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Anyone plan on riding this monster hill in March 2011? I will be there on ONE wheel, and my plan is to ride it at least twice, with no zig-zagging! Tall order, but what's life without a challenge!? And at 55, I'm sure not getting any younger. Maybe crazier though!
I was trying out an equally steep (33.3% grade) hill in San Pedro, which is much closer to home, but this hill is a lot shorter, so I was planning on doing SEVEN continuous climbs, in order to match the Fargo hill dstance....when IT HAPPENED! Scared the bugeezus out of me, and probably a few residents though someone had been shot!
Something isn't working right, and I can't delete the mistakes! I'll try once more to imbed the video. If it doesn't show up, just cut & paste the link in my previous post to see it.
If anyone lives fairly close to Fargo street, I'll be climbing it this Tuesday at 11am, and it would be great to have someone there to film me riding up! I would supply the camera, and you get "filmed by" credit in the video. If you can meet there let me know!
I am more impressed by your riding that fixed wheel down 28th street, but climbing on a uni with no tacking takes some thighs of steel.
See you in March at Fargo.
I'll be there again tomorrow, Saturday 2/12/11 about 9am. I'll be bringing two different sized wheels and try several climbs. Come on down and try the climb yourself!
Pardon my ignorance (and the fact that I've lived here me whole life), but where is Fargo street? I remember one time that I rode up a street called Fargo but I don't think it was the right one. It didn't seem hard at all. What's the cross street? You're my hero for riding it on a unicycle.
I know that smartass. I just thought someone would be nice enough to tell me the fucking cross-street. Maybe I don't want Google to know that I want to know where Fargo street is so I don't get ads related to steep ass streets.
if you are heading south on Riverside...make a right on Allesandro St. and take it until it crosses Fargo .... Fargo and Allesandro are the cross streets...
if driving north on Glendale make a right on Allesandro right before the 2 freeway....
dayone responding to a comment by Velocipede
02.13.11 - 8:29 am
Hey UniGeezer,
I live a few blocks away and can meet you there to film. call me when you get there and i'll be right over - Rudy L.A. Fargo 213-453-5075
RUDEDOG responding to a comment by UniGeezer
02.13.11 - 8:18 pm
Thanks Rudy and everyone for your replies! Sorry i haven't been to this forum in a while. I appreciate the offer Rudy and now that I have your number i will call you if I'm up there again soon. I also met a cool guy named Leon who lives about 1/3 up on Fargo street. He filmed me a couple times as i did some practice runs.
And yes, Fargo is not for the UNtrained! It really does take a lot of training to get to the top...at least if you don't have the benefit of GEARS, like me haha! It's 1:1 direct drive and with no clipless pedals (no, it's a bad idea to use them on a uni!) I can't "push AND Pull" while pedaling. Only Push. So here is a training video that Leon shot using my camera on a recent visit. As usual, Fargo is waaaay steeper looking in person, but this gives still a decent idea:
LA Wheelman Fargo Hill Climb is a super fun event. Highly recommended. If you've never seen this street, it's so much steeper than you are imagining. I've brought a number of people there over the years and they are always blown away...
There's also a great little hill at Torrance beach, and I call it "Fargo jr.", haha. It's only about 200 feet long, vs Fargo's 528 feet, but it's almost as steep, at 30% grade! It's a great place to train for steep climbs, just to see how many you can do! I've been in contact with a mtb guy who is going to come down with some of his mtb buddies, and we're going to have a climbing competition!
To make it more fair, since I have no gears to go up, and can't coast back down, they will have to use a gear that makes their bikes 1:1 like my uni, and we'll be timing only the climbs, not the downs.
I'm going there now actually, for some practice climbs. Come on down! The hill/ramp is located at the very beginning of torrance beach, and can be accessed from the first parking lot there.
We climbed this little hill on the last Dark Century.
Is it really 30% grade? I got up it ok on my double chain ring road bike.
Fargo seems to me much more difficult.
It may be the longer distance, but really, the Torrance Beach ramp is not in the same league as Fargo.
If we are talking about the same ramp--the steepest of any along the coast that I've found--it is definitely waaaay shorter than Fargo, but about 320 feet! And yes, DISTANCE makes all the difference! I can ride my 1:1 unicycle *straight* up Fargo for about 250-300 feet, and then....the REAL climbing challenge begins!
This is why I can climb the RB ramp (the FIRST ramp that goes straight down, and not at much of a left or right angle) at least 4 times non-stop. Now that does add up to about 800 feet, but each time I go back down I recover just enough to go back up again. And even if the grade is not a full 30%, which is still less than Fargo's 33%, it's close, and not much less than that.
But I will extend a CHALLENGE to anyone, including you, to meet me there any day, and time, and we'll see who can do the most consecutive climbs! But since my unicycle has no gears, and is a true 1:1 fixed, you would have to use a gear on your bike that makes it 1:1 as well. Any takers?
UniGeezer responding to a comment by Creative Thing
02.21.11 - 8:00 pm
Unfortunately, without the benefit of gears, just making it up Fargo *once* would be a herculean effort. Now, if everyone wants to try each hill in 1:1 gear only, I'd be up for that!
UniGeezer responding to a comment by Creative Thing
02.21.11 - 9:25 pm
I will sadly miss again this year...
I wonder: What is the percentage of ridas who clean it?
I've never tried...
But I've always been a strong Mt bike climber, I have noticed that on the group rides, often I'm one of the few who clean hills that others get off & walk on, so I'm wanting to try this hill. Maybe in a couple weeks when I get off this show...
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