Northern California - My new local tough climb: South Park in Tilden

Approx. 750' of climbing in 1.3 miles (based on my Garmin) for an average grade of 10.9%. Compare this to OLH, which isn't nearly as steep (7.2%), although it is longer in total distance.

Here is the route if anyone doesn't know the area: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=10812950108360255583,37.892990,-122.242370%3B9410068275822309978,37.879597,-122.226025&saddr=Wildcat+Canyon+Rd+%4037.892990,+-122.242370&daddr=37.887014,-122.231998+to:Grizzly+Peak+Blvd+%4037.879597,+-122.226025&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=15&via=1&sll=37.884135,-122.232985&sspn=0.015886,0.028925&ie=UTF8&ll=37.885354,-122.235432&spn=0.015885,0.028925&z=15

Brutal. It's seriously the closest I've come to having to walk my bike (compact double with a 12-27 cassette) in a long time!

Anyone ridden this one?

We did Wildcat/Shasta/Grizzly Peak last weekend, but it wasn't anything near as steep as what you're describing. I guess what we did was the scenic route (ends up at the same place, but takes about 3 miles to get there).

JB

...Anyone ridden this one?

I rode that a few weeks ago for the first time. You're right, it's brutal.

I ride a lot with a friend who always has to be KOM. On this particular day, I gave him a run for his money and made him work for every KOM. Although he beat me by a bike length on this hill, it took a lot out of him just to get that.

Is the road still closed?

BR

Yeah, it is closed to cars. Looks like this was the last weekend of fun, though: http://www.ebparks.org/parks/tilden

Sweet - I'll have to give that a go -- funny I've ridden round Tilden quite a bit, but somehow avoided SouthPark. Looks tougher than the climb up Wildcat Canyon to Inspiration Point.

Sweet - I'll have to give that a go -- funny I've ridden round Tilden quite a bit, but somehow avoided SouthPark. Looks tougher than the climb up Wildcat Canyon to Inspiration Point.

I did them both on Sunday and I think you are right- South Park felt a lot tougher. Wildcat is longer, but not nearly as steep.

How does it compare to El Toyanal?

Haven't ridden that one- does anyone have the stats on some of our famous East Bay climbs? It seems like there are lots more groups and webpages, etc. for the peninsula than for the East Bay. I wonder why...

Haven't ridden that one- does anyone have the stats on some of our famous East Bay climbs? It seems like there are lots more groups and webpages, etc. for the peninsula than for the East Bay. I wonder why...

I've ridden South Park many times, and it never fails to get my HR soaring. Toyonal is a beast as well. This page has most of the good climbs:

The Berkeley Death Ride page -- http://www.inl.org/bicycle/deathride.html
(It's not working for me right now)

The Berkeley Death Ride page -- http://www.inl.org/bicycle/deathride.html

It says Marin has an average grade of 13% That's got to be taking an average from San Pablo Avenue to the top. :p
I can't think of a climb more brutal than that damn street.

I lived in Berkeley during Jr. High and High School and it's where I started riding. I have yet to go back for a ride there since (almost 19 years ago :eek: ). I learned a lot from them there hills and have been on all of those roads many times especially Claremont, Tunnel, GP. Lots and lots of good times there.

I'm going to have to do Berkeley's equiv of Ebbets Pass sometime soon methinks. That's one hell of a ride.

Me thinks it would be fun to do this as a BF challenge on some week end.




Ouch.

I'm interested.

Me thinks it would be fun to do this as a BF challenge on some week end.




Ouch.

Don't forget to invite Marco (USPro, Bostic, Sesame, BlastMan, And Taxi777) and for added entertainment, How about Glen, forgot his avatar and PizzaMan,VeloDiva,to stir up the pot!
We'll give Jobob a little bit of a headstart ;)...last one up buys coffee!

Pete

last one up buys coffee!Well, I guess I'm out, then. :p

Serriously the Berkeley Death Ride deal sounds like fun.

We should set this up.

Don't forget to invite Marco (USPro, Bostic, Sesame, BlastMan, And Taxi777) and for added entertainment, How about Glen, forgot his avatar and PizzaMan,VeloDiva,to stir up the pot!
We'll give Jobob a little bit of a headstart ;)...last one up buys coffee!
Pete

I have no experience over there other then by casually noticing steep hills while in a car. It would be nice to dedicate a weekend day slugging it out on those climbs. Who wants to host it?

I would still like to assemble a ride to hit up on all the steep hills in San Francisco. It would not be a traditional bf.net norcal ride in that there would be significant amounts of stop signs, red lights and broken momentum. http://www.sfbike.org/?maps has the .pdf file with the grades of hills. Anything in the darker shade of peach (18% +) would be on the hit list. The questionable neighborhoods would be avoided however. 39x27 or lower suggested.

I have no experience over there other then by casually noticing steep hills while in a car. It would be nice to dedicate a weekend day slugging it out on those climbs. Who wants to host it?

I would still like to assemble a ride to hit up on all the steep hills in San Francisco. It would not be a traditional bf.net norcal ride in that there would be significant amounts of stop signs, red lights and broken momentum. http://www.sfbike.org/?maps has the .pdf file with the grades of hills. Anything in the darker shade of peach (18% +) would be on the hit list. The questionable neighborhoods would be avoided however. 39x27 or lower suggested.

That would be fun too :rolleyes: :D

El toyonal is on my list too. I'd be interested to know when you guys are planning on doing this -- my weekends are tough to squeeze out more than a couple of hours here or there, but who knows - keep me in mind....

Serriously the Berkeley Death Ride deal sounds like fun.

We should set this up.

My April is filling up fast!
This w/e ( 5th/6th) is out. And so is the 12th/13th.
I might be able to it on the 20th.
The 26/27 is also bad.

Does the 20th work for anyone?

Anyone been doing the Tunnel Road detour? It's short, but pretty steep.

Yeah, I did it a few times. Luckily it is clear now, although the portable stoplight is still in place. That climb was brutal. I had to walk it on my regular-double road bike. I wanted to walk on my compact double, but the pride, man, the pride!

Yeah, I did it a few times. Luckily it is clear now, although the portable stoplight is still in place. That climb was brutal. I had to walk it on my regular-double road bike. I wanted to walk on my compact double, but the pride, man, the pride!


:( Apr. 13&27th both Sundays are the only dates available till July! My Agent booked me on a centrury or other Organized rides every weekend... How bout moonlight ride;)

I think I might have the 13th open

:)

Toyonal/Lomas Contadas to the top is much tougher than South Park. The gradient is similar for both climbs, but Toyonal has that gradient from San Pablo Dam Road to the summit, the South Park climb starts after knocking off some elevation on Wildcat.

The Santa Rosa Cycling Club ride out of Richmond/El Cerrito this Sunday is listed as 55 miles with 10,000 feet of climbing. I predict that both of these climbs and more will be on the bill in order to hit those numbers.

Approx. 750' of climbing in 1.3 miles (based on my Garmin) for an average grade of 10.9%. Compare this to OLH, which isn't nearly as steep (7.2%), although it is longer in total distance.

Here is the route if anyone doesn't know the area: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=10812950108360255583,37.892990,-122.242370%3B9410068275822309978,37.879597,-122.226025&saddr=Wildcat+Canyon+Rd+%4037.892990,+-122.242370&daddr=37.887014,-122.231998+to:Grizzly+Peak+Blvd+%4037.879597,+-122.226025&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=15&via=1&sll=37.884135,-122.232985&sspn=0.015886,0.028925&ie=UTF8&ll=37.885354,-122.235432&spn=0.015885,0.028925&z=15

Brutal. It's seriously the closest I've come to having to walk my bike (compact double with a 12-27 cassette) in a long time!

Anyone ridden this one?


Hey ROJA - based on your post, I hauled my tail up South Park (aka death ride#2) this morning from SPDR and can confirm your findings. The middle section had me huffing quite impressively, but that sting in the end of the tail really got my HR up and speed down to a crawl. Of course the benefit was I turned around and luxuriated in the sweet downhill - man, that road is FAST! I was taking it easy, braking fairly frequently, but topped 46mph without even trying. I imagine that this would be the road to find out how fast your bike (or your nerve) will take you. Even coasting up some of the few uphills, I was still in excess of 30.

Anyhow good call, and I look forward to being spanked by this climb many times in the future.
Now I need to find the nerve to tackle El Toyonal and Lomas Cantadas

Hey ROJA - based on your post, I hauled my tail up South Park (aka death ride#2) this morning from SPDR and can confirm your findings. The middle section had me huffing quite impressively, but that sting in the end of the tail really got my HR up and speed down to a crawl. Of course the benefit was I turned around and luxuriated in the sweet downhill - man, that road is FAST! I was taking it easy, braking fairly frequently, but topped 46mph without even trying. I imagine that this would be the road to find out how fast your bike (or your nerve) will take you. Even coasting up some of the few uphills, I was still in excess of 30.

Anyhow good call, and I look forward to being spanked by this climb many times in the future.
Now I need to find the nerve to tackle El Toyonal and Lomas Cantadas


Glad you enjoyed the punishment! I ventured to the other side of the Bay to climb Old La Honda and Tunitas yesterday. Also some very tough riding. I actually like the Peninsula even better than the East Bay for riding, but I am happier here in Oakland because I can ride right from my house during the week. I do a one-hour loop up Tunnel to Grizzly and down Claremont. That's tough to beat!

+1 on convenience, I love the fact that I have a bunch of great climbs on my doorstep. Also I have to say we do have some rather awesome views from the east bay hills. Anyhow, I'm hoping to catch a few peninsula rides with some folks from work this year -- but commute + small kids = tough to find the extra time regularly.

My boss and I did El Toyonal road yesterday morning. Perfect time to test out my new Garmin 705. Guess where the climb is! :)

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/chart/get.mb?xy.domain=totalDistance&xy.ranges=elevation&xy.histogram=false&xy.legendVisible=false&xy.primaryRangeAxisVisible=true&xy.secondaryRangeAxisVisible=true&xy.rangeTitlesVisible=true&xy.domainAxisVisible=true&xy.plotForegroundOpacity=0.75&episodePk.pkValue=5366565&xy.plotForegroundOpacity=0.75&xy.autoFit=true&xy.width=340&xy.height=227

Nice chart Tapeworm, where was your downhill between the two climbs?

That was coming down Wildcat.

Thanks - I think I can decode more of your route now :)

First time up, or are you guys familiar with the climb?

Why decode it? This Garmin rules.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/5366565