PinarelloMadcat

I've always ridden up the Payson-side of the Nebo loop about a half dozen times (6.5 percent average grade) and decended the Nephi-side, but I had always wondered how tough it would be to climb the south face. I had never heard other cyclists talk about this climb, so I wondered if it was one of those 'only-for-the-insane' climbs.

From my earlier perspective, the Payson-side was a consistant climb until you hit some steep rollers near the summit, but the Nephi-side decent seemed straight down with a gentle long rollout at the bottom, meaning the Nephi-side had a definite steeper grade.

So this Saturday I decided to find out.

A group of five us started off in Orem for Nephi and hit reached the south entrance of the Nebo loop around 9 a.m. to beat the heat. It took about two and a half hours to reach the summit.

The first 10 miles is a graduate 2-3 percent climb out of Nephi, then for the next five miles you hit a 10 percent section with one section jumping up to 15 percent. After reaching a false summit, we had another 4 mile climb to the summit (elevation 9345 feet) that averaged 8 percent. After the summit, our dead legs had to tackle a few steep rollers...not fun. After a fast decent down the Payson-side of the loop, we finished the ride in near 100 degree heat back to Orem for a total of 120 miles. Not sure which was worse: the climb or 25 flat miles riding in an oven.

I used to think that Cascade Springs "Gauntlet" was the toughest climbing ride in Utah, but now I'm sure Nephi-side of Nebo has that easily beat. (Multiply the Gauntlet by a factor of 1.5 and you have Nebo Nephi-side.)

Just wondering if anyone else has ridden this ride and if they found it as tough as I did.

cachehiker

I'll be camping out on that loop next year and climbing Mt. Nebo on Saturday/Sunday and then riding the loop on a Sunday/Monday. It is unfortunately a little too far away for me to just drive down and ride and/or hike it. My body only recognizes one 4:30 in a day so I have to make a mini travel weekend.

I'm curious as to how it compares with the La Sal Loop Road done as part of the Moab Century. It climbs a hair over 3000' in a hair under 8 miles but not all at once. There are 3-4 spots where it levels out for a few hundred yards and one place where it actually goes downhill for about 1/2 mile. I've never had and inclinometer with me but it supposedly hits 18% in one spot and 15% in a few others.

It is generally the only ride of the year where I actually stop and swap out my 36 tooth inner ring for a 34. I can get by on it pushing a 36-26 but 34-26 cuts my standing climbing in half. Too much standing climbing makes the 100k route split at the bottom of Castle Valley look awfully tempting.

psuaero

Sounds like a good ride for you guys.

I was out in that area in summer of 1999 and stayed at Snowbird Ski area. I was into Mt. biking then but I remember Little Cottonwood Canyon being a heck of a climb. Using mapmyride.com it appears to be 5400 feet to 8400 feet in 7.7 miles. That's an average of 7.4% and with quite a few sections listed as > 7%.