On Sep 4, 2007, at 7:05 AM, Rodney Kugizaki wrote:
> For those knowledgeable, a couple of questions re. the Angeles
> Crest ride
>
> - are there places on the way to get water?
> - seems like around 5000 feet of climbing in 20 miles or so - is
> this correct and is it fairly constant?
> - what should one expect as far as temperature?
>
> Thanks,
> Rodney Kugizaki
> Tucson, AZ
Yes, there are a couple of places on the way up and back to get water. (I always took one bottle on the ride.)
The road goes up and down a little on the way up so there is more than 5000 feet of climbing in 25 miles. For many, many years I used a 42 x 21, then much more recently a 42 x 23. I don't think a 26 is really needed except if you don't ride much in the mountains. I would describe the grade as fairly constant.
No way to know what the temps in the mountains will be on September 21... if I had to guess, I'd say hot. But of course it could be the opposite by then.
Here's a photo of where we are riding to:
http://www.velo-retro.com/
The Rose Bowl is just to the left of the bridge in the lower right corner and Mount Wilson is in the middle top of the photo. It's seven miles as the crow flies from the Rose Bowl (750 ft) to the top of Mount Wilson (5750 ft).
As the Boy Scouts say, "Be prepared." And of course you can always turn around and go back down the mountain at any point; no dishonor in that. Remember, THIS IS NOT A COMPETITION... NO WAGERING PLEASE!
Chuck Schmidt
South Pasadena, CA USA
http://www.velo-retro.com (reprints, t-shirts & timelines)