Great weather for Newton

2006-07-09 07:49:26.000 – Jim Salge,  Observer

Paul Runyon nears the finish line on route to the

This week has proven to be a very busy one on at the top of New England. Good weather always brings people to the top, and the string of good weather culminated yesterday in one of the nicest summer days I’ve seen at the peak. And it couldn’t have occurred on a bigger day, as yesterday was the Newton’s Revenge bike race, the first of two bicycle races up the auto road.

The annual bicycle hillclimb, scheduled for August 19th, has proven so popular that a second race was added for the first time this year. The auto road set up the new race to generously benefit our non-profit Mount Washington Observatory, as well as the Mount Washington State Park, and volunteers from the organization were out in force to assist in the event.

A full field of athletes were treated to some of the finest weather ever seen for a race on Mount Washington. Winds actually stopped blowing all together for a while during the race, and temperatures rose to around 60 degrees. With weather out as a factor, times were very ‘quick’ for this grueling event, and many riders were speaking of personal bests. The top finisher crossed the line in one hour flat, five minutes ahead of the second rider, an elite cyclist at all of sixteen years old! The top woman finished in under 1:10! And if you’ve ever driven the road, you know the kind of feat these times are! For full results, click here…

Usually conditions for the race necessitate racers and fans rushing into the building as they finish, and I think this picture from race time best shows how nice it was to be outside on Mount Washington yesterday.

Great weather continues this morning, but with high pressure cresting to the east of the mountains, winds have turned southwest. This will pump air that is hazier and more humid onto the peaks today. Though storms are unlikely today, this muggy air mass will likely trigger some storms tomorrow, ending this spectacular dry streak after the soggy spring!

Jim Salge,  Observer