From our good friend Stephen, the organizer of this and previous versions:
An urban cyclocross ride/race through the Eastside of Los Angeles where participants pedal to stairways, portage their bike and climb ’em, before heading to the next one. It’s fun, challenging (but do-able) and eye-opening: you’ll probably see parts of LA you haven’t. And if you don’t want to race, no problem. During the inaugural event a few folks stopped at a garage sale and picked up a messenger bag for cheap!
Fast folks should finish in 60 to 75 minutes and more leisurely riders can complete it in about 90 minutes or so. I think. Haven’t nailed down the course yet.
This is a Swarm! event.
The name? The first event was held on Nietzsche’s b-day.
The flier? Courtesy of Chris. He rules.
On the facebook at bit.ly/thusclimbed
Fixed gear appropriate route–or strictly geared?
The top three places in 2006 were all fixed gear, but all with brakes. It was challenging cause some of those hills are steep, both up and down!In 2008 first and second were geared, third was fixed and I think that was the difference, really.Brakeless and competing would be really dangerous, but that has never stopped anyone.
That's cool–I know you guys are all race-y 'n shit, but I'd dig doing the route just for the fun of it–and leave the spandex at home. My knees, on the other hand, will probably be hating me in the morning.