Every October there is a race up Mount Diablo via South Gate road. Despite not being a USAC sanctioned race, it pulls many competitive racers from Bay Area teams every year. It is a waved mass start, so drafting is part of the race. It is the only day of the year you can ride the mountain on a closed course. I always find it a great way to head into the off season and a pretty good test of my FTP. The course is 11 Miles with 3,200 ft of vertical averaging just under 6%. The benchmark goal for many is getting up in under an hour (this gets you the Tshirt). The top times are in the 45 minute range, with many of your strong climbing strong amateur and masters racers coming in the 50-60m range.
My idea is that this could be a really fun event for the TR staff and users to race together. I figure there are a good number of Bay Area TR users, and staff in Reno drive to bay area races all the time.
1- It is a great outdoor climbing FTP estimate (yes I know it’s a hill, and it’s a race etc… but at least an uninterrupted outdoor segment of around an hour).
2- It could be great engagement for TR users and staff to ride together (could even pair a group recovery ride to it after).
3- It is a beautiful venue with changing terrain, weather and fauna as you climb. At the top you can see as far as Lassen and the Farralon islands when clear.
4- It is a great cause, I think any Bay Area cyclist will attest we are super fortunate to have such an awesome mountain to ride on in our backyard. The proceeds to go to Save Mount Diablo who help preserve the mountain. Potentially if this was something of interest, TR could throw in sponsorship.
What does everyone think? I’d put my money on @Jonathan being able to put up a pretty killer time. @Nate_Pearson @chad
Race Date: October 13th
Race info: http://www.mountdiablochallenge.org/
Segment: Mt Diablo (S): Athenian School to summit lot (wrong way @ top) | Strava Ride Segment in Danville, CA
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Considering that this event overlaps with the Kona Ironman World Championship weekend (the Kona race is Sat, Oct 12) I am betting that the main TR crew will be in Hawaii and unable to attend this event.
Maybe the TR crew that isn’t headed to Kona or other users will still be able to attend?
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I grew up in Walnut Creek, just a few miles from Mt. Diablo. I wish I was into cycling back then. Sounds like a fun challenge, but a bit far now that I live in Texas.
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I’m training for the challenge and will be signing up soon. Not quite sure of the number, but will be my 6th or 7th time doing it.
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Shoot - I didn’t realize that, darn. Thought would be a fun idea, maybe still for some of us users. 
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I’m up for doing this. Anyone have an idea of the watts/kg to do it in one hour?
I have done it a number of times sub hour, some years faster than others and some years heavier than others. Assuming you are comfortable pacing an hour climb, I think a 3.75 is doable. Not blowing up by going out with the hardest group, and hopefully being in a group through the flatter parts helps/is important. Conditions matter too, the past two years were randomly very windy, which slow times a bit overall, even though the road changes direction and you get tail winds, the head is tough. Do you know the climb at all?
@Scollett84 I do not - I live over in Peninsula. 3.75 is right around where I could be in six weeks, around 3.6 now.
Gotcha - I would imagine with race day adrenaline and proper strategy you definitely could do it or put in a good effort trying and get super close. Make it or not it is a great race, and something I appreciate having to always be able to benchmark against for hour climb time/power. Happy describe how the course plays out a bit if interested.
Would love to hear that. If I do it, my plan is to use bestbikesplit to suggest a power plan and go strictly by it, ignoring everyone else. I’ve never raced though so easier said than done. 
Honestly, assuming you are OK with long sustained climbs, I’d say it’s a good race to test as a mass start comfort. I’ll put together a breakdown of how it usually plays out with Strava segments to reference. Gotta work right now though! 
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