Landon and I were itching for a good ride a couple weekends ago. We decided that Mt. Baldy would be a good, fun ride. It would also give us a chance to ride to the highest single track legally accessible by bike (or so I've read) in California (maybe the US).
Here's a map and elevation profile of the ride here.
At the beginning of the ride we were asking each other whether or not we could ride Leadville in less than 9 hours. For those of you who don't know, Leadville is a 100mi mt. bike race that takes place over 10k ft, peaks out over 12, and has 14k ft of climbing. Needless to say, after riding at or near 10k ft of semi-steep rough terrain... My perspective has changed.
It would take the feat incapable by mere mortals to ride Leadville in under 9 hours. We managed 6 miles, with 3600ft of climbing, that tops out just over 10k ft and that took us an hour and a half to negotiate. Not to mention we had to walk many of the loose sections near the top. To our credit I don't think that Leadville is a sustained 12-14% with many sections nearing 20%. Either way, it would be difficult for us to manage that 9 hour mark without acclimatizing.
Here are some pics...
No comments:
Post a Comment