# mt hamilton weekday



## heythorp (Feb 17, 2005)

Anyone interested/have the time to hit mt. hamilton during the week(weekends good too) 

Moved out here about 3 months ago and I think its time to see this and Diablo. Not sure why, but I want to hit Hamilton first. 

Thinking somewhere between the 19th and the 26th


----------



## zamboni (Sep 11, 2003)

Welcome to the area and weekday is not that much traffic heading up Mt Hamilton.


----------



## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

Weekdays can be difficult because of work, while weekends can be difficult because of wife! I'll try to see if I can rearrange some things because Mt Hamilton is such a great ride and a rare opportunity. What sort of pace would this ride be?


----------



## heythorp (Feb 17, 2005)

ukbloke said:


> Weekdays can be difficult because of work, while weekends can be difficult because of wife! I'll try to see if I can rearrange some things because Mt Hamilton is such a great ride and a rare opportunity. What sort of pace would this ride be?



Well from reading your posts and the stuff you are doing lets just say you will be in the lead.

Pace is B to B+

Having never ridden it I will probably be pretty conservative.


----------



## Mtn2RoadConvert (Aug 28, 2006)

ukbloke said:


> Weekdays can be difficult because of work, while weekends can be difficult because of wife! I'll try to see if I can rearrange some things because Mt Hamilton is such a great ride and a rare opportunity. What sort of pace would this ride be?


What kind of pace/effort would it be considered riding from the corner of Alum Rock/Mount Hamilton Road to the observatory in 1:50? That was a pretty comfortable pace for me last Thanksgiving before the LowKey Hill Climb crowd.


----------



## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

Mtn2RoadConvert said:


> What kind of pace/effort would it be considered riding from the corner of Alum Rock/Mount Hamilton Road to the observatory in 1:50? That was a pretty comfortable pace for me last Thanksgiving before the LowKey Hill Climb crowd.


90 minutes was a target time that I've talked about with a couple of friends. I tried once last year and came in spot on that time, but it was one of the hardest things I've ever done. It seems that, for me at least, many of the climbs round here have an easy to remember target - OLH in 20, Kings 25, Page Mill 45, Sierra 30, Highway 9 in 35, etc. If I rode the Low Key Hill Climbs on a regular basis, I think my team name would have to be something like "Median Man"! It's all relative.


----------



## heythorp (Feb 17, 2005)

ukbloke said:


> It seems that, for me at least, many of the climbs round here have an easy to remember target - OLH in 20, Kings 25, Page Mill 45, Sierra 30, Highway 9 in 35, etc. If I rode the Low Key Hill Climbs on a regular basis, I think my team name would have to be something like *"Median Man"*! It's all relative.



I think you are short 5 minutes on your times to be median man. This area is so loaded with super fast people its crazy and I think it skews perception. While I have seen people flying up those hills I see many more suffering as I go by.

I have never timed myself on any of these hills and I ride them daily. I bet I am much closer to median than you, as all of my racing I have done I am the median. I give my buddy crap all the time because he thinks he should be some super star and I call him mid pack dan. It drives him nuts, especially since he hasn't beaten me yet.


I will also add the gearing I climb the usual hills in. I usually stay in the same gear all the way to the top. I have issues. 

OLH normally 34x21 or 34x19. I do it occasionally 34x17 

Tunitas 34x21 or 34x19 but at the 3 mile to go I put it in the big ring and go pretty hard to the top.

Alpine West 34x21 or 34x19 This is my favorite climb in the area. the top can be an eye crosser if you have worked too much on the first part. 

Kings 34x21 or 34x19 This road is my nemesis. The section that is exposed 2/3 of the way up seems to pitch up that little extra and puts me in the hurt locker. 

I have only climbed Page Mill once. I used way too much early on not knowing the hill. This hill definitely calls for a lot of shifting and that is not my style. I was in 34x21 for most of it but I cooked my self, not on 3 grunts (actually I didn't think they were that bad), but right after that the road pitches up pretty hard. I had to drop to 34x27 to recover and then went back to business. 

Anyways, I have no problem waiting for people. My guess is i will be somewhere around 1:45 but I have no idea.


And OT: UK Bloke. Would like to see you make this ride. Definitely want to talk to you about your software.


----------



## mohair_chair (Oct 3, 2002)

I used to do it after work on a semi-regular basis during the summer. We'd start at roughly 4:30-5:00pm and be done around 8pm. Not much traffic, but there was one coyote who used to stand in the road. He ignored us as we rode right past him.

Bring a jacket. It's cold up there, especially when you are soaked with sweat.

Took one of my favorite shots of all time coming down one night.


----------



## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

heythorp said:


> I think you are short 5 minutes on your times to be median man.


Well, the median reference is with respect to the self-selected Low Key Hill Climb participants, and not with respect to the general cycling population! It takes a special kind of masochist to turn out weekly to up-hill individual time trials. The time of the median rider is particularly interesting for LKHC because everyone is awarded a score relative to the median time. Median man gets 100 points every race, while a top-flight contender finishing in 2/3'rds of the time will get 150 points. This is a very nice way of scoring each event and the series.



> I will also add the gearing I climb the usual hills in. I usually stay in the same gear all the way to the top.


We are very different in our pacing! You tend towards constant gear ratio, while I tend toward constant power and constant cadence. I change gear often and cannot assign one gear to a hill (unless it is like Bohlman and then the gear is the lowest available!).



> And OT: UK Bloke. Would like to see you make this ride. Definitely want to talk to you about your software.


I'm very tempted - it depends on schedule. It turns out that my daughter is out of pre-school next week and doing swimming lessons, which adds yet more constraints to my schedule.


----------



## heythorp (Feb 17, 2005)

ukbloke said:


> Well, the median reference is with respect to the self-selected Low Key Hill Climb participants,


Ah I had no idea what that was. Cool concept



ukbloke said:


> We are very different in our pacing! You tend towards constant gear ratio, while I tend toward constant power and constant cadence. I change gear often and cannot assign one gear to a hill (unless it is like Bohlman and then the gear is the lowest available!).


I threw out my monitors and computers a few years ago. Banging my head against beating myself every ride was taking the fun out of it. Giving a gear for a selected hill is the only way I can give a gauge for others. 

Your way is much better and faster. I have no rhyme or reason for what I do other than being lazy. 




ukbloke said:


> I'm very tempted - it depends on schedule. It turns out that my daughter is out of pre-school next week and doing swimming lessons, which adds yet more constraints to my schedule.



Hope you make it. Its not next week, the week after.


----------



## rfrancisco (Feb 2, 2004)

Saw that coyote in late March - early April, it looked pretty thin and its tail was really raged. It was looking at my riding partner calf like a big meaty ham bone :yikes:


----------



## cotocalicyclist (Feb 18, 2006)

Awesome picture Mohair_Chair. I like it so much that I am using it as my desktop picture now (I hope you don't mind). That picture really sums up why we ride better than any words.


----------



## heythorp (Feb 17, 2005)

So I am going to go do this on Wednesday the 23rd. Start time 9:30. 


If someone wants to do Thursday that is ok too and start time is also flexible. Otherwise I will update afterwards.

Weather on both days are supposed to be perfect.


----------



## heythorp (Feb 17, 2005)

So just got back from the climb.

Its not too bad. The day was perfect. Blue skies and the temp was great. 

1:43 to the top. I stopped at the stop sign ( I started about 5 miles away) to start the timer on the phone. Hit start and juggled the phone for a few secs to get it in the jersey. Then with a grunt I tried to get the bike going only to notice I was in 50 x12.

For some stupid reason I climbed the first 3-4 miles in the big chain ring. I wasn't working too hard but just no reason to be in that gear. I was pretty conservative over the next 9 miles. If you ask me this is the part of the hill you can be aggressive. Lots of places for recovery and the down hills. 

When I got to the 5 miles to go sign, I said to myself too bad its not 3 I am getting bored. I went pretty hard and consistent from here to the top. When I got to the observatory I was glad I was done, more mentally than physically. 

The last 5 is more difficult for a few reason. 
1. you have been on the bike a while now climbing
2. you can now see the observatory and it looks like its vertically above you
3. no recovery sections like the first 13 miles of the hill. 

I think 1:30 is more than feasible. I am 10lbs over my fighting weight and while I have a good base right now, I am in a funk where my legs just don't want to move (too much too fast when I moved out here). 

Now knowing the hill I could probably take a few minutes off, but to get to the 1:30 number I would need to loose the 10lbs and get out of this cycling fog I have been in for 3 weeks. 

Anyways. Looks like I will be doing this again with my GF on July 2nd. Anyone want in? It will be a much much slower ride to the top that is for sure. I might have to bring music, lunch, dinner and a movie.


----------

