Race Report: 2025 Mt Diablo Challenge - Elite Women
Race: 2025 Mt Diablo Challenge - Elite Women
Date: Sunday, October 5, 2025
AVRT racers: Steph Hart, Robin Betz, Robin Kutner, Elena de la Paz
Top Result: Steph 2/157 (sub60!), Robin B 8/157, Robin K 16/157, Elena 34/157
Course: 11.2 miles, 3249 ft hill climb. Closed to cars! At least 25% of it was draftable. It was a notably good weather day - chilly at the start, mostly not too windy, never got hot.
Nutrition:
Steph: Coffee + 1 pre-race gel
Robin K: 1 bar 20min before start. During race, 1 bottle w/ 60g carbs (skratch) + ½ bottle water + a few shot bloks
Recap:
Steph’s perspective
In my 3 years of living in CA, I had yet to do Diablo Challenge, because who wants to interrupt their off season with a 60 minute all out effort. This year was no different (blissfully enjoying a few weeks without intervals and probably a little too much beer)- until October 2nd or so rolled around, and the hype on the slack thread had me signing up just to collect a data point on my 60 minute power (data whore life).
Expectations were low, and after noting Jen Tave’s presence at reg, I knew I’d be in for a reality check once the race started. In typical fashion, I missed my wave 2 start for one last trip to the bathroom line- but managed to join Robin K. and Shannon Gaffney in the wave 3 start. This was probably for the best, as the wave 3 men started plenty hard, and I was barely hanging onto wheels for the first 5 or so minutes. Knowing miles 3-6 were pretty draftable, I decided to try and stay with the group through the halfway mark- knowing I’d have to back off once it got steep to avoid blowing up. I got through the junction at the 25 minute mark, but considerably above target power, so I let myself get dropped to avoid blowing up in the last 20-30 minutes. Minutes 30-50 were pretty much a slog, bouncing around and trying to catch a draft where I could, but more or less just trying to dissociate from my physical experience. I managed to pull it together for the last couple of minutes and not fall over on the steep section to roll in for 57:44 and 2nd in the women’s field. This ended up being a pretty poorly paced effort (275 to the junction, 258 from the junction to the summit), and I also didn’t do a great job drafting/following wheels in the second half of the race- but certainly leaves some places for improvement should I choose to disrupt my offseason next year…
Robin K’s perspective
I went into this race with plenty of physical activity under my belt but nothing in the way of structured training. I was just pleased to have climbed out of an iron-deficient summer. Two weeks prior, I lightly reconned the climb and averaged 3 W/kg and 1:18, which at the time felt “comfortably hard”. In the Wave 3 start corral, I quickly said hello to Steph and goodbye to the back of Steph. After the initial downhill/flat, the group started climbing aggressively and I realized I may have “self-seeded” incorrectly as I was spat towards the back. (Hold that thought.) I had enough fellow stragglers within eyeshot to calm my stress of “what if I end up with no draft?”, and I gleefully reeled a few in before mile 3. I was mildly worried about having gone out too hard and blowing up later, but thankfully a pack of men from the front of Wave 4 came charging from behind at the perfect time - right as we hit the first long, flat section - and I got to recover in their wake. (Maybe this happy coincidence renders my start position perfect?). I let them go when the grade picked up, and I spent the next few miles finding my “happy power”, identifying racers up the road to pick off or tuck in behind, and ultimately passing through the Junction a few minutes ahead of a completely made-up target split.
I had a post-it taped to my top tube reminding me of where the draftable sections were. Approaching the next one at mile 8.5, two things happened: first, a child riding next to me exhaustedly asked where the finish was because his legs hurt. Lol. I told him it was about 20 minutes away and he should try to pedal consistently so he wouldn’t cramp. I simultaneously realized I could afford to start digging deeper as we were running out of road. Second, I was thrilled to hear Robin B’s voice behind me, telling him “also, you should tuck in behind her [me] for an easier effort”. Robin and Supersprinkle Susan came by me, and I happily put in an effort to follow their friendly wheels. We decisively pass a woman I’d been chasing for awhile. Susan dropped off a few minutes later, and I was next. Little Kid reappeared and continued asking how much further until the top. I rode his wheel once, but he would spontaneously stop pedaling so I decided that while he was endearing, he was somewhat of a liability.
Rounding a hairpin with one mile left, I find two dudes and tuck in as we head into the wind. I went around them at the base of The Wall, where AV friends who had just finished their own climbs were cheering us on. Miraculously, Little Kid found a second wind, and he was zigzagging and teetering frightfully close to my bike. This prompted me to put in one last dig, and we reached the finish! I did 1:07:29 (3.5 W/kg) for the climb which is several minutes faster than I estimated. I haven’t been this pleasantly surprised by a result in a long time, which may have planted a seed of motivation for next season… Overall, this was a super well-run event with a fun post-race picnic. Highly recommend!