sinikl

Is that a WHOO o-face or an "ooooo ****" face?

Went to Pitt from 93-97, i miss those Forbes park trails.

Jandro 

Yeah, I misjudged the weather. It was chilly in the AM and I thought he descents towards the coast would be cold - they weren't. The booties were definitely overkill. My feet tend to get cold quickly so I usually err on the side of warm. It ended up being ~70*F in the hottest part of the day. I appreciated the booties for the descent from Mt. Tam's East peak, though, I guess.

Jandro 

I can't imagine doing the stuff you do without a chamois, but hey, whatever works! Good luck on the fitness and weight loss. I can't imagine it will take all that long with the rides you. Very very awesome stuff.

Dalewood is an average 14.8%, including the flat bit at the start. If you only take the real climb (aka steep bits) into consideration, it shoots up to 21.8% average. It's brutal.

freighttraininguphill

Thanks. I appreciate all the kind words from you and the other posters in this thread . Here's a better pic of me riding with the same cycling club. Unfortunately it's on my geared road bike. The ride we were doing was not a singlespeed ride though! We were climbing Mix Canyon, which is one of the toughest climbs in the state. The picture was taken on the easier part of the climb, before the really steep, prolonged 15% sections.

My ride report with more pictures and video is here.



I'm not ruling out cycling shorts completely. I don't want to wear them now. I think anything tight will be more comfortable once the weight's gone.

SpeshulEd 

Sorry for calling you a guy...I was on my ipad and the photos were tiny.

I can't blame you for not wanting to wear the spandex...I find it a bit depressing when I have to go up 2 sizes just to find something I don't look melted and poured into.

Jandro 

Oh man. I haven't done Hill Street, yet, but I've heard the tales. Last year for my birthday, I took the SF Wolfpack Hustle on the Seven Hells of SF course from 2011. Strava activity here. Some highlights:

Dalewood
Jones St.
21st St. (OUCH)
Medical Center to Twin Peaks (it was damp on the road and I spun my back tire a lot on the really steep bits - scary)

Divisidero, heading south from the Marina, by comparison, was a cake walk.

freighttraininguphill

No problem . Those pictures were overly compressed. I don't know if they were taken with a cell phone or the Meetup software compressed them. I simply copied them as is, without resizing.

I don't care to look like a sausage either. I know I felt like one when I went swimming at the home of a Hammerin' Wheels (the other club I'm a member of) cycling club member, who loaned me a pair of cycling shorts to swim in since I didn't have a swimsuit. It was after a ride on a hot day, so it was spur-of-the moment. When I put those shorts on I felt like I had to squeeze into them .
Nice! Now that I'm on a proper computer and not my phone, I can show you the videos I mentioned earlier that were uploaded by one of my YouTube subscribers. He lives in the Bay Area and posts as "spingineer" here on BF. He did the Seven Hells last year. Here's his Dalewood video.


29th St.


Other cyclists reaching the top of 29th St.


Mount Sutra, back of UCSF Medical Center

Nagrom_

Hah, a couple months ago I dropped my grandma off at the UCSF medical center, and my all wheel drive SUV had trouble keeping traction on some of those hills.

Can't even imagine riding up those.

hockeyteeth

Haha, that was a fun face, I guess. I think I make stupid faces a lot while mtb'ing. I liked PGH a lot. Frick Park had some decent trails we rode a fair amount while visiting. Almost considered moving there a couple years ago.

iTripped

freighttraininguphill, those videos totally inspired me to go tackle a hill tonight. Of course, I'm saying this from my office chair, so I'd say there is a solid 50% chance of me actually doing it tonight. But I was truly inspired!

Jandro 

It's not a smart idea but damn you feel good after.

P.s. I did those hills on a 34x25 gear. I did Dalewood again on a 39x26 (CAAD has a standard crank). Not the best.

freighttraininguphill

I took the Langster on a much longer ride yesterday with more steep hills.

Here's the easier part near the bottom of Park Drive in Rocklin, which has plenty of 12%-13% grades. Average grade is 9.5% for 1/2 mile. This is a screenshot from my riding partner's helmet-mounted GoPro.



Another screenshot from further up the hill, where it was steep enough that I had to traverse. My bike has a 42x16 gear.



Here's my riding partner after he passed me on the first part of the climb. He's much stronger than me and is riding 48x17 fixed. This is a screenshot from my helmet-mounted GoPro.



Here he is after he passed me a second time later in the climb when I was traversing. His foot came out of the pedal and he had to restart, but he still caught me.

ktaoabc

thanks for the videos!

hank0604

Now I want to go ride some real hills. The race I did last weekend had some 15-20% grades, but they were gravel roads with a lot of sand mixed in. No climbing those without walking. Even the guys in the P/1/2 race were walking up those hills.

seau grateau

Seeing videos like these makes me wonder how/why anyone would ride a brakeless FG in a city like San Francisco. I'd be more worried about the descents than the climbs, honestly.

Anyway, badass climbing.

freighttraininguphill

Thanks . I agree 110%! Being able to stop safely and quickly is of utmost importance to me, especially with the amount of oblivious pedestrians and motorists out there. Even other cyclists pose a danger. I almost got T-boned on my bike by a speeding SS/FG rider at night the other day. I don't know if he had brakes because it was too dark to see, but he blew the stop sign at high speed just as I was about to enter the intersection. At least he had lights.

ktaoabc

Since I've never posted a picture of myself before. From last fall.

bro

this dude rudy took this picture of me last week. still havent gotten my 27" fixed gear wheelset yet.... so in case youre wondering why no foot retention its because its a coaster brake hahahhhhhh yeap, razz away

sinikl

you can always rock cycle shorts under whatever else you wear. i have a cheap ass hatchet saddle and let me say, i love sitting on the belgian waffle padding in my specialized shorts.

Doohickie

First ride in over two weeks. Inconceivable!

Robofunc

I'd put some tape on those bars!

iTripped

I really like this picture.

seau grateau

Looks like a screencap from Quicksilver.

SpeshulEd 

I'm stealing it and adding it to my wallpaper rotation.

Jandro 

Riding around LA before the Marathon Crash race: My buddy (in the MASH kit) got top 10 overall, he's a beast.