Ride Report You thought Willow was bad . . .

Willow has nothing on Laguna Bowl. F that climb. That is what I get for exploring. I was looking for another way up to the ridge after stagecoach. Instead of turning right to go to Willow, I went left to the parking lot, out the backside and followed a fire road to another parking lot. After a little bit I came across a single track that dumped me out the base of T&A and dead ended. I saw tire tracks and a hole in the fence out to Laguna Canyon Road. Followed that trying not to get killed by traffic looking for Boat Canyon. Somebody mentioned it before. I wanted to get off the busy road so I saw an entrance back to LCWP . . . Laguna Bowl. BAD IDEA!!!!

There is absolutely no point to that trail. They should bulldoze that sucker. Steepest freaking "trail" I have ever been on. Tinker couldn't make it up with an electric motor. I am ranking member of the HAB Crew. I have a lot of experience pushing a bike. I struggled to push it up that hill. Made Elevator look like a walk in the park. Never, ever, ever, ever . . . again.

Only good thing . . . marine layer was wicked cool. Not used to the view except up at Four Corners on top of MS.

 

nice pics...did you get a read on the grade?

 

The pics were worth the climb! Boat Canyon is a good way up if you don't mind all the pavement to get there.

 

How was the ride back down?

 

I assume you returned via T and A.

 

Beautifl pictures!


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It's "real" name is Tennis Courts and it has been ridden and cleaned without dabbing by quite a few people. One persons impossible is anothers challenging. There are quite a few tough climbs like that in Laguna which is why I won't put a 1x drive train on my bike.

 

Have a GPS track of the ride?

 

I climb Laguna Bowl often. It is close to town and you never see anyone out there. I still think Big Bend is a worse climb.

It is listed as Laguna Bowl Road on the maps but many do call it tennis court because that is where it starts I have also heard it call shooting range because it is just above Laguna PD's firing range.

 

I started at Ridge Park, so there was no DH afterwards.

I was actually looking for Boat Canyon because somebody mentioned it before, but wasn't sure how to find it. I doubt I will be doing this route again. I will stick to Willow as the way back up. GPS showed average 17% grade. So, factoring the flat spots on the bit of it that went down halfway up, I'd assume over 20% on the steep sections. Actually just found that if I scrub the elevation graph on Strava it says the grade . . . 35% in spots. Gain 1,000 feet in just over a mile.

It was an a butt kicker for me and dry and dusty, so traction sucked. Even while walking I was slipping. Either way it was a nice after work birthday ride on a Wednesday. 15 miles, 2,200 feet with cool views of the marine layer. The only other part that sucked was that I lost my visor a while back and I was looking dead on into the sun on some singletrack sections and couldn't see what was coming up.