When Pete Stetina rolls up to the start of the 52nd annual Mount Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb this weekend, it will be more than a bucket-list ride. It will be a record attempt, a nod to family history and, thanks to a little friendly competition among friends, a head-to-head with fellow ex-WorldTour pro turned gravel racer Ian Boswell.
“We’re kind of tackling this thing together, not as teammates, but it is my fault he decided to show up, and I may come to regret that,” Stetina said with a laugh while navigating Boston traffic en route to Boswell’s house.
Boswell lives just an hour and a half away from New Hampshire’s iconic peak, yet this will be his first acquaintance with America’s hardest climb. For Stetina, however, the climb holds a weight that goes far beyond the day’s result; it’s a chance to chase his father’s legacy and stake his own claim.
“I’ve just always heard about it,” said Stetina. “And the more I dove into it, and the whole family history behind it, it just started screaming at me more and more. But it wasn’t until I really did a lot of research that I realised how dynamic and fickle this mountain is and how steeped in tradition it really is, which is kind of cool.”
The road to the top of Mt Washington
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The race may be only 7.4 miles (11.9k) in length but it gains around 4,678 feet (1,425m) in elevation and rhythm is hard to come by. The grades are irregular with more than half of the climb at a 10-15% grade, another good portion pitches between 15-20% and the last 50 yards are at a leg-burning 22%.
“I think it is the hardest mountain in the U.S. Maybe even one of the hardest in the world,” said Stetina. “Meter for meter, it is harder than the Zoncolan or Angliru. And it’s made even harder because of the weather.”
At 6,288 feet, Mount Washington is the tallest peak in the Northeast and home to some of the fiercest weather on Earth. Perched at the intersection of three major storm tracks, a breeze can turn violent in mere minutes, and even the fully staffed weather observatory at its summit often struggles to predict what’s coming more than a few hours in advance.
“The wind is so temperamental. The record attempt really, is up to Mother Nature,” commented Stetina.
Stetina did a recon of the climb in July, which proved eye-opening.
“I was on pace and ahead of the record by halfway but when I popped out of the tree line at the halfway point, I got slapped in the face with a 40 mile an hour headwind. That was not in the forecast at all. And I ended up losing minutes by having that 40 mile an hour headwind in for the whole second half of the effort,” Stetina shared. “It spelled doom.
“That was a wake up call of ‘wow, this really is out of my hands at this point.’ Really, it’s not a story of elite performance as much as it’s the man or woman versus the mountain and Mother Nature.”
There’s also only one go at it. The iconic road up the mountain is reserved for bikes only one day out of the year, with cars shuttled to the summit before the start so they can ferry riders down afterward.
“You have to be a world class climber and get the right weather conditions. So yeah, Ian and I are both just crossing our fingers that it works out this year,” said Stetina.
A Tale of Two Records
In 2002 Tom Danielson set the record of 49:24
(Image credit: Getty Images)
In some ways, the race’s record book mirrors the story of cycling in America. In the sport’s heyday, Tour de France veterans, Olympians and national champions tested themselves on this mountain. Leaf through the results and names like Tyler Hamilton, Tom Danielson, Ned Overend, Jeannie Longo and Geneviève Jeanson stand out, though some now carry asterisks. Between the sport’s doping scandals and a repaving of the road, organisers decided to reset the official records in 2022, with Phil Gaimon establishing the new benchmark of 50:38. The fastest time recorded over the past 52 years, however, remains Tom Danielson’s 2002 effort of 49:24, set before the repaving. And that’s the one Stetina has in his sights.
“The idea is to take back the all-time record [for the family], but I feel a little superstitious even saying that because of how fickle the wind is,” said Stetina. “But very bluntly, I know what I can do for basically an hour up a mountain, and I think it’s good enough if the conditions are right.”
A weight transformation for bike and body
Stetina was a hill climb specialist during his WorldTour days
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Because the race isn’t UCI-sanctioned, Stetina, his sponsors and his trusty mechanic, Big Tall Wayne, have spent the past few months building a pure climbing machine.
“It’s been a super fun project to dive into,” said Stetina, who plans to unveil the full story in upcoming social media posts and video content. For now, he’s only willing to share the barest of details.
The bike is built around a “Canyon CFR special addition climbing bike” and the lightest wheels and tires he could source from his sponsors. From there all the usual Hill Climb hacks were applied: handlebars chopped down to just below the shifters, no bar tape, no rear brake, drum-holed aluminium, a single tiny chainring. Stetina revealed that they even decided to zip-tie the Di2 battery to the chainstay to shave off the few grams from the internal mounting hardware.
“It’s kind of a stupid bike in that it literally only does one thing,” Stetina laughed.
And just as the bike had to slim down, so did Stetina himself.
“It’s just for this one niche thing where gradients are extreme and weight does actually make a difference of minutes. It’s something you have to do and that’s part of the game. But I’m a gravel dad now, and that part was not enjoyable,” said Stetina, revealing that he got his 5’11” frame down to 62 kilos (136 pounds).
Age, being a dad of two young children and racing gravel combined made it “a real struggle,” which included guidance from his coach, calorie-counting, biohacking his metabolism and a “panic button altitude camp” with a lot of heat training on top of it.
“With all the gravel racing, I put on upper body mass. Not like in terms of bulk, but just density and strength from handling the bumps and the rough roads and handling a bike,” Stetina explained.
“It finally came off but I’m forgoing a bit of potential in the summer’s gravel races to hit this objective. But [this record attempt] was a stone I really wanted to turn over before I ever leave the sport.”
A Ride for Dad
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Unfortunately, Dale Stetina won’t be on site to witness his son’s attempt. The former national champion resides in a Midwest care facility since a 2013 crash left him with a traumatic brain injury. On good days, though, he still shares fragments of his racing years, including the Mount Washington record he held for 17 years.
For the younger Stetina, it gives this niche attempt its meaning.
“This is a finite thing. Let’s try to do this for Dad, see how fast I can truly go up a mountain, and put my stamp on it,” he said.
With luck and Mother Nature on his side, the next time Stetina catches his father on one of those good days, he might be able to tell him he’s reclaimed Mount Washington.
“I hope so,” Stetina said. “That would be really fun.”
The 2025 Mount Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb takes place Saturday, August 16. Along with Stetina and Boswell, climbing phenomen Illi Gardner is set to join the peloton, hoping to best either Kristen Kulchinsky new official record of 1:06:08 or maybe even the old, and invalidated, record of Genevieve Jeanson‘s 0:54:02? We’ll have the results and race coverage for you early next week.
