# OLH Vs Page Mill from Foothills Park to the Christmas tree farm



## bikerbert (Jan 28, 2005)

Does anyone know what the % grade avg is for these two stretches of road?


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## Dr_John (Oct 11, 2005)

From my quick calculations:

*OLH:* From Portola Road to Skyline: 8.5%

*Page Mill Road:* From Arastradero to Skyline: 4.5%


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

For OLH I have 1300 feet in 3.3 miles which is 7.5%.

For Page Mill I have a measurement of 4.9% from Arastradero to Skyline. I think you've chosen the start and end points to remove the rolling parts which do mess up the climb and the stats. I know exactly where you mean by Foothills Open Space Preserve, as that's on the big hairpin bend below the top of Moody Rd. I don't remember exactly where the christmas tree farm is though, otherwise I could work the numbers out from my Garmin data. You could also try plotting the route on bikely.com and looking at the elevation profile.


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## Dr_John (Oct 11, 2005)

> You could also try plotting the route on bikely.com and looking at the elevation profile.


That's where the numbers I gave came from.


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

Page Mill from the Foothills Park entrance to the intersection with Montebello Rd is 1266 feet in 3.95 miles for 6.1%. This is from a GPS log. 

Interestingly, bikely.com agrees with these numbers, more or less, though it indicates a spurious amount of descent. It does the same for OLH and I'm pretty sure that there is no section on OLH that goes down even a foot! If you calculate ascent - descent from bikely.com that matches closely the GPS number. I think that their algorithms to calculate elevation change along a route from spot heights or contour information contains a lot of noise and that noise aggregates into a lot of spurious elevation change.


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## johnny99 (Apr 2, 2004)

Average grade is a poor way to compare OLH and Page Mill. Page Mill has long flat sections mixed in with some steep (and often hot) climbs. OLH has a mostly consistent grade. OLH may have a bigger average grade, but I think Page Mill is a harder climb.


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## Dr_John (Oct 11, 2005)

> Average grade is a poor way to compare OLH and Page Mill. Page Mill has long flat sections mixed in with some steep (and often hot) climbs. OLH has a mostly consistent grade. OLH may have a bigger average grade, but I think Page Mill is a harder climb.


Couldn't agree more.


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## CoLiKe20 (Jan 30, 2006)

Dr_John said:


> That's where the numbers I gave came from.


+1.


(don't argue with the Dr.)


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

http://actc.org/profiles/index.php is the essential tool for comparing local climbs. OLH is just amazingly linear from bottom to top. I think perhaps that bikerbert is trying to find a portion of Page Mill that's comparable to OLH? Browsing through the profiles I want to go straight out and ride Alba, Felton Empire or the back-side of Mt Hamilton!


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## johnny99 (Apr 2, 2004)

The middle part of Page Mill Road, between Foothills Park's gate 3 and gate 4, is steeper than anything on Old La Honda Road. The rest of Page Mill is mostly easier (but longer) than Old La Honda.


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## bikerbert (Jan 28, 2005)

Thanks for the info. I agree Page Mill is rougher even with the "recovery" spots. I think all of the body blows from the short steeps pound your legs a little more than the gradual grind up OLH.

I'm doing a little bit of an experiment on myself to see if climbing the steeper punchier Page Mill will improve my OLH time. I'm throwing in vomit inducing 30 second "sprints" every 2 minutes to see if that improves threshold for OLH next Sunday which will mark four weeks of Page Mill runs..


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

I didn't lose my lunch on Page Mill Road today, but then I didn't see a single Christmas tree either. 

I've been similarly using Sierra Rd and Montebello Rd to toughen me up for OLH, and it did work out nicely. Setting a 20 minute pace on OLH feels quite different though. It seems insanely fast out of the gate, and then you have to keep it up all the way. If I get behind pace I never get it back again, so I go fast at the beginning, start to lag somewhat towards the upper middle, and then go all-out again at the end. Fortunately the hill is short enough that you can do the whole thing close to VO2 max, and then collapse in a pile at the top.


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## bustamove (Aug 12, 2004)

bikerbert said:


> Thanks for the info. I agree Page Mill is rougher even with the "recovery" spots. I think all of the body blows from the short steeps pound your legs a little more than the gradual grind up OLH.
> 
> I'm doing a little bit of an experiment on myself to see if climbing the steeper punchier Page Mill will improve my OLH time. I'm throwing in vomit inducing 30 second "sprints" every 2 minutes to see if that improves threshold for OLH next Sunday which will mark four weeks of Page Mill runs..


A couple of suggestions that might work for you -- hill repeats on Montebello (just from the bottom to the school or maybe lower) and lots of base miles. We already know you have a strong core after leading all those core strengthening classes.

Finding the winning combination to beat your PR on OLH -
I believe a lot of time is lost after the last steep section (just past the narrow passage between the two redwood trees) if you cannot recover and get your speed back up when the grade gets easier. So work as hard as you can to the last steep pitch, but leave enough in the tank for the last mile to the top. 

Having someone to chase up OLH is also a good way of breaking your PR. You are less likely to slow down if you have wheel to follow.


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## HammerTime-TheOriginal (Mar 29, 2006)

bustamove said:


> Having someone to chase up OLH is also a good way of breaking your PR. You are less likely to slow down if you have wheel to follow.


Yeah, especially if you draft them, or better yet a small pack. But that's kind of cheating. And yes, drafting does matter, even up OLH.


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## CrankyMonkey (Jul 8, 2007)

My best time up OLH was right after I had 2 weeks where I had only ridden once each week and I had gotten some really good sleep the night before. I was so excited to be riding my bike that I felt like nothing could stop me. The thing that really sucks is my best time was the second ride up OLH. Now I'm chasing that time and have yet to beat it. 

Before you ask "What's your time?" It's so embarrassingly long that I'm not willing to share it with you guys.


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## eazyrider08 (Sep 21, 2006)

*OLH Time*

Been riding for a couple of years now..though I don't particularly like climbing, I try to do big climbs once in a while...my ave for OLH is about 22-23 mins...Is this considered a good time, say if I try to hang with some club rides that do it?


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## johnny99 (Apr 2, 2004)

23 minutes on OLH is a good for a recreational club ride, not so good for a racing club ride.


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## ilium (Aug 15, 2006)

johnny99 said:


> 23 minutes on OLH is a good for a recreational club ride, not so good for a racing club ride.


Yea, you'd be fine on the Webcor B ride with a 23min OLH. A little too slow for noon ride or spectrum though.


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## bikerbert (Jan 28, 2005)

Sub 25 gets you the ability to hang with Cat slower3's but definite 4/5's. It won't get you to the top first, but it won't get you spit out the back of most of the rides that go up that hill. 

Using Page Mill helped. The last time up OLH four weeks ago was 30 seconds slower than OLH today. The experiment worked!


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