Pig Farm Hill - CHECK!

Just got back from a great 37 mile ride with my friend Nicole - we started in El Sobrante and took Alhambra Valley up the dreaded Pig Farm Hill - a hill I have been worried about since I first heard about it. I am pleased to report that I made it up with up with no stops - but I know the three heart-felt expletives I gasped out at various points along the way really made a difference!

Then a lovely descent (max speed - 41.5 mph!) and some rollers and then more climbing up Reliez Valley - wow that's a doozey - but at least it's shady. Then the usual stuff through Moraga and back on the Dam Rd (against a freaking headwind so strong I was working really hard to go 10 mph downhill! :eek:)

A beautiful route and perfect cycling weather.

Next BZ challenge in the "Bay Area Named Hills to Creep Up": Wildcat Canyon! (one of these days!)

Yeah! Bubba says 10 pts for style and extra credit for expletives.

Good for you!! That hill's a doozy!

You'll be ready for the Bike Against the Odds Century ride next year! :)

Excellent! Great job bikerz. The secret to hills - well, you already know it - just keep pedaling!

V.

Thanks! Personally, I think it's the significantly placed f-words - Really, sometimes it feels like it's a choice between stopping or cussing! (And I don't really swear much... but steep hills and strong headwinds bring out the sailor in me!)

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Originally Posted by tararat

You'll be ready for the Bike Against the Odds Century ride next year!

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Ha! I think I'd need to start the week before! But who knows what next year will bring!

A belated "woohoo!", bikerz

I love this kind goal being reached

Hills are my nemisis!

I have hills that are named, or i have named, and they are in my list of "things to conquer"

Of course, once conquered, they become "something to get up faster than last time" :p

Of course, once conquered, they become "something to get up faster than last time"

Yep! And.. sometimes faster and other times slower! ;) ;) ;) ;)

I train on the other side of Pig Farm hill (the one Ms BikerZ went down). It's part of my twice weekly metric. I've steadily gotten faster on that road and it's made century rides with hills much easier for me this year. (Of course I have a bike that's about 5 lbs lighter too!)

Z- Good for you! I'm thinking of doing that route from the Carquinez bridge- going backwards to Pinole, then over the Bears, up that nasty Pig Farm hill, and then home via Franklin Canyon. Have never done the Bears that way (and You Have!!!!)

Really, bikerz, congratulations! I noticed this hill on my bike map just last week. It's listed as "off the scale". I thought, well let's not ride there today.

How was Reliez Valley, in terms of the shoulder & traffic? It runs right near my neighborhood, but I've been too chicken to try it by myself. I could get to the Bears if I could quit whining about the road over there...

Bike Goddess, what route do you take from the Carquinez?

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Originally Posted by Bike Goddess

Of course, once conquered, they become "something to get up faster than last time"

Yep! And.. sometimes faster and other times slower! ;) ;) ;) ;)

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Hmmm... thats interesting... I never seem to notice the slower times... :p
Even when someone asks how I went up 'that' hill, I find something else :rolleyes: about the ride to talk about

But I RAVE when I get up faster!!! :D I need no encouragement at all!!!!

selectively yours
RR

HaHaHaHa!:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

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Originally Posted by dachshund

Really, bikerz, congratulations! I noticed this hill on my bike map just last week. It's listed as "off the scale". I thought, well let's not ride there today.

How was Reliez Valley, in terms of the shoulder & traffic? It runs right near my neighborhood, but I've been too chicken to try it by myself. I could get to the Bears if I could quit whining about the road over there...

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You know, Reliez valley goes on forever, but it was shady and not much traffic - I thought it was fine, just endless. Not nearly as steep as Pig Farm. But I was traveling clockwise - not sure if that's the same direction you mean. You would be going the opposite way to get to the bears, I think.

Nanci - I have only done the bears in a clockwise direction - from castro ranch to alhambra to bear creek (mama, baby and papa bear in that order) to the dam rd to castro ranch.

Also - this site shows more than anyone may ever want to know about Bay Area hills :eek:

Yes, I'd have to take Reliez Valley north to Alhambra to get around Briones Park, the big fat green thing on the google map...

And then you'd have to go UP pig farm the other way, then the 3 bears, then home the same way would involve the short steep pig farm YIKES!! And the Releiz Valley. :eek: :eek: :eek:

OK - just got back from a 35 mile ride where we came up Pig Farm from the other side - and I would like to say for the record that it was HARD! :eek: :eek: I think I prefer the steep side because the torture was over sooner. Maybe also hitting PF 28 miles into a hilly ride was part of it - my legs were cold-to-fresh going up the steep side last time, and they were pretty tired today starting up.

Nancy - you've probably done this route - we started on Castro Ranch Rd - L on Alhambra into Pinole, then out past the Rodeo refinery (nasty road!), through Crockett and through Port Costa along that closed road something-something Scenic Drive, then back through Martinez on Alhambra, up Pig Farm, then up Castro Ranch. Whew - lots of hills along the way. Tons of cyclists out today.

Oh, and new PB on downhill speed - 43.1 mph down Castro Ranch :D

Good job Z!!! Do you, or anyone for that matter, know if the road surface on the Bears has settled down after the recent gravel maintenance? I'd like to do a ride out that way, but not sure what conditions are like....

Thanks!

Gravel maintenance? I was thinking of doing the Bears next weekend ... :(

Good job, Z. I think you rode Carquinez Scenic drive. Did you take McEwen too?

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Originally Posted by aka_kim

Good job, Z. I think you rode Carquinez Scenic drive. Did you take McEwen too?

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McEwan - Ohhhhh noooo, not McEwan! :eek: We went past McEwan and saw all the spray-painted indicators for the Grizzly Peak Century, and just kept on going! There were plenty of hills that were definitely noticable to me, but when I looked at the elevation profile from my cyclometer, they were NOTHING compared to Pig Farm - it's actually pretty funny to look at it. Maybe I'll post it tomorrow for a laugh!

Ellen - I don't know about the Bears surface, but I'll find out tomrrow and report back - I'll be out that way and I'll take a look.

Dachshund - here's the elevation profile of my first Pig Farm route (the "steep" side from El Sobrante - you can also see Reliez Valley: Attachment 1303

And here it is coming the other direction from Martinez:Attachment 1304

OK thats just scary.:D :D
Well done .:)

Yowza! I think I'll leave this one for... some other time. That's extremely impressive. Did I say "extreme" ?

What's going on with the Bears route? Seems to be "the season" for roadwork.

Thanks Ann!

Latest word from cyclists- yes, Bears doable from either side. :D :D:D

BUT- road from ranger station to summit of Diablo is closed during the week as well as the north side road. Open on weekends only

ALSO- Pinehurst is closed for repairs. Not open at all (my understanding)