Summerson's guide to California roadie climbs is useful as you'll find many of the best Sierra roadie climbs are between Lone Pine & Bishop.: http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Climbing-Bike-California/dp/0979257123#_ Since White Mountain (from the floor) is mostly road, doing the three from Lone Pine: Horseshoe Meadows (11k), Whitney Portal (8.4K) and a little further up the road (15 miles) Onion Valley (11k) is a good way to get some miles in and at altitude. Horseshoe and Onion Valley are long and steep - good training for White Mtn. Onion Valley is typically rated the toughest road climb in California. Head up to Bishop and do some dirt climbing - Lower Rock Creek and the like. White Mtn. dirt section is not real technical so I wouldn't worry about that aspect too much. Plus on a roadie in/around Bishop & Big Pine you can knock off Rock Creek, Pine Creek, South Lake, Glacier Lodge and Waucoba Valley - all in the 9k to 11k+ range. The multiple climbs that take you across the valley, like Horsehoe to Whitney Portal to Onion Valley - give you some heat training that may come in handy. Temps routinely go 100-110 degs. in the valley and that was more of a problem for me than the altitude. Around here I would simply gear up the MTB with about 10# of water/food and do GMR from Sierra Madre Blvd.to the top of lift #4 on Baldy (8.5k). That's a good training ride for White Mtn - mixed road and not too technical dirt - you can run Specialized Fast Traks or Renegades to get some roll on the paved and bite on the scree. I used them on White Mtn. And when you get to Bishop ask the MTB locals where the big dirt climbs are that they do. There's some pretty epic climbs up there on the dirt side of things and I'd be interested in seeing what you guys come up with. Thx.
Wow - great pix! I did this ride from Crooked Creek back in 1987 - on a fully rigid Trek with canti brakes and bullmoose handlebars :lol: Your pictures brought those memories right back!
For those still sitting on the fence about this place:http://www.wmrs.edu/facilities/BAR/default.htm Weather window starts closing for real in September....just sayin':wave:
Under full moon this must look like a galaxy far, far away Soundtrack:https://soundcloud.com/#warren_xclnce/snakehips-on-on-warren-xclnce
Glad you all like riding in my backyard! I am so blessed living here. Our high school football team does a fundraiser in that area every year. Beautiful ride for a great cause!
Hey OldSlowy & Sierra - have they rebuilt the Ranger Station at Schulman? When I was there they were using that trailer. I ask because the only water I found were bottled 1 liters for sale on the shelves of the trailer - and not many of them either. How do the UC folks @ Barcroft feel about sharing water with MTB'ers? Thx.
dean, i am doing black canyon on aug 15th!! (then 3 days at mammoth). i've talked to a local (he might join me), but the plan is to ride up black canyon fireroad, then try to find the singletrack/ohv trail down. the climb is 4000-5000. i plan to sleep at the bottom and start riding at 5:30 am or so to get the climbing done before the heat.
Awesome ride report! Definitely on my bucket list as well. I am doing the White Mountain Double in September to the end of the paved road on my road bike. I saw a report on here of some guys who road down it which is pretty freakin amazing but riding up on a mountain bike would be crazy Awesome! By the way I was in Lone Pine climbing Whitney on July 5th and I saw an Ellsworth outside Subway, not sure if it was yours or not.
The singletrack down from Black Canyon is called Woodcutters and it was build by local dual sport motorcycle people. Let me know if you have a GPS. I will look for tracks.
No it wasn't us, it was the 5th that we were on White Mtn. It's been a long time since I've been up Whitney. I should climb it again. Hope you had a great time!
