Dean’s 2025 Crank The Kanc Race Report
This race has been around as long as I remember. It still has the local New England event feel with all the volunteers and community surrounding it so it’s no wonder that it sells out every year. The 21.3 mile event is both a time trial and hill climb in one event. You start in Conway New Hampshire at the beginning of the Kancamagus highway and follow it to the top of the Kancamagus pass at nearly 3000 feet of elevation.
350 racers all start at 15 second intervals from Conway. As racer #214 I set off and saw a long line of riders up the road which makes for fun passes and hellos. The event draws many casual looking cyclists on road bikes, but plenty of riders decked on in aero gear and time trial bikes are mixed in. While the Kanc is a scenic byway for sightseers looking at the views, we had no such views today as we were greeted with cold rain and fog.
You break the event up into 3 sections. The beginning is a 10-mile stretch of a road at 2% uphill grade. The middle is a nearly flat 7-mile stretch before the final climb. The finale is a 4.5 mile climb at 6% grade to the top of the Kancamagus pass finish line. A pro tour racer would use a time trial bike for the first 2 sections then switch to a road bike for the final climb. While we don’t have that luxury of a bike change the consensus in recent years has been a time trial bike is fastest overall. That being said there have been many impressive times and even course records set on road bikes. I used my time trial bike.
I tried to pace the first 10 mile 2% grade stretch conservatively knowing the real race happens on the last climb. I stuck to a pacing plan of 85% of the power I felt I could hold for the whole event. The cold rain was really coming down but my long sleeve skinsuit I carefully chose for aero benefit was performing double duty keeping me warm enough. I couldn’t say the same for the aero booties I wore which seemed to seal the drain hole in the bottom of my shoes perfectly giving me what felt like sacks of water turning my pedals but I’d survive.
The middle 7 mile section serves as a rest and I backed power off accordingly to 75% or so. The wind was picking up and what felt like a tailwind early on was now right in my face which wasn’t helping any time goals. An occasional truck would blow by in the other direction keeping me honest steering my bike but otherwise uneventful. I was excited to see the grade lift up where I’d sit up and push the final climb. Things were going well at this point seeing over 25mph of average speed and around 39min elapsed time starting the climb. I hoped to break an hour for the event, but would have to really nail the final climb to do so.
As I stated the final climb sitting up I noticed I was struggling right away. While I couldn’t hit the power I’d hoped, I did the best I could to keep turning the pedals over and hoping the miles minutes clicked by. Now is a good time to confess a detail where I chose poorly. My bike is set up for flat time trials which include a 60 tooth single front chainring. I had plenty of opportunity to change it over to a double or reduce the chainring size, but decided I’d be OK. Maybe it was the easy thing to do, maybe I was subconsciously giving myself an excuse that it was just a training day and nothing to stress over. I did have an 11×30 cassette and based on my 10mph minimum speed last time up this climb 14 years ago that should still give me 70rpm. Regardless I would have liked another shift, but wasn’t getting one. I actually don’t think this hindered me much. The elevation was now over 2000 feet and while some don’t notice it, I certainly do. Scientific studies show we lose 1-2% power for every 1000 feet of elevation, but I’ve always felt best case I’m on the worse end of that loss. See how much time you have to think on this last climb? Riders that started earlier would slowly drift back out of the fog and we’d exchange motivational gasps and smiles hoping the finish line neared. Finally I was in the last mile and while my brain wasn’t up for the math of how many minutes left at this speed I knew it had to be close. I sure wasn’t breaking an hour, a fact I knew quite early on the climb, but when I saw 0.1 miles to the finish I lifted the pace as I recognized the final turn into the scenic overlook parking lot. I made it! Friend Peter Megdal had already finished earlier and caught the picture of me happily crossing the line below:
While it took a day or two to sort out the results with the rain and timing chips not making life easy I’m sure, my Strava upload showed I was 1st place on the day so my friends told me I won since to them that’s all that mattered. A day later the official results confirmed result, yet lucky for me I was only 0.5 seconds ahead of 2nd place finisher Dave Burnett – who’s a long time friend, local Wenham neighbor, and former team time trial teammate many years ago. My official time was 1:01:38 so the hopes of breaking an hour did not play out this time, but happy with the effort I put in on the day and result.
My next event will be the longer type at the 145-mile B2VT next month so it’s time to stretch out some of these weekend rides to get ready!
