Paul Kopit <
[email protected]> writes:
>> Click on this:
>> http://www.chainreactionbicycles.com/sonora_pass.htm
>> and scroll down to the 26% grade warning on Sonora Pass.
>> I doubt that we're going to impress the Californians.
> I've never ridden that piece of road but I have seen the citation
> many times. I'm sure the sign is there but I find it difficult to
> believe that the road is actually 26% only because so many riders
> claim that they negotiated that climb.
> I know that people can climb grades like that. Each year there is a
> "Fargo Street Hill Climb" put on by the Los Angeles Wheelmen and it
> goes up 33% for a couple of hundred yards. Riders do go up. Few on
> road bicycles and many aborts. I've actually seen a rider break the
> 39t chainring off the crank there.
I think there is a general misunderstanding of highway gradient signs.
Unless the duration of the grade is given, the number given is the
steepest grade in the section because a motor vehicle that is
traveling slowly must be able to overcome that slope. For bicyclists,
long 12% grades are daunting unless there are at least short breaks of
lesser gradient.
In the case of Sonora pass, it has steep sections of 16% and some
short ones of 20%. The 26% section is on the uphill part of the east
slope on the inside of the first hairpin at the Levitt Meadows Pack
station. It is not difficult to ride up this piece but the following
half mile is tough although less than 16%.
What is striking about this piece of road is that it cannot be seen
from below because it is hidden by a hairpin turn in a deep cut. When
motorcycles pass as one approaches the section they soon sound like
aircraft as they rapidly gain elevation at a rate that is hard to
believe and that is why one gets the impression they have become
airborne.
From Sonora, a common starting point for rides over this pass, it is
more than 60 miles to the base of the real climb and after about
7000ft of climbing so riders are not approaching this from flatlands.
It is a scenicly rewarding ride with immense vistas along the way,
most of which many "death riders" never see or care for. I find it
one of the most memorable routes and enjoy it every time. I can
recommend it:
http://www.bicyclinglife.com/Recreation/SierraSpring.htm
I have done similar trips in both direction since 1993 and am always
inspired by the great landscape realiziong that the area was logges
with Shay steam engins about 90 years ago all the way to the top.
That was unusual railroading that is beautifully chronicled by Hank
Johnston.
http://www.gearedsteam.com/books/rr-logging-06.htm
Sonora pass lies in beautiful setting and unlike Yosemite, has rushing
water in its creeks all year. It is a road hard to understand as
having been built by highway engineers for its surprise steep and
hidden curves and overall steepness. Descending from the summit
eastward, over 50mph are easily achieved in the dip after which hard
uphill braking on an 18% grade is needed to make the hidden curve
after the crest of the rise. My first impression years ago was that
the California Highway Department would soon cut a new alignment.
Perish the thought! This is a historical enigma as is Pacific Grade
on Ebbetts Pass.
Spring is on the way and the passes will be open for another season of
great bicycling.
http://mthamilton.ucolick.org/public/pictures/snowpics/
http://mthamilton.ucolick.org/hamcam/
Long live Sonora Pass!
Jobst Brandt
[email protected]
