Last weekend was another rental car trip up to the mountains for some climbing and descending bliss with my Bike Friday Pocket Companion folding bike. On Saturday I climbed Monitor Pass. On the way back down, I set a PR for speed - 51.1 mph! My previous fastest descent was 50 mph down Beatty Drive in El Dorado Hills on my regular road bike.

On the way back to Sacramento in the car, I saw a number of Alpine County Sheriff, fire, paramedic, and CHP vehicles responding towards Ebbetts Pass with lights and sirens going, so I hope somebody didn't crash. I've heard that Ebbetts is dangerous.

Sunday I drove back up to Mt. Rose to watch and record the riders in the Sierra Nevada Hill Climb time trial, which goes up the longer side of Mt. Rose from Reno.

After watching the riders suffer, I was of course all gung ho to do some suffering of my own. I climbed the Incline Village side of Mt. Rose from Country Club Drive, which is much steeper than the Mt. Rose Highway. Country Club Drive is almost 3 miles long, and it gets steeper as it goes on. It intersects with the Mt. Rose Highway, which is only between 4% and 9% compared to the 10%-18% I measured on Country Club.

Top of Monitor


Bike Friday at top of Monitor Pass 1 by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

Bike Friday at top of Monitor Pass 2 by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

Top of Mt. Rose


Bike Friday at top of Mt. Rose 1 by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

Bike Friday at top of Mt. Rose 2 by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

Bike Friday at Mt. Rose summit sign by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr