hope someone will give up one of the places in the field; or sign up for Newton's Revenge, the other race up the same road on July 12.

Regarded as the most difficult all-uphill bicycle race in the world, the Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb each year fills its entry list to capacity on February 1st, the day that registration officially opens. Thanks to on-line registration, it takes less than an hour before riders claim all 600 available places.

This year the race filled in just eleven minutes. That is less than half the time it took in 2007 for eager cyclists, sitting at their keyboards in the dead of winter, to click their way into this grueling 7.6-mile race to the summit of the highest peak in the northeastern United States.

Registration for the Hillclimb was unusually quick this year because, in circumstances no one wants to see again, 385 of the 600 places were already assigned to cyclists who had entered the 2007 Hillclimb. That race was canceled by extremely inclement weather, including severe winds, precipitation and ice on the course  prohibitively unsafe conditions. The one consolation to disappointed riders last year was the knowledge that they would get priority in applying to enter this year's race.

The remaining 215 places were available starting at 6 a.m. last Friday  and all taken by 6:11 a.m. Anyone still hoping to enter this year can add his or her name to the waiting list at www.tinmtn.org/mwarbh.

Because demand for the opportunity to test oneself and one's bike against Mt. Washington has become so great, the Auto Road in 2006 created a second bike race, called Newton's Revenge and held this year on July 12, on the same course as the Hillclimb. Registration for the 2008 Newton's Revenge opened as soon as the Hillclimb filled to capacity. To enter, visit www.newtonsrevenge.com.

Entry in each race includes the opportunity to ride a practice ride as well. The Newton's Revenge practice ride will be on June 8, the Hillclimb practice ride on July 20. The practice rides are open only to registered race entrants.

If severe weather makes it impossible to hold the race on the day scheduled, the race may be postponed to the following day  August 17 for the Hillclimb, July 13 for Newton's Revenge.

* * *

The Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb is the primary annual fundraiser for the Tin Mountain Conservation Center in Conway, N.H. For the opportunity to pedal up the unrelenting grade while battling Mt. Washington's famously high winds, elite and amateur cyclists pay an entry fee of $300, from which all proceeds go to the educational and environmental programs of the conservation center.

Cyclists recognize the ride up Mount Washington as more arduous than the most difficult climbs in the Tour de France. The Auto Road rises at an average grade of 12 percent, with a 22-percent grade in the final yards before the 6288-foot summit. In some years the winds have blown riders off their bikes on the upper slopes above the tree line. The size of the field is limited by the ability of the road crews and race officials to monitor the safety of all participants, and by the number of vehicles that can be parked at the summit to bring cyclists back down the hill after the race.

The Hillclimb's popularity is due also to its being an open event, which means that amateur riders can compete along with professionals. Top professional riders in the Hillclimb in previous years have included world mountain bicycling champion Ned Overend, Olympic gold medalist and Tour de France stage winner Tyler Hamilton, legendary French cycling star Jeannie Longo, Canadian champion and current women's course record-holder Genevieve Jeanson (54 minutes 2 seconds in 2002), and the men's course record-holder Tom Danielson (49:24, also in 2002).

The entry fee and number of available places in the field are the same for Newton's Revenge as for the Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb. Proceeds from Newton's Revenge benefit the Mt. Washington Observatory and other non-profit organizations. The registration page includes information about how racers under the age of 18 can also enter by raising money directly for the Observatory.

The Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb starts in four waves, beginning at 8:40 a.m. with the Topnotch group and continuing with slower groups at five-minute intervals, the last starting at 8:55 a.m.. Spectators may hike up the Auto Road prior to the start of the race. Newton's Revenge follows the same schedule.

For more information about the Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb, visit the race Web site at www.mtwashingtonbicyclehillclimb.org. The race site includes access to a complete list of entrants for the race, arranged by name, hometown or state.

Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb August 18, 2007

Pinkham Notch, N.H., August 18, 2007- [By John Stifler]

Sleet, rime ice, 72-mph. gusts of wind and temperatures hovering around freezing conspired this morning to cancel the 35th annual Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb. Six hundred disappointed cyclists received that news at 7 a.m., as they stood in the shelter of a large tent at the base of the storied Auto Road and reluctantly acknowledged that it was unsafe to expose either the would-be competitors or the race's support crew to such conditions.

The cyclists had come from all over New England and from as far away as the West Coast for the chance to race the 7.6 miles to Mt. Washington's summit, in what is called, all too aptly, "the world's toughest hillclimb." Now they'll wait another year for the chance to test their legs and their machines against the 12 percent grade, the 4650 feet of altitude gain, and the always blustery Mt. Washington winds.

"We have agonized over this decision," said Howie Wemyss, the general manager of the Mt. Washington Auto Road. "We know what an effort you have made to be here today."

Emphasizing safety as the preeminent issue, Wemyss noted that some of the volunteers staffing the finish area at the top of the Auto Road were being blown to the ground by the severe winds. Reports from those who came down from the 6288-foot Mt .Washington summit were of cars being shaken by the gusts.

The Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb provides for a possible weather-postponement to the following day, but given a forecast for temperatures in the 20s this evening and more wind and precipitation to come, Wemyss and the race staff concluded that conditions were likely to be worse, not better, on Sunday. Rather than prolong the uncertainty, they promptly announced the complete cancellation of this year's race.

Cyclists, their support crews and Auto Road staff alike were doubly dismayed, because this is the second of two annual Mt. Washington bike races that have been cancelled by severe weather in 2007. On July 7 the Auto Road hosted a similar race, called Newton's Revenge, which was postponed to the following day because of high winds and zero visibility, then cancelled officially the morning of July 8, when precipitation had created an extreme hazard on the unpaved portions of the road.

As one Auto Road staff member said wryly today, "The mountain just doesn't want to be ridden this year."

Today's cancellation meant that riders and spectators could not watch what had promised to be an epic contest between cycling legend Ned Overend and rising young pro Anthony Colby. Overend, at 52 years old a legend in the sport who still regularly beats most riders half his age, was the runnerup in the Hillclimb last year, behind only former Olympic gold medalist and four-time Mt. Washington winner Tyler Hamilton. Colby, 28, was the runnerup here a year earlier, also beaten only by Hamilton.

"Anthony Colby and me - it would have been a battle," said Overend after the cancellation announcement. "We've raced each other often." In 2005, when Overend also rode in the Hillclimb, he finished just nine seconds behind Colby after an intense tactical contest.

Having flown to New Hampshire from his home in Durango, Colorado, Overend shrugged his shoulders at the disappointment of not being able to go for the victory this year, then smiled, signed an autograph for a fan, and said he would use the rest of the weekend to visit some cycling dealers in the area. "I'll make use of this trip somehow," he said good-naturedly. "It's a long way to come."

As the morning wore on, the winds at the summit intensified, reaching 87 mph., while the temperature at the Auto Road base, 55 degrees at 6 a.m., gradually dropped, and the wind began to blow down some of the smaller tents and the sponsors' display tables arrayed around the starting area.

One veteran cyclist paused before leaving, to shake hands with race director Mary Power. "You made the right call," he said.

* * *

February 7, 2007 - Pinkham Notch, N.H.

With the race date still more than six months away, the 35th annual Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb has already produced a new record. On February 1st, the day on-line registration opened, the field filled to its capacity - 600 riders - in just 32 minutes.

[More]

Tyler Hamilton, the controversial 2004 Olympic gold medalist and Tour de France stage winner, returns this summer to the White Mountains of New Hampshire to defend his champion's title in the Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb. He leads a field of professional and amateur cyclists and extreme sports enthusiasts in the 34 annual bicycle ascent of the highest peak in the northeastern United States.

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