UniGeezer

Went to Laguna Beach to try to ride 3rd street straight up...in traffic!

It's a whopping 30% grade, and driving over the crest feels like you're going over a cliff since you can't see it drop off below your hood!

CbadRider

I would not be able to get my bike up that hill.

I liked the comment from the guy in the SUV. Have you ever had any drivers heckle you while riding the way they might do to a cyclist on a bike?

UniGeezer

Surprisingly not much, but then I usually do mostly mountain trail riding, and the road riding I do is almost always limited to beach bike paths or quieter residential streets where there's not a lot of traffic. But occasionally I do get the old, "where's your other wheel", etc., but thankfully most comments are pretty positive.

skidder

For your next unicycle climb you can try Cove Drive at the north end of Dana Point Harbor (above the parking lot at the Marine Institute building). About twice as long as 3rd street, maybe not quite as steep, but its a goody. About 15 years ago there was an organized time trial-style race up it each summer.

Q: Is it easier to learn to unicycle on a smaller wheel? (20", maybe even 16")? I've always been temped to try it if I can find a used one.

UniGeezer

Thanks for that tip, I'll go check it out! I experimented with several wheel sizes and found the 24 to be optimum. The 20 (or small) is easier to turn but takes FOREVER to get anywhere. Anything bigger than a 24, regardless of crank size or weight, gets progressively harder to turn because the downward power stroke for each half rev takes longer to come around each time, and therefore can lead to stalling.

So while you are traveling further per rev with the larger wheel, the longer arc takes much more energy to turn and is extremely apparent on hills this steep. In this video you can see me trying to ride my 29er up the hill (last climb) and I'm actually stalling out after each half rev, The only thing I could do was rely on technique and stay balanced while I mustered the strength to eek out each successive rev. Much, much harder!

UniGeezer

I looked at the street on google earth. Not sure which end is the steepest. Also, it's listed as Cove *road*, and could not find Cove "drive", bt I'm assuming this is the right street. As usual, it's hard to get a sense of the actual grade percentage, but it does look considerable less steep than 30%. I'll still go check it out since I'll be going that way to San Juan trail. Thanks again!

Bikegeek1968

"Killer" Cove Road is the steepest thing around in Dana Point, but it only gets into the mid to high teens. It does not compare to 3rd street. It was used again for a TT a couple of years ago the day before the Dana Point Grand Prix.

The only road around here that would compare is the opening half km of Nyes Place in Laguna Beach. It clocks in at about 20 percent.

There are some paved water tower access roads in South OC that may be steeper, but they are all behind locked gates. The segments show up in Strava, but who knows if the grades listed are accurate.