Does anyone know where to find “official” times of the fastest riders up the mountain?
I don’t know, but I heard some 13 year old girl rode up there in like 2 hours…
I don’t know, but I heard some 13 year old girl rode up there in like 2 hours…
Didn’t TC do this ride when she was down there with DD training? I remember there being a smackdown challenge or something…
John
I don’t know, but I heard some 13 year old girl rode up there in like 2 hours…
I just found this link but the course appears to be a little short compared to the 28 miles I heard that the climb was …
http://www.saguarovelo.org/recsLemmon.html
Anyone have a map of the long course?
No maps needed…there is only one road…just keep following it until you hit the village of Winterhaven. The road deadends shortly after that at a parking lot.
As you can see from the link I found there is an 11.5 mile uphill while I hear people speaking of a 28 mile climb?
What/Where is the marker for the 28 mile climb?
The 11.5 mile climb is just the first 11.5 miles of the hill. To do the full 28 miles, just keep going until the road ends. Not even a triathlete could get lost 
ok, thanks for the clarification! Now that this has been clarified, what is the fastest time “recorded” to the top where no triathlete can get lost?
Don’t know the fastest time but or even if any type of “official” best has even been recorded. The mountain has been riden by many greats…Lance, Jimmy R., Peter Reid,…the list is long!
The official start is at the mile post 0.
The first 12mi or so are very easy. You can climb on your big chainring. I’d venture that really good riders would average about 17mph for this section, and around 13-15mph for the end of the climb.
I remember it being 27mi actually, not 28 (up to the ski resort). Probably around 1h40 for top riders. I think I went up just in 2h, 2yrs ago.
The only hard part of the climb is when you turn back, in March, and it’s 38F, you’re sweaty and go downhill at 45mph
A group of us did the climb on Monday, and you are right, the ride down was MUCH worse than the climb up. I wore every layer of cold weather gear I own and still froze the first 5 miles downhill. Spectacular ride though. Kitts Peak is also a great ride in the area.
In Reply To
I don’t know, but I heard some 13 year old girl rode up there in like 2 hours…
Didn’t TC do this ride when she was down there with DD training? I remember there being a smackdown challenge or something…
Yes we did
but I’m 21!
Lance Armstrong used to train on Mt. Lemmon so my money would be on him
This has some records for a variety of age groups, fixed gear, and hand cycle - http://www.saguarovelo.org/recsLemmon.html.
I know Tom Danielson set it a few years ago while we were living in Tucson. Not sure what the time was but I am looking for it. I remember some of his splits to the ticket box, bear park, etc were just crazy.
Are you still mad that I said no arm warmers needed that day? At some point the shivering cancels out any high speed wobbles, you just had to go fast enough.
I was hoping the pie at the top would help me gain a bit of fat to tolerate the cold…
It’s a really fun climb though, except for the first 2-3mi downhill
The first 12mi or so are very easy. You can climb on your big chainring. I’d venture that really good riders would average about 17mph for this section, and around 13-15mph for the end of the climb.
maybe there’s a different road that goes up to the top. The one I went up has the same grade for the first 20 miles or so,then flattens a little near the top. Considering that the hillclimb record for the first 11.4 miles is under 15 mph, I’m thinking you should head out there and win that thing.
I remember it being 27mi actually, not 28 (up to the ski resort). Probably around 1h40 for top riders. I think I went up just in 2h, 2yrs ago.
without doing a lot of math, I’m thinking it would take a sea level threshold power of 5.5-6.0 to go up there in 2 hours.
The only hard part of the climb is when you turn back, in March, and it’s 38F, you’re sweaty and go downhill at 45mph
that’s because triathletes like to ride around naked. I’ve never understood that one…
When I say really good riders, I mean top pros. The record for the 11.4 is 46min and change.
I said, I think I was around 2h, maybe 2h05 or so. Definitely not 5.5 to 6w/kg. Somewhere around 320w / 63 to 64kg.
You can ask desert_dude, I’m never riding naked…I always dress a lot…used to be a cyclist only…and the rule was that under 20c, it’s long pants, long sleeves, booties, etc.
fair enough-I rode up there and saw lots of people with aerobars and short sleeves though–I figured you may be one of them!