As cyclists, our legs bristle with anticipation at the sight of a hairpin turn. Stitch a series of them together in close succession, and we lose the ability to speak in complete sentences. Show us a road that resembles a goat path, and we start to wonder aloud in fragmented sentences what it might be like to send a bunch of racers up it. Combine those things, add a dirt road surface, and we’re sporting serious Climbone.
A few weeks ago, our friend Roadslave queried us as to what climb was featured in some douchenozzle’s photograph at an art show. Not surprisingly, we were collectively able to nail it down in fairly short order, despite the considerable disadvantage of the photog himself having mislabeled where and when the photo was taken.
Attention to detail is what we do as Velominati, and many of us have gazed upon most of the famous climbs in Europe – if not with our own sweat-drowned eyes, then at least through the lenses of photographers who have (and were hopefully more successful than Roadslave’s pal at naming the time and location of the climbs).
I came across this photograph today and was instantly drawn to it for obvious reasons that don’t need to be restated from above. But it also gave me an uneasy feeling: I wasn’t sure what climb it was. A few minutes later, by chance, I came across a more modern and labeled version of the same climb and thought I’d test the collective knowledge of the community with a little challenge, which I have every confidence will be met in short order.
Please identify:
Good luck!
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@mcsqueak
Of course there's always Steephilltv.com. I usually end up watching races on that linked to some Dutch, Flemish, Italian, or Spanish (once even Japanese) site and then watch the ticker from Velo news or Cycling news along with it when I can't see the riders to well for myself.
@Marko
Steephilltv looks like a parked domain to me, but I know what you're saying... I watched a lot of World Cup matches at the office on a site like that, streaming them from all over the 'net. The quality left a lot to be desired, but it was something, at least.
@frank
It absolutely does. That's why it sparked my memory. I used to live 12km from the base of that climb. In fact, I almost chose by grad school based on quality of climbs available, rather than quality of research, but reason(?) prevailed, and now the biggest hill around is a whopping 40m.
@mcsqueak
That's because Marko mistyped the URL. It's http://www.steephill.tv/ but beware; it's a lottery to see which ones end up working. I've had the best luck with Flemish feeds, but many either don't work or are restricted to geographic areas. You'll have to work your way through the list to find something that works OK.
Frank. Awesome article, love the challenge... only problem is I've been away for two days without internet, and come back and everyone else has solved it. What's the next challenge? Great article...
How many times did "Chepe" Gonzalez crash in the 2000 Giro?
@Cyclops
No idea, but I'll guess 3. (And I bet none of them hurt as much as losing the KOM jersey to a broken transponder.)
Well, I'm only up to stage 22 but so far they say he's crashed 10 times.
Nice picture, lovely colours and nice bracketing, but, and bear with me here for a moment.......
Where the fuck is it?
@Hitchhiker
It's CA39 in SoCal. The climb starts in Azusa, California. Exit north from Exit 40 off the 210. The more fun way to get to the climb is via Glendora Mountain Road (GMR) and come at it from East Fork Rd. It adds an extra 700m of climbing on one of the best roads imaginable.