Northern California - March Challenge- Ride from Home

I propose a challenge. See who can climb the most within a set period of time starting right from home (or say, within 1/4 mile to protect privacy).

Should we set the time at one hour? 30 minutes? Two hours? Or have different categories. You have the whole month of March to put up your best figure for the set time period(s). [EDIT: To keep things simple, we only have one time category, ONE HOUR.]

You chose the route and decide whether to include one climb, a loop, repeats, etc.

City dwellers can climb twin peaks? East Bay folks can head up Tunnel, Wildcat, Pinehurst, etc. Marco and the Peninsula folks can do the night ride, etc.. Others surely have favorite local climbs.

Who is interested? Any other rules or requirements that we might need? I thought this would be a fun way to get in some extra climbing right from home!

EDIT:

OFFICIAL RULES
1. You must start from home (or within approx. 1/4 mile of home).
2. You can finish wherever you want (at home or on the road).
3. You can ride any bike on any road, trail, path, etc. so long as your activity is self-powered. Tandems are in a separate category (see below).
4. Rides must be started and completed between March 1, 2009 and March 31, 2009.


TIME LIMIT:
ONE HOUR (Total elapsed time, so make sure your timer doesn't stop if you rest or stop at lights)
(The two-hour category is now gone because it makes things too complicated based on the number of categories below.)

CATEGORIES:
A. All riders
B. Male
C. Female
D. Single-speed or fixed-gear
E. Tandem
F. Folding Bikes
G. Clydesdales (what is the typical weight threshold? 200? 250?)
H. Age (under 20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, 61-70, 71+)

I like having lots of categories so we can have lots of winners!

You must either measure your elevation gain using a reliable device (e.g., Garmin Edge) or using a reliable website. If there are close calls, Ramon will go ride the contested routes and give us the readings from his Garmin (kidding!).

Any comments on the final rules?


HERE IS HOW YOU NEED TO SUBMIT YOUR RESULTS
If you want to be considered in the final standings, please send me a PM with only the following info:
Total Ascent (in feet):
Age:
Sex:
List of Any Categories that you qualify for (e.g., tandem, folder, etc.)
(If you did a tandem, also send me the name or BF name of your teammate.)

You may submit results as often as you want. For example, you might hit 1000 feet on your folder and 1500 feet on your regular bike. No problem. But send me the info above for each entry.

Thanks for making it easy for me to tally the results!

NOTE: This is not a race or competition. I am not the organizer. I am not responsible for any injuries or accidents. Ride at your own risk. Cycling is inherently a hazardous activity. Etc. etc. etc.

You should say it has to end at home too.

I'm in.

and yeah, it should have to end at home too.

Start and end at home, repeats allowed?
I think I have an advantage but I am not sure I am masochistic enough to join.

Count me in. Garmin Traces would be cool as proof of your deed. Perhaps have a 1 hour and two hour category.

I vote for 1 hour - not sure I want to do repeats for 2 hours :)

No fair! Nearest hills are 25 miles from home :notamused:

Cool. I have the San Bruno Ave climb up to Skyline Dr practically outside my doorstep.

No fair! Nearest hills are 25 miles from home :notamused:

Closest for me are about 15 or 16 miles out. Getting in some hills typically requires a 3 to 3 1/2 hour ride.

Does off road count ? I have Brushy peak regional Preserve on my door step and it is a hill fest.

As usual, Sacramentans are losers. :P

I think standing on my roof and throwing the Garmin up in the air would show up as more climbing than any riding I could do from here in an hour.

I think it's hard to require you to end at home. What happens if you blow it by two minutes? The whole ride is a bust? That also encourages folks to increase the risk in terms of running red lights and racing downhill. I view this as more of a climbing challenge than a descending challenge.

So I say that you can end anywhere you want! You guys can pick a different challenge for April! ;)

And since I'm making the rules, I say that dirt climbs are fine.

EDIT: Hey Davis/Sacto folks- maybe in April you can come up with a new challenge that has to do with max distance in one hour from your house. Then you'll have a huge advantage!

I have a 1-mile, 400-foot climb (7.5% avg.) out my front door. It's part of my commute home every day.

The question is: Do I have the willpower to do it over and over again for an hour, or even two:eek:? Probably not:p.

That said, this does sound fun in a sick sort of way.

Damn ... Montebello is at least 8 miles away

I can just see the wheels turning in all your heads!!! <evil laugh>

If gpelpel (http://www.bikeforums.net/member.php?u=8207) does one ride up his street he'll win. But that's a pretty steep "IF"

As usual, Sacramentans are losers.

As long as there is a God in Heaven, it will be ever thus. :D

D'oh, guess I'm in; so long as feet by bikely count

So anyone have any hypotheticals yet?

I made a route that is around 3200 feet in 13 miles.

Since this contest is one-way (don't have to finish where you start), it would give an advantage to the longer, higher hills versus the short and steeps.... I think.

Like if I lived at the base of Diablo, and could make the top in an hour, I could get like 3500-3600 feet of climbing in one shot.

EDIT: Looks like repeats work better... I am up to >3800 in 13.5 miles. You would have to fly down the descents though.

I'm in for this. I live on a hill and have never made it all the way to the top, just to my house which is halfway up. I'd do hill repeat workouts so that one day I can make it to the top or blow a gut (I prefer the former). We should have categories like age or weight. I'm 45 and weigh 227. We'd be on the honor system I'm guessing since I don't have a Garmin?

I think that you have to finish where you start. Otherwise, folks who live at the bottom of some mountain have a big advantage in that they're not wasting time going downhill.

I think that you have to finish where you start. Otherwise, folks who live at the bottom of some mountain have a big advantage in that they're not wasting time going downhill.

Hello? Why do you think I set it up that way? :innocent::innocent:

Anyone know a reliable way to get climbing figures for those who don't have Garmins?

Georges compared his Garmin with Bikely for our Saturday ride - Garmin said 3052ft , bikely said 3061ft. I was impressed.

I suspect that accuracy is very dependant upon route though.

As usual, Sacramentans are losers. :P

Yeah! I could do freeway overpass repeats about 500 times daily. :bike:

Yeah! I could do freeway overpass repeats about 500 times daily. :bike:


Or parking garages! :p

Or parking garages! :p

lol the nearest real hill is like 35 miles away

I'm with Rumbutter, does mountain bikes count? I got Mission Peak out my door.

I'm 4 miles from Mt. Diablo. I could probably get somewhere between the South Gate ranger station and the junction and make it back in one hour. I'm actually looking forward to DST for riding after work as I've spent more time on the trainer this winter than on the road :(.

Anyone know a reliable way to get climbing figures for those who don't have Garmins?


I use a cyclometer that measures altitude by barometric pressure. Increments every 10ft.
Of course, if I were to buy something today, I would go with a Garmin.

Unofficial rules posted in the first post. Let me know what the weight cutoff for clydes should be.

I'm with Rumbutter, does mountain bikes count? I got Mission Peak out my door.

As long as it is self-powered, then it is fine. Good luck!

Does it add complication to have both a two-hour and a one-hour category? Should we just say one hour and that's it (this time)?

No offense, but I think the whole thing is flawed. If you don't live on or near a hill, you're screwed.

I'm just bitter because I live in the flatlands. :mad:

I know- it is inherently unfair. But it's fun for many of us who are closed to the hills to get creative with route planning. And it makes up for the way higher average speeds you guys get to manage on your regular rides!!!

How about next month you guys plan a TT challenge to cover the most distance over a one-hour period? You guys will smoke us then!

Don't mind me... like I said, I'm just bitter. ;)

I'm in... here's my route... Pacifica (Skyline/Hickey) to the top of San Bruno Mountains - radio antennae. Anybody else doing this route?

So what's the elevation for the Pacifica to top of San Bruno Mtn route? I regularly ride from Oyster Point, which is easy to do in an hour, but I think I need to think higher to make an impact here.

BTW - I'm thinking that anyone who's getting >2000ft deserves some sort of honourable mention. I was thinking about Diablo, best I've climbed to date is 1h 15m, and that's ~3300ft of elevation from Athenian school (~500ft above sea level IIRC).

Shoot, I only expect to be able to get about 1500 ft.

I have a route with 3,300 ft. of climbing (Page Mill) over 21.2 miles of round-trip travel. I don't expect to really bomb down Page Mill in any meaningful manner. Hmmm....This looks more like a 2-hr challenge than a 1-hr challenge.

Attempt number one. I wasn't feeling very sprightly after two days off the bike so I'm going to go again before the month is out. Only 46 mins, 11.5 miles, and 1300 ft climbed. In the last mile, the climb up Pepper Drive topped out at 17% from one direction and 18% the other direction.

Click for bigger picture.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3543/3352244353_015b3c031d.jpg (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3543/3352244353_b4d31385ac_o.jpg)

I know my route (Pescadero to Alpine). :-)

Thinking about this, the fairest thing would be to state that you stop and start point have to be within 1/4 mile of each other. This takes where people live out of the equation. It also adds an element of skill.

Ok here is attempt number 1 for me. I am not sure offroad is the best solution for this. Average speeds on bumpy single track are much lower than on nice smooth pavement even though the climbing is extreme. The cattle had churned up my favorite trails into a nightmare bump fest. I thought my eyeballs were going to rattle out of their sockets on one descent :)

Dist = 7.42 miles
Time = 1 Hour
Climb = 1855 feet


http://www.zensurweb.com/bikes/brushy004.jpg

http://www.zensurweb.com/bikes/brushy005.jpg

Nice! I'm hoping to post an attempt tomorrow if rain doesn't interrupt play.

I've been wondering what the ideal solution to this challenge would be, and think that probably living at either the North or South Gate of Diablo would pretty much be it - long steady climbs that you can maintain at moderate speed and intensity. I'm thinking that anything too steep or with too many flats/downhill sections is going to hurt the overall elevation gain.

Thinking about this, the fairest thing would be to state that you stop and start point have to be within 1/4 mile of each other. This takes where people live out of the equation. It also adds an element of skill.

All good points, but for this one let's say you can finish anywhere.

Wait, I thought it had to be from your house, to your house. A loop. Or close to a loop.
Please post the rules again. Point by picky point.

Wait, I thought it had to be from your house, to your house. A loop. Or close to a loop.
Please post the rules again. Point by picky point.

This is a friendly note to all participants (not to single you out, ccc):
Please see the final rules in the first post.

Please note that you must submit your results to me in a PM. Please see the first post for instructions on how to do this.

Feel free to also post your results, routes, thoughts, etc. on this thread, but only the results sent to me via PM will be considered in the final tally.

Thanks for making my life easy!

Clydes are 200 lb and up.