Originally Posted by Carbocation
I'm interested, too. But this part worries me a little:
"The Hill is a mesa that towers 800 feet above the valley floor. The climb is 2 miles long and a 7.5% grade."
If I can go up Torrey Pines grade on my fixed, will El Tigre be much harder?
I think there's a big parking lot just before the Mexican border. So, like Nims, I'm probably going to park there and walk over the border, ride who knows how many miles to the start line, do the ride, party, then take the shuttle back to Rosarito.
I've ridden Torrey Pines, but never fixed, and have done Rosarito-Ensenada on a fixed-gear (42x16 Probably coulda geared a little taller actually.). Based on a familiarity with both climbs I wouldn't worry too much about "El Tigre", unless you're running a huge gear.
Keep in mind this is a "fun ride", with literally thousands of people of all abilities. From the standpoint of anyone who rides regularly, it's really not a particularly challenging ride (unless you're hung-over from partying the night before or something.). The biggest challenge on El Tigre is weaving your way through the traffic, half of whom are pushing MTBs with triples.
I actually found the descent down the other side more challenging. I had a brake mounted, but just for sh*ts & giggles decided not to touch it on the descent. Had to do the occasional little short skid just to keep the cadence down to a manageable rate, but never touched the brakes coming down the other side. Would be a piece of cake with a brake, if you didn't mind dragging it a bit to scrub some speed.