MTBMaven

Now this ride is officially called the Seven Sisters, though some call it the Seven B!tches. I think the second name is a little mean to the first 3 sisters. They may not be the marrying type, you may not even want to sleep with them, but not sure I would call them b!tches. The last 4 on the other hand, thems are b!tches of the highest order.

The 4th Sister, up Nyes Place, is one hell of a kick in the pants. You turn off PCH and within 50 yards there is a sign warning of 20% grades and a wall of a road. I estimate the 20% section is at least .25 if not .5 miles. At the top my Garmin registered 26% for a brief second. After that it levels off to an easy 14%-17% grade.

The 5th Sister is up Bluebird Canyon to Summit. This climb starts out pretty decent but then seems to get steeper and steeper the higher you climb.

The 6th Sister goes up Temple Hill Dr. This climb has got to be the longest of all the climbs. Just when you think you are done well there's a bit more. At this point the culmination of the previous 5 Sisters is catching up with you. If this climb were the first climb of the day it would not be that bad, but by this point in the day it is a hard climb.

The 7th Sister is up Park Ave to Alta Laguna Park. All I can say is damn. Not the steepest climb, no >20% sections but a sustained >15% climb that goes on forever it feels like. I was switchbacking the road all over the place just to remain moving. My right knee was popping half way up. There was an older lady walking her dog I passed very slowly about 1/3 of the way up, she finished less than 10 minutes after I did.

We rode Laguna Canyon, to El Toro, to Aliso something to get back. There was a steep climb on Aliso something that was the 7.5th Sister.

All in all a great day. The rain helped make the views endless. The sun was out and the winds were light. I only used my 28 tooth bail out gear going up Park, all other climbs were done in 39/25. The only time we stopped on a climb was for route finding and one flat near the bottom of Summit. All else was cleaned. Not sure I will be racing to do this one again as it really kicked my butt. But if you love hill climbing, are looking for a new climbing training route, and/or live in the area I highly recommend this route. It was well worth driving from Pasadena.

Stats:
- 39 Miles
- 6,000 of total gain

Route description can be found here:
https://www.geoladders.com/show_route.php?route=488

merider1

First off, I loved the description of the ride. But forgive me, was this trail or road? And if road - you're nuts.

Extort

Those are all standard roads... and the 7.5 Sister is Aliso Creek Road... which is where I live!

Thanks for the route, now I know what I am going to do this weekend!

jschen

Anyone wanna organize a group ride?

Gretzky

You just about described our Sunday ride perfectly.
Did you by chance do this ride yesterday on a mountain bike, and descend Park next to a guy on a black/white Cervelo (at 50+ mph)?

Gretzky

We do it almost every Sunday, and leave the HB Pier at 6:30am. Hit me up if you'd like to join up with us!!

jschen

Cool! Can't do this Sunday, but I'll keep it in mind. If you don't mind possibly having to wait for me a bit at the top of each climb, I'd love to join you sometime.

Gretzky

Awesome! We always regroup at the top of every climb, and I am looking forward to riding with you!!

MTBMaven

Nope sorry. Black and gray Lemond.

Gretzky

Awesome! Hope to see you out there soon!!

Drew12

given his handle, I figured it was Mtb....
Learned somthing new, geoladders now has road rides.
They have gone over to the dark side!

Gretzky

As did I
On Sunday while descending Park, I heard this buzz behind me... As I reached the bottom, it turned out to be the noise of the mountain bikers tires that was on my wheel
The guy was really cool, and was saying how much better my bike tracked than his
He also mentioned at that speed, he felt his tires sliding on the turns. This guy was nuts, but had an ear to ear smile

BTW, next time your up there, descend down Del Mar to where it dead ends, and enjoy the view! But no sitting on the way back up, as your front tire tends to leave the ground

jsigone

looks like a good training route for sure.