How long, big, steep are
the climbs?
the climbs?
Mt. Wilson 8/20
- Thread starter Nagaredama
- Start date
Depending on what route you guys take but my usual is from the gate to the saddle(3/4 mile) slow gradual climb of middle ring>to Upper Merril(300 yards)of some little hike a bike>ride down and through to Middle Merril>climb out (1 mile) of small ring climbing up to Sunset>down to Millard campground and the climb out(1-1.5 miles) up to El Prieto Canyon and then the 1.5 mile ride out of the canyon to the parking lot. You can opt out of Upper Merril,Middle Merril and bypass El Prieto to avoid climbs but that would be 40 miles of round trip shuttle for 4 miles of S/T. All in all its about 15 miles of trails with a 4500 ft. descend. Single chainrings need not apply unless you like pushingmtnbrider said:
sh1t,, too much climbing for me,, im a smoker trying to quit, if the climb goes into the granny ring fahget about it!!! i can go down, but im in no shape for going up yet,,,
My route's a bit different then IMALSLO's. I do the frontside horse trails instead of El Prieto. If you look at the map I posted you can see... It's the gate to .5 mile uphill (this is super easy, and a good warm up. don't let this keep you away) to the fireroad. Now here you can take a singletrack or the fireroad. The singletrack is way more fun but way more climbing. They both end up at the same spot. Next is Middle Merrill singletrack. Flat at first, then down... This goes to the Mt.Lowe hotel ruins. We take a break here (Smoke 'em if you got 'em!). Next is a 0.8 mile uphill. This is the one that pisses people off. you'll be pushing a big bike, or pedalling in the middle and granny. But it's less then a mile. Are you telling me that you can't push your bike for less than a mile?! 
This takes us to the Sunset singletrack. All down, very fun. After that you can take El Prieto or the horse trail. I take the horse trail. Less climbing but we'll still have two very short (less than .5 mile) climbs. And then we're done. The climbs suck and I am looking for an alternate trail to bypass them but so far I have been unsuccessful.
It turns out to be like 12 miles with about 3 miles of climbing/pushing. If you have a trailbike that can climb, the El Prieto rout is more fun but more climbing.
you'll be pushing a big bike, or pedalling in the middle and granny. But it's less then a mile. Are you telling me that you can't push your bike for less than a mile?! This takes us to the Sunset singletrack. All down, very fun. After that you can take El Prieto or the horse trail. I take the horse trail. Less climbing but we'll still have two very short (less than .5 mile) climbs. And then we're done. The climbs suck and I am looking for an alternate trail to bypass them but so far I have been unsuccessful.
It turns out to be like 12 miles with about 3 miles of climbing/pushing. If you have a trailbike that can climb, the El Prieto rout is more fun but more climbing.
All my numbers were guesstimates but assuming your using the TOPO they were pretty closeCiaran said:My route's a bit different then IMALSLO's. I do the frontside horse trails instead of El Prieto. If you look at the map I posted you can see... It's the gate to .5 mile uphill (this is super easy, and a good warm up. don't let this keep you away) to the fireroad. Now here you can take a singletrack or the fireroad. The singletrack is way more fun but way more climbing. They both end up at the same spot. Next is Middle Merrill singletrack. Flat at first, then down... This goes to the Mt.Lowe hotel ruins. We take a break here (Smoke 'em if you got 'em!). Next is a 0.8 mile uphill. This is the one that pisses people off.
This takes us to the Sunset singletrack. All down, very fun. After that you can take El Prieto or the horse trail. I take the horse trail. Less climbing but we'll still have two very short (less than .5 mile) climbs. And then we're done. The climbs suck and I am looking for an alternate trail to bypass them but so far I have been unsuccessful.
It turns out to be like 12 miles with about 3 miles of climbing/pushing. If you have a trailbike that can climb, the El Prieto rout is more fun but more climbing.
No Upper Merril or El Prieto? 30 mile round trip shuttle for 7 miles of S/T? 
I may show up anyway. Ill be the white guy in the Honda Element.
go sunday sunday sunday! i think i go the same way as ciarian. in the beginning i take the single track instead of the fireroad. i walk that. then everything else is the same and i do the fireroad climb to el prieto. i do it all on single ring dh bike. so anyone can do it.
climbing definitely sucks, but if it hurts and you push yourself you feel so much better afterwards. you just gotta keep going beyond what your brain is telling you, thatsyoure tired and you can't go any further. thats where you get your workout. the results on your next ride will definitely show you
climbing definitely sucks, but if it hurts and you push yourself you feel so much better afterwards. you just gotta keep going beyond what your brain is telling you, thatsyoure tired and you can't go any further. thats where you get your workout. the results on your next ride will definitely show you
you can count me out for wilson tomo.. just found out i have friends coming down from up north..gonna be a long night.. i will probably be out at the whoops sat and sunday afternoon/evening though.
That sucks, maybe next time. Nargaredama is at the whoops right now trying out his new AS-X.fiddy_ryder said:
tgreathead said:
these are old school high school folks.. gotta party it up.. :evil: besides, i had a blast last weekend, finally starting to get back in my groove. i hit 2 new dubs i didnt the week before. Then we you guys hiked up the last time, i packed up and took one last run down and hit the small kicker over the wash out for the first time :dancing:
Dude, you gotta let people know you're gonna do these things. I had a camera in my bagfiddy_ryder said:
Have fun, Im just going to ride tunnel or something in Santa Barbara.
Whos riding then? Mike you still in?
Anyone doing shuttle runs in the LA/OC area sat. afternoon?
This blows. I checked back to see if anyone responded at about 9:50 (I had a 1/2 hour commute)and didnt see anything and assumed it was off. I must have just missed your post. My apologies.Ciaran said:
I rode tunnel this morning with a kid I met at velosport in SB. He had a stab and I was alot faster. He had to walk some sections. I only walked a few feet to get a good staring place after a crash. Body armor/elbow guards would be good on there. I am getting an 05 flak jacket monday. I did it in 45min.
WHat else is good in Santa Barbara. Is there anything long and fast?
WHat else is good in Santa Barbara. Is there anything long and fast?
2 days of Wilson went off. However, just like like my first time riding it, I didn't get any riding pictures. Maybe if I wasn't so slow I could be there waiting with the camera 
Ciaran, I've got your sunglasses (left in my car).
And somebody snaked my Roach arm guards. Who's got 'em?
Nargaredama & Ciaran at the drop
Ciaran's flat halfway down, good thing I always carry a tube
Nargaredama about to down 2 sandwiches
Closing ceremonies (rumor has it that wearing scrubs gets you admitted to the ER faster...)
Good times.
Ciaran, I've got your sunglasses (left in my car).
And somebody snaked my Roach arm guards. Who's got 'em?
Nargaredama & Ciaran at the drop
Ciaran's flat halfway down, good thing I always carry a tube
Nargaredama about to down 2 sandwiches
Closing ceremonies (rumor has it that wearing scrubs gets you admitted to the ER faster...)
Good times.
That brings back memories. Wilson has way too much hiking/uphill for me to consider it a good time...
It won't be so bad once it cools down. The only time I actually got really hot was the walk of shame in the blistering heat on fireroad to El Prieto. Marlopez rode every uphill like a freaking animal.blt2ride said:
Funny thing was we saw more hikers earlier on Sunday than later on Saturday. Even met a german guy up top near the tunnel that was looking for Mt. Lowe. I didn't realize until I looked at the map this morning that the hotel ruins are on Mt. Lowe, he'd passed it miles earlier
James,blt2ride said:
I think your tour guide was a total masochist and took you on a hell ride. When I did it there was about 1.5 miles of climbing and it wasn't that bad.
btw, punkassean and I are thinking heading down your way for some riding some time soon. I'll keep you posted.
Noah,Zark said:James,
I think your tour guide was a total masochist and took you on a hell ride. When I did it there was about 1.5 miles of climbing and it wasn't that bad.
btw, punkassean and I are thinking heading down your way for some riding some time soon. I'll keep you posted.
I think you're right. We hiked and hiked, and then had another hike to get out.
Come on down! I will be out of town this weekend, I'm going to Vegas. I'm going to try to get a few runs up at Bootleg and then I think a little moto riding. Oh yeah, and then some gambling and drinking...can't forget about that.
If you were planning on coming down this weekend, I think there should be some local guys hanging out and riding...let me know.
Oh wow, talk about being a buck short and a day late. I went riding w/ some friends down in Aliso Viejo and I wanted to do Wilson instead.
I heard there's a shuttle run there too. The only trail I've hit had alot of climbing. Sorry, I don't know specific trail names. Is there a run that's DH bike friendly? I'd be interested in meeting up w/ you guys if you did it again.
Dave
I heard there's a shuttle run there too. The only trail I've hit had alot of climbing. Sorry, I don't know specific trail names. Is there a run that's DH bike friendly? I'd be interested in meeting up w/ you guys if you did it again.
Dave
There were 4 people on DH bikes yesterday. Probably overkill but whatever gets the job done.Stinky D said:
If you shuttle up top there's a relatively short climb to the main intersection. Then either down a fireroad or a bit more climbing up a singletrack to get to some really nice singletrack down. Then down for a while until the halfway mark. Then up for about a mile in exposed sun. Then down another few miles, then either a short up to a short down or a pretty decent up (very sun exposed) to some great rolling up & down. The first end option is shorter but has recently been 'dozed so its almost like a wide, loose 4X course. The second option has a climb but I think the end result is more fun.
I pedaled the majority of the uphill Saturday but was burned by Sunday. I've got a 32t (i think) up front and its no problem if you're not too tired. With a 42t or something up front you'd never be able to pedal it (unless you're marlopez)
damn,, sounds like it was a blast.. i need to start pedaling more.. my damn legs are sore just from going up and down the whoops for a couple of hours.
tgreathead said:2 days of Wilson went off. However, just like like my first time riding it, I didn't get any riding pictures. Maybe if I wasn't so slow I could be there waiting with the camera
Ciaran, I've got your sunglasses (left in my car).
And somebody snaked my Roach arm guards. Who's got 'em?
Nargaredama & Ciaran at the drop
Ciaran's flat halfway down, good thing I always carry a tube
Nargaredama about to down 2 sandwiches
Closing ceremonies (rumor has it that wearing scrubs gets you admitted to the ER faster...)
Good times.
The ride went well. Thanks to Mike (Ciarian) for leading.
Points of interest.
There was a trail runner who was nice enough to let Ciarian and I by but I kept banging my pedals and holding the guy up. He got the last laugh when I flew off a drop into the bushes and broke my front brake line. Doing half the ride with no front brake made for good times and some wore out rear pads.
SMT from MTBR brought a lady friend who fell 20 feet down a cliff managing to escape with only a scratch on her shoulder.
For the next ride I'll ditch the moto helmet in favor of something with vents!
Scott
fiddy_ryder said:
If you belong to a gym that offers spinning classes I highly recommend it. During the paddling offseason when I have time to take the the classes it kicks my butt hard. Once I hop on a real bike I am able to motor up the Whoops and just about every other hill I can find.
The concept is true but I don't have a gym membership. I try to ride at least twice during the week and many times its just around my neighborhood in the city. I purposely go to the steepest, longest hills I can find and just power up them a few times. There's a few near me that I could only do once that I can do over and over now. One of these days when I have time I'm gonna ride from my house (near UCLA) to the Valley on Sepulveda. That'll be funNagaredama said:
The whoops are good if you're learning to jump and ride from top to bottom but it'll never get your legs in great pedaling shape. An easy way to help this is when you go to the Whoops ride up the fireroad (or walk that first steep part) and ride up to Mountaingate. Then just turn around, come back down and hang out at the whoops. Do that every time you come up and you'll be hitting Wilson like a champ in no time. Or just park at Mountaingate so you have to ride back up
tgreathead said:The concept is true but I don't have a gym membership. I try to ride at least twice during the week and many times its just around my neighborhood in the city. I purposely go to the steepest, longest hills I can find and just power up them a few times. There's a few near me that I could only do once that I can do over and over now. One of these days when I have time I'm gonna ride from my house (near UCLA) to the Valley on Sepulveda. That'll be fun
The whoops are good if you're learning to jump and ride from top to bottom but it'll never get your legs in great pedaling shape. An easy way to help this is when you go to the Whoops ride up the fireroad (or walk that first steep part) and ride up to Mountaingate. Then just turn around, come back down and hang out at the whoops. Do that every time you come up and you'll be hitting Wilson like a champ in no time. Or just park at Mountaingate so you have to ride back up
Don't forget base miles my friend. Grinding up a steep hill uses your muscles in a very different way from a downhill sprint. When paddling is over we'll have to do some long moderately paced rides at Cheeseboro, some slow steep grinds in Malibu (I know just the place), and some high intensity intervals on the bike path.
The only reason I go spinning during the winter is because it gets dark so early. It also pushes your pain toloreance since most the insructors do it everyday of the week or are semi-pro road racers. The key is miles on the/a bike. I recall readding an article about Mick Hannah and the amount of time he spends on a road bike to get base miles in on his road. Long low intesity stuff is key to building your base for which you can build.