freighttraininguphill

I rented a car again for two more trips to the mountains to do some climbing and to record video (as a spectator) of the final mountain time trial put on by The Reno Wheelmen. I took my Dahon Speed D7 folding bike again since it is a PITA to fit a full-size bike in a typical sedan.

Unlike last month though, I now have lower gears in the form of an mtb triple crankset. The D7 doesn't have a front derailleur, so I had to remove about 3" of chain and put it on the middle ring. The chain was sagging in the middle ring until I removed the extra links, so I think the rear derailleur isn't designed for multiple front chainrings. Yes, I now have no top end, but the climbing is more important to me than the descending. Descending is mostly coasting anyway.

Saturday's trip was to the west side of Monitor Pass near Markleeville in Alpine County. This pass is part of the Death Ride, and it lived up to its reputation when I reached the first prolonged 9%-13% section. I think my body wasn't used to the altitude yet, as the effort was pretty intense. After that section I think I got warmed up or used to the altitude, as I felt stronger later on and had plenty of energy at the summit.

The descent was badass! I switched cameras to record the descent, as the Playsport is on its last legs with a cracked and partially stripped tripod hole. I have to run a small bungee cord through the wrist strap and cinch it down good to keep the camera from rotating in the mount. It still moves around more than it used to though, so the rolling shutter effects are even worse, as you can see in the climb videos. For the descent videos I used my Casio EX-S12 digital camera, which doesn't have a rolling shutter. I have to use the Playsport on the climbs because of the better battery life.

I have a ContourHD coming to me from Amazon, so future videos should be better quality.

Today I recorded the riders in the Mt. Rose Hill Climb TT. They climbed Mt. Rose from the Reno side, which is 13.7 miles long with 3,715' of climbing. I climbed that side last year on my 32 pound mtb when I was 40 pounds heavier. It was the most miserable experience I've ever had on a bicycle, so this year I chose to climb Mt. Rose from the Incline Village side, which is only 8 miles long.

The descent was almost as fast as Monitor Pass. Both passes have the smoothest pavement of any mountain road I've ever ridden.

Top of Monitor Pass.

Dahon Speed D7 at top of Monitor Pass 8-6-11 by kittyz202, on Flickr

Dahon Speed D7 at top of Monitor Pass 8-6-11 (other side of road) by kittyz202, on Flickr

Rona

that looks like so much fun!

Just be careful with Dahons... I don't trust them anymore after this:



It was a Dahon made for Halfords here in the Netherlands. It broke in the middle while my son was going down the street. They are great bikes, but check the welds every week if you ride them hard.

freighttraininguphill

Yikes! I hope your son wasn't hurt. That would be disastrous if it happened at high speed. Thanks for the heads-up.

Rona

Skinned up hand, nothing terribly serious. Luckily it was on a bike path in down town Groningen. He was able to walk into a pub, get a free beer and a phone call home. My 14 year old was like "Why don't I get a free beer when I crash!!!"

Some of the dahons have been recalled. You can do a couple of google searches for more info.

freighttraininguphill

I'm glad he didn't get hurt.

The 2008 Dahons were recalled for a faulty handlepost. Mine is either a 2010 or 2011. I bought it new at REI this year. It was the last one on the floor and REI no longer sells Dahons, so I have a feeling mine's a 2010 model.

Here's some more pictures.

The view from the top of Monitor Pass

view from top of Monitor Pass by kittyz202, on Flickr

24% grade warning sign at the junction of Hwy 4 and 89. This is at the bottom of Monitor Pass. Guess what I'll be climbing next summer when I go up there again with a Bike Friday Pocket Companion with a triple!

Hwy 4 & 89 24% grade sign by kittyz202, on Flickr

Rona

Lovely!!!