I have to admit, I thought the final stage at the ski lifts at Baldy would have been more of a grind. Did you you see how fast they were climbing that hill? Geez, the way @
TrojanHorse describes it, it's really steep. Pfff. Maybe it was steep. The ToC guys all slowed down to around 22 mph at the end of the climb...AND they broke a sweat!
Originally Posted by
TrojanHorse
The worst two climbs I've done this year in terms of pain were the Palm Springs Tramway (3.7 miles, 1,858 feet, avg 10% but it gets up to 15% at the end) and the Mt Baldy Ski Lifts (4.8 miles, 2,162 ft, avg 9% and again, the end of the route is 15%). Baldy came after a pretty healthy day of climbing already, so that was extra painful.
Both were slooooooow going.
Originally Posted by
TrojanHorse
HP, PJ and I headed up to the village, got some water and decided we should try to make it up to the vaunted ski lifts (the Tour of California finished at the ski lifts 2 years ago - if a bunch of skinny pros can do it, surely we can as well?) So after 25 miles and about 3400 feet of climbing, what's another 5 miles and 2,200 feet? Some obviously gifted cycling ladies in the village were talking up the road and giving us tips (you can recover a little bit in the switch backs. no really , the grade drops from 15% to 13% for about 7 feet. What a recovery!) I actually walked the last 200 feet.
Guess I can't bust his chops too much. He made it, I did not.
Originally Posted by
TrojanHorse