Road Ride Report Fargo Street climb

With all the rain, plus working overtime, it's been a while and I've been wanting to do another ride after work this morning so I brought my roadie with me. I like doing that since the drive from LAX to OC usually sucks the motivation right out of me by the time I get home.

I never have a set plan of where I'm going to ride cause I never know what the night of work will have for me. Last night was fairly light so I had some energy to ride. I was thinking a loop around Palos Verdes, but I caught Huell Howser on KCET last night and he was covering Fargo St I guess since it's coming up next Sunday.

On the show, lots of people giving a go, some on road bikes, some on mt bikes. After watching the show, I was really interested in doing it. I know our very own Abui has done it cause I saw his pic on the website. Plus he climbed it 17 times! http://www.lawheelmen.org/fargo.htm

I work on Sundays so I may not make the event but I still want to see if I could clean it on my road bike and try and go straight up. #-o

I got there and checked it out and right away I thought to myself that this is not going to be easy.

These 2 pics don't really do it justice, but those who have seen this street knows that it STEEP.




After a warm up climb on Baxter Street which is the next street over and cleaned it no problem, I rode over the top of Fargo and scoped it out. Going down it was a bit intimidating, so I went back down Baxter instead. After a little breather from the warm up, I gave it a go.

I wanted to see if I could clean it straight rather than trying to "switchback" my way up. 1st attempt I only went about 10 yards or so before I came out of my left pedal. #-o2nd try I made it up about half way before I came out of my pedal and getting restarted is tough because it's so steep and with road shoes, I had zero traction on the pavement.

No way to walk back down so I coasted back down and finally decided to tighten my pedals. I made sure I was able to un-clip if needed, but at least it was tighter than before. Finally after circling around the bottom of the street a few times, I started up Fargo. My legs felt good, but my heart rate was climbing and I was still only half way up. I looked down when I got past the point I was at on the 2nd try, I saw a 34% grade on my Garmin. :-s

I was fighting to keep my front end down and kept a smooth pedal stroke. As I came closer and closer to the top, it seemed to get steeper. Either that or my cadence had slowed so much that it sure seemed steeper. Another 30 ft and I was there. Finally reaching the top I stopped and looked back to see a car was behind me driving real slow as they were watching me climb. The driver tapped his horn lightly as to applaud and the 2 guys gave me a thumbs up. :bang:

I asked the passenger if he would take my pic and he said sure thing.


I sat up there a bit thinking no way could I do consecutive climbs on a road bike. While I sat, I saw another guy on a mountain bike. He cleaned it as well.

I went back down Fargo and rode my brakes the whole way down. 8-[

I wanted to see what the grade was through out so after loading my bike, I got in my truck and drove up slowly. My Garmin got as high as 38%. Not sure how accurate that is, but I would say it's a steady 33-35% grade.

On my way out I looked at the other side of Baxter St. The side I didn't climb. It looks shorter, but much steeper than the side I warmed up on. Maybe next time.



Here is my stats on GL: http://www.geoladders.com/show_route.php?route=44290

My heart rate hit 193 bpm at 1 point. :wave:



If you are interested in this climb. Check out this link: http://www.lawheelmen.org/homepage.htm

It's March 6th, Sunday.
Good luck to anyone who going to give it a go. :bang:

 

I got tired just reading your post..... nice job, grasshopper! I'm almost over my cold and should be able to start riding later this week. Save a Sat for us to do Noble.

 

I don't even see a third ring! What was the gearing?


I saw a road biker attempt to go down Fargo. His front tire exploded from the heat buildup on the rim. Disk brakes are highly recommended.

 

I don't have a 3rd ring. My front rings are 53/38. I was in 38/25.

Trust me, I went real slow as to not build up as much heat.

 

If you look at the results you'll see my son at 11 climbs. We shared my Niner. We had to leave early for him to catch a plane.

 

Gene
Very cool. You look like a real roadie in that picture. Nice to see a RM road bike, Solo?
34% is ridiculous. I ride Seven Sisters often and Nyes Place gets to about 24% ish, and that is steep. If only Fargo Street wasn't so far from OC. I will def. try it one day.
This brings to mind 3rd street in Laguna. Its the right turn off of Park after you finished Seven Sisters which connects to Laguna Canyon Rd. I usually go down it and never have the balls to look at my Garmin its so steep.
I wonder how steep it really is.
Nice RR.

 

I've watched hundreds try this climb. I never tried it on my road bike because I don't have a triple. Now after reading this, I'm thinking of giving it a go. I've got a 12/27 and I'm thinking I might be able to do it. Pictures don't even come close to showing the steepness. I've cleaned it on my mountain bike but it hurt. I admit towards the top I had to zig and zag a little but I kept a fairly straight line. We watched a guy on a fixie do it a couple years back, then he rode down and did it again.

 

great job. that road looks illigeal.

 

Fantastic Gene! :clap:

 

You "DA MAN"!!!

 

Somehwere here there's a vid of Steve (kanga) climbing it straight up on his MTB. :bang:

This pic looks like an outtake still from Inception!...



Crazy. I used to live up there at my sister's house at the corner of Cerro Gordo and Lake Shore (in 1983 -- when I first moved to LA). It used to scare the shit outta me to drive my '59 Cadillac down those streets (either Baxter or Fargo), but it was also an intense rush! Never rode either of them on a bike.

- shud

 

Those are great pictures. Would love to try it someday on our tandem.

 

Nice Gene. Doubt I could clear it. But I would like to give a go none the less.

 

There's a rider who does it every year riding alone on a tandem. He uses double reduction on the gears and goes straight up. A tandem is nice because there's no danger of a back flip. When kids ride you'll usually see someone walking behind them because a fall back is a long fall.

Some history. I rode it in 2005, riding straight up on my Kona Unit -10 climbs (pic). The record was set that year by Sean Bartlett (pic) at 34 climbs. He snaked up. I decided that winning would be more fun than pushing my HR to the max. So the next year I upped the record to 50 climbs.

 

Seriously! I live in the next neighborhood over in Silverlake. Sometimes I drive up those two streets (even though it's the longer way to my friend, Danny's house) just so I can scream when I hit the top and head blindly down! :lol:

 

woof....

nice job gene

 

Very cool!!!

 

Good on you, never tried the climb, never had the guts to try it haha
This guy that comes into our shop, Steve Gilmore, in '08 did 101 consecutive climbs in one day. Albeit he built a bike with a super low gearing specially made for the hill, he's none the less a monster doing stuff like the Leadville 100 at over 50 years old.

 

Up (and down) every 15 minutes, for one day (24 hours). That's some claim.

 

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=steve+gilmore+fargo