Tom's story: Mt Lemmon Hill Climb

BaseCamp athlete Tom Gosnell shared his experience at the 2025 Mt. Lemmon Hill Climb in Arizona.

Please forgive the long story, but it has been a year in the making, and BaseCamp has played a large part.

Each year I try to do an activity to commemorate another trip around the sun. While it would be nice to celebrate the passing of another year on my birthday, June 23, Tucson summers sometime make that difficult. Last year I had planned a ride for my 70th birthday that 71+ miles and 7,100+ feet of elevation gain. My birthday arrived just after we had returned from Finland where I had ridden 72 miles in FNLD GRVL. While the elevation goal was not met, the distance goal was, so I designated it as my 70th birthday ride.

Friday was the annual GABA Mt Lemmon Hill Climb. I had decided 6 months ago that this would be my 71st birthday ride with a goal of riding at least 72 miles with at least 7,200 feet of elevation gain. The 28 mile climb from the base of Mt Lemmon to the observatory has been the main event I have been training for this winter. Friday was a beautiful day on the mountain—clear skies, temps in the 60s, and little wind. All aspects of my training—pacing, nutrition, and mental aspects—came into play to make this a challenging and rewarding effort. The organized event itself was short of my distance goal, so I added some extra miles at the base before returning to the start.

I enrolled in BaseCamp this winter mainly because I was curious as to what a structured training plan could do for me. As it turns out, it was an awesome experience. As evidence I present a comparison between this year’s ascent and my best past ascent from 14 years ago. At the time, I was about 10 lbs lighter and had an FTP 30+ watts higher.

Mt Lemmon Hill Climb Metrics to the Observatory

2011 2025

Distance 27.9 mi 27.9 mi

Elevation +6,829 ft +6,929 ft

Avg Grade 5.10% 5.40%

Total Duration 4:12:03 3:58:31

Moving Time 3:04:13 3:18:55

Stopped Time 1:07:50 0:39:36

Avg Speed 9.1 mph 8.4 mph

Max Heart Rate 167 bpm 153 bpm

Avg Heart Rate 141 bpm 142 bpm

Max Watts 648 watts 462 watts

Avg Watts 217 watts 211 watts

NP 235 watts 222 watts

90 Min Power 224 watts 233 watts

IF 0.73 0.81

TSS 315 358

Max Cadence 110 rpm 99 rpm

Avg Cadence 67 rpm 70 rpm

I am very happy with my performance on the hill climb. I feel like I paced myself well maintaining my effort in Zone 4 just below my FTP. I did notice that later in the climb my power was dropping off a little which started to get into my head, but then I realized that it should have been expected given the increase in altitude. There were four SAG stations along the way which I took advantage of to refill electrolytes in my bottles (including adding some pickle juice before the final ascent). Additionally, there was one stop to answer the call of nature. My goal for my riding time on the event was 3:15 which I set back in December based on my performance in 2011. While I missed the 3:15 goal by just under four minutes, I was within 15 minutes of my 2011 ride time. Additionally, I bested my 2011 total climb duration by spending significantly less time stopped at the SAG stations. I am happy with that. Another highlight of the ride was my 90 min power which was an all-time high of 233 watts—3 watts higher than my previous high set in Scottsdale a month ago.

What did Base Camp do for me? Tim’s structured, progressively harder workouts made me stronger and developed the foundation needed to maintain a steady consistent effort. Menachem’s strength program did wonders for my strength, flexibility and form as evidence from watching my initial MyVeloFit videos in January compared to my most recent fit videos. The benefits of Namrita’s fueling guidance was evident based on my performance Friday compared to my performance in the Scottsdale 100k a month ago. I did a much better job of pre-fueling for Friday’s event and maintaining my nutrition during the ride. Finally, Carrie’s voice was in my head at critical points in the ride calling me back from time travel to focus on the moment, telling me to relax my shoulders, and counting pedal strokes with me on the final ascent to the observatory from Ski Valley.

A big shoutout to GABA and all the volunteers supporting the event. Given the lack of water availability on the climb their efforts are invaluable. Also, a big shoutout to my Lemmon Riders group whose comradery has been very motivating in the leadup to, and during, the event. Finally, a big shoutout to the BaseCamp coaches and campers for all of the tools, inspiration and guidance you have provided this past winter.