Ride Report Stage 4
Last weekend Marie and I decided to take on a modified stage 4 of the Tour of California. It's a climb up Mines Rd & Mt. Hamilton. Mt. Hamilton is listed as a beyond category climb.
You can get an idea how steep it is from the first part of this video. Some of the sections were so steep that we had to x-train hahah to get up the hill. x-train= walk of shame
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WchixCT8pY&NR=1
Not my video, but some of the shots do give a good example of how steep it is.
Mines road wasn't too bad, it was just remote with no services and about a 2000 foot climb at one point. I managed to get our one and only mechanical during the ride on a fairly flat portion of the course shortly before we turned onto Mines. I heard another cyclist coming up behind us, and when I sneaked a peak over my shoulder, I hooked my tired on the edge of the road and picked up a thorn that went through the tire like a knife in hot butter.
There were lots of other riders out on Mines road, but we didn't see another crazy soul on a bicycle once we hit the climb up Mt. Hamilton. We did see about 3 riders coming up the other side during our descent. I don't think the hill was as bad from that direction and there was a lot more shade on that side of the hill.
We might have made it up Mt. Hamilton if there hadn't been a climb up Mines road first. When we got up Mines road, I thought wow that wasn't too bad. WTF were they talking about Mt. Hamilton isn't that bad. Is this what they consider a beyond category climb?
Marie kept saying we have to be near the top, we are almost out of mountain, it's got to be just around the corner. I believed her the first couple times, then I thought maybe she is trying to convince herself not me. Every time we turned a corner, there was more mountain. I finally said I'm not going to believe it until we are headed down hill. There were several times that I had my heart rate pegged. Even while walking up the hill my heart rate was at times in the high 150's
When we finally made the summit of Mt. Hamilton, there were no services there. We did manage to find a garden hose/fawcet that we used to refill our water bottles before starting the ride down.
There were parts of the descent that were so fast and the corners were so tight that I actually found one turn that I couldn't slow down enough to make the corner. Luckily I got unclipped in time to get my feet down as I shot off the road and into the side of the mountain. No damage to me or the bike, just my ego... That put a little fear of God into me. Luckily that corner put me into the hill instead of off the hill.
I also learned that Marie is a daredevil, she just flys down the hills with reckless abandon. I actually had to work to keep up with her on the downhills. That was hard to do because I was having to temper that with my new found fear from my crash. Keep up, don't wreck, keep up, don't wreck, keep up don't wreck, that just kept playing through my head on the trip down the mountain.
I'd like to try the ride again some day, but I'm not sure how to go about it without some sort of water supply. I guess I need a team car or a cooler day. I also think I need some mountain bike gearing. I already have a compact crank system, and I think a triple might have been some more help, but I have dealt with them before and they are more maintenace at least in my experience. I may need a granny gear the size of a dinner plate.
The hardest part of this ride had to be the lack of services and the heat.
I had (3) 24 ounce water bottles and a bottle of water. We filled them all several times, and it felt like a death march. We were saved by a CDF fire station who gave us ice and fresh water as well as by a couple who stopped and gave us bottled ice water for the final climb. I guess we looked so bad that they thought they should stop and help us. The driver indicated that they had to save people on that road before.
All in all it was a good day, We were slow, and beaten down by the sun and the total amount of climbing, but we plodded along.
Who knows, maybe next year with just an abridged version that starts on Mines road so that we don't have 25 miles of riding before we hit mines road and about 60 miles before the mountain.
Here is the ride profile from my Garmin
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/500031
Scott
You can get an idea how steep it is from the first part of this video. Some of the sections were so steep that we had to x-train hahah to get up the hill. x-train= walk of shame
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WchixCT8pY&NR=1
Not my video, but some of the shots do give a good example of how steep it is.
Mines road wasn't too bad, it was just remote with no services and about a 2000 foot climb at one point. I managed to get our one and only mechanical during the ride on a fairly flat portion of the course shortly before we turned onto Mines. I heard another cyclist coming up behind us, and when I sneaked a peak over my shoulder, I hooked my tired on the edge of the road and picked up a thorn that went through the tire like a knife in hot butter.
There were lots of other riders out on Mines road, but we didn't see another crazy soul on a bicycle once we hit the climb up Mt. Hamilton. We did see about 3 riders coming up the other side during our descent. I don't think the hill was as bad from that direction and there was a lot more shade on that side of the hill.
We might have made it up Mt. Hamilton if there hadn't been a climb up Mines road first. When we got up Mines road, I thought wow that wasn't too bad. WTF were they talking about Mt. Hamilton isn't that bad. Is this what they consider a beyond category climb?
Marie kept saying we have to be near the top, we are almost out of mountain, it's got to be just around the corner. I believed her the first couple times, then I thought maybe she is trying to convince herself not me. Every time we turned a corner, there was more mountain. I finally said I'm not going to believe it until we are headed down hill. There were several times that I had my heart rate pegged. Even while walking up the hill my heart rate was at times in the high 150's
When we finally made the summit of Mt. Hamilton, there were no services there. We did manage to find a garden hose/fawcet that we used to refill our water bottles before starting the ride down.
There were parts of the descent that were so fast and the corners were so tight that I actually found one turn that I couldn't slow down enough to make the corner. Luckily I got unclipped in time to get my feet down as I shot off the road and into the side of the mountain. No damage to me or the bike, just my ego... That put a little fear of God into me. Luckily that corner put me into the hill instead of off the hill.
I also learned that Marie is a daredevil, she just flys down the hills with reckless abandon. I actually had to work to keep up with her on the downhills. That was hard to do because I was having to temper that with my new found fear from my crash. Keep up, don't wreck, keep up, don't wreck, keep up don't wreck, that just kept playing through my head on the trip down the mountain.
I'd like to try the ride again some day, but I'm not sure how to go about it without some sort of water supply. I guess I need a team car or a cooler day. I also think I need some mountain bike gearing. I already have a compact crank system, and I think a triple might have been some more help, but I have dealt with them before and they are more maintenace at least in my experience. I may need a granny gear the size of a dinner plate.
The hardest part of this ride had to be the lack of services and the heat.
I had (3) 24 ounce water bottles and a bottle of water. We filled them all several times, and it felt like a death march. We were saved by a CDF fire station who gave us ice and fresh water as well as by a couple who stopped and gave us bottled ice water for the final climb. I guess we looked so bad that they thought they should stop and help us. The driver indicated that they had to save people on that road before.
All in all it was a good day, We were slow, and beaten down by the sun and the total amount of climbing, but we plodded along.
Who knows, maybe next year with just an abridged version that starts on Mines road so that we don't have 25 miles of riding before we hit mines road and about 60 miles before the mountain.
Here is the ride profile from my Garmin
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/500031
Scott
The first time you do something - It's going to be a personal record!
So... talked to two friends and one said they do Mount Hamilton by going up the other direction. It's hard from that direction, but doable. (I've done part of it as part of training for IMAZ and I thought it was hard but reasonable.)
My other friend is crazy and she likes to go up the back side like we did because it's harder. It's too hard, I think. Maybe some day...
OTOHO, I plotted out the route based on looking at other rides on Ride With GPS and there were a bunch of rides that were basically our loop with slightly different starting points. So other people do manage to do it. Maybe on a cooler day, with better support or maybe they are just way more buff than I am.
I do like to fly downhill.
But after I came around the corner and saw Seht in the ditch (but okay), I did try to slow down a bit. It really wasn't a bad descent until near the bottom where there were more potholes and more gravel and the sun was in our eyes a bit.
I didn't do ANYTHING yesterday and I'm not sure I'm going to do much today either. Still recovering...
My other friend is crazy and she likes to go up the back side like we did because it's harder. It's too hard, I think. Maybe some day...
OTOHO, I plotted out the route based on looking at other rides on Ride With GPS and there were a bunch of rides that were basically our loop with slightly different starting points. So other people do manage to do it. Maybe on a cooler day, with better support or maybe they are just way more buff than I am.
I do like to fly downhill.
But after I came around the corner and saw Seht in the ditch (but okay), I did try to slow down a bit. It really wasn't a bad descent until near the bottom where there were more potholes and more gravel and the sun was in our eyes a bit.I didn't do ANYTHING yesterday and I'm not sure I'm going to do much today either. Still recovering...
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