I like climbing, especially on my fixie, and Day 3 of ALC9 did not disappoint. Appropriately dubbed Quadbuster, there was steady climbing of about 1-3% grade out of camp. After rest stop 1, at about 8 miles, was the beast. A steady 4-6% grade out of the rest stop then at around mile 10 it jumped to 8% grade. Then all of the sudden the climb jumped to 12% grade and I had to get out of the saddle to power through it. At one point I thought I was crying, but it was just the sweat dripping. By the end of the climb it looked like I just took a shower. It was a great feeling passing all the roadies up the climb. But I got humbled real quick. I saw numerous roadies bomb down the climb to do repeats. Later on I was informed some people get donated more money for doing repeats. Those are the real champions.
The total mileage of the climb was about 1.3 miles (from the route slip) but it felt way longer. Good thing Quadbuster was at the beginning, because if it were at the end I might've yakked. Riding fixed you definitely loathe the descents, and it gets worse on multi-day tours. Your cadence is almost doubled when bombing down a hill, and can you imagine spinning your legs at 129 RPM for miles at a time? You'll be cradling your brake, your tris will be sore, and your legs will hate you in the morning. There's a reason the day was called Quadbuster.
Would I do it fixed again? Maybe. Would I do ALC again? In a heartbeat.