This weekend, my friend Karen came up for another Bay Area visit. Ramon tweeted me earlier in the week, “Bohlman/On Orbit, Hicks” … oh boy! You know what that means … climbfest! NorCal style. This will be a doozy.
We started out with a few warm up hills, Mt. Eden, Saratoga Heights (with some sort but steep 16% grades), just to get our legs warmed up. This was just a teaser. This in itself would be a pretty tough ride, but at least the length of the climb is short.
It’s kind of funny, that the start of the climb on Bohlman is right where the cemetary is. That’s a strange omen … something about taking it’s victims that attempt to climb this.
It’s hard to tell which is tougher, Bohlman or On Orbit, but I like to think of On Orbit as an extension of Bohlman. Climbs were sustained at 15-25% for about 1.5 miles. I was pretty quickly riding from the back, but I was not in a hurry to finish this climb, especially with Hicks later on in the ride. The switchbacks on Bohlman were incredibly steep, and there was not much relief, no matter if you were on the inside or outside of the curve of the switchback. It’s a good thing this is a small residential street, with not a lot of traffic.
This is one of those climbs where you need to tack, and it’s no shame to get off your bike and rest, but the hard part is getting back on. I didn’t stop, but there were so many times where I was tempted to. Luckily, there was a flat spot where Bohlman and On Orbit intersects. That gives me a few moments to take deep breaths and compose myself, and ready to finish this damn climb.
I think On Orbit might be a little easier than Bohlman, but not by much … it’s still a sufferfest only because your legs have been under duress for some time. I climbed pretty much seated, only because the grade was so steep, I was afraid if I stood too much, I’d tip over. I did pass a couple of women who were walking on this road, and I can only imagine what their reaction was of me struggling up this hill.
Now we had to go down the same way we came up. Now, keep in mind, these grades ranged from 15% to 30%, and we have to go down these hills. It got so steep, Karen had to walk it down some of the steeper grades. Now that’s a first. We were not in a hurry to come down, and we broke up the descents multiple times. This also helped cool our rims down, and save our brake pads.
After this we headed over through Los Gatos, en route to Hicks. There was enough flat junk miles before hitting the hills that our legs, for the most part, had recovered. I can’t really say that Hicks was as tough as Bohlman or On Orbit … it’s a notch below, but it was still tough. 16+% grade is still pretty tough, and I definitely wasn’t attacking Hicks. I was still climbing from the back of my heels. Strangely enough, we were the only ones climbing. Either it’s not that popular, or people have more common sense than us.
It didn’t occur to me to climb Mt. Umunhum, as Ramon had specifically mentioned Hicks. It would have been a great day for it, but we’ll have to save this for another day. I think I had enough in my legs to climb to the gate on Mt. Umunhum, but Mt. Umunhum is not going away. Next time, we’ll attack it without Bohlman … Hicks and Umunhum is tough enough without Bohlman and On Orbit.
And of course, the Strava data – http://app.strava.com/activities/46543599
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