On Bicycles, and.... what else is there?

approaching the Low-Key finish (Cara Coburn photo) Yesterday I rode the Diabolical Duo at Mount Vaca. First: Mix Canyon Road. Coordinator Barry Burr did an excellent job organizing this one, definitely the "road trip" ride for many in the 2011 Low-Key Hillclimb schedule. For my car pool it wasn't a big deal: one hour from San Francisco, even stopping for gas. Rides like Alba Road, Bonny Doon, Henry Coe, Jamison Creek Road, and Hicks Road we've done in the past are all substantially further, with plenty more of comparable distance. But most of our riders live closer to San Jose than to San Francisco, and for them the trip was further. But even from San Jose this trip was worth it. A big part of it was our Strava event: The Diabolical Duo . The Low-Key Hillclimb covered just the first part of this: to complete the Duo, riders needed to also climb nearby Gates Canyon Road. Inspiration for the Duo event came from The Toughest Ascent Blog . I won't even t...

The 2011 Low-Key Hillclimbs are over the hump, with 5 of the 9 scheduled events in the bag. Each one has had near-perfect weather, with warm sunshine without being hot. It's been supernatural, almost. Week 1 is always stressful: after a long "off-seson", Low-Key returns to Montebello Road. I traditionally coordinate this one, more to take responsibility for the outcome rather than due to being qualified. Honestly, organization is not my strong point, and every year something gets overlooked. But I've had excellent assistance from Howard Kveck these past few years, and he helps keep things in shape when I stumble. Sometimes there's a bit of next-day revision needed on the results based on email feedback, but in the end we typically get them fairly good. This year things went even smoother than normal. Week 2 : a late swap with Barry Burr for week 6 (more on that) had me coordinating Sierra Road, as well. Biggest trick on Sierra Road is the start, which ...

Approaching Mt Vaca We're getting close to the end game in the 2010 Low-Key Hillclimbs and the mind naturally turns to the 2011 schedule. And there's one climb which I've wanted to visit ever since it was first suggested to me three years ago. That's Mix Canyon Road out of Vacaville. From Vacaville, you follow Pleasants Valley Road to the north until Mix goes off to the left. View Larger Map The usual response is it's sort of far afield. Sure, from San Jose it's 91 miles and it's 86 from Palo Alto but from San Francisco, where I live, it's closer than three of the climbs on the 2010 schedule. I'm not too worried about the distance. It's worth a bit of travel for a very special climb. After the turn the road climbs gradually but it gets steeper the further you go. Approaching the summit is a will-cracking 15% sustained, which means sections at 20% with "recovery" at around 10%. The combination of altitude gained, the ...