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Please observe the Special Covid rules. All weeks are Self-Ride and Individual Time Trial!
We may cancel scoring of climbs if the air or conditions are poor.
Thanks to all for a successful 2020!
week | day | climb | previous years | comment |
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1 |
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Montebello | 1995(1) 1996(1) 1997(1) 2006(1) 2007(1) 2008(1) 2009(1) 2010(1) 2011(1) 2012(1) 2013(1) 2014(1) 2015(1) 2016(1) 2018(1) 2019(1) | Two Weekends, One Climb! | ![]() |
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2 |
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2008(6) | Out of the Big Basin | ![]() |
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3 |
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Black Road | new! or: [2013(5) Black Rd. - Castle Rock] | South Skyline |
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4 |
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Patterson Pass (E) | 2013(6) | Windmill Ride! | ![]() |
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5 |
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Upper Zayante | new! | Up Ze Ante |
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6 |
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1995(10) 1997(7) 1998(5) 2008(3) 2012(2) | Wall of Switchbacks | ![]() |
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7 |
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new! | The Serene One (The Dirt Climb) |
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8 |
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Morrison Canyon | new! | Narrow Straits! | ![]() |
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9 |
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Mt Hamilton | 1995(8) 1996(9) 1997(9) 1998(1) 1998(7) 2006(7) 2007(9) 2008(9) 2009(9) 2010(9) 2011(9) 2012(8) 2013(9) 2014(9) 2015(9) 2016(9) 2018(8) 2019(9) | The Not Quite Traditional Finale! | ![]() |
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Easy! Read up on the rules. Join the LKHC Strava Club where we'll get your time from. Go out and climb! (If you don't do Strava, you can still email us your time, or post it on the Facebook group or the Google Group. See the links below).
To facilitate our work in setting up the Results, please fill out this optional registration form! This allows you to specify your age group or racing category, gender, team name, and what name you go by on Strava.
In order to hold a series at all this year we've adopted special rules. If by some miracle the virus packs up and disappears, we'll return to the normal ULKHC format. But if on the other hand California or the Bay Area returns to lockdown mode with only essential travel allowed and overflowing ICUs, we'll have to cancel the series entirely.
As of this writing, all Low-Key Hillclimbs will be Self-Ride Individual Time Trials. You may climb anytime between 6 a.m. on Saturday and 3 p.m. on Sunday (except for Thanksgiving Hamilton, which will be handled separately). Come to the start alone, ride alone, do not draft anyone or allow anyone to draft you. Don't gather in groups. If there is another participant at the start before you, wait 3 minutes after that person starts before you go.
Most weeks we should have the start and finish lines chalked by 10 a.m. You may start earlier, but you might have to figure out the end points yourself. Keep abreast of things by following the LKHC Facebook Group or join the Low Key Hillclimbers Google Group.
Good luck!
Andy's commitment to run ULKHC expires after the 2020 series. Whether he'll renew his commitment then is up in the air.
If you've been a happy participant of Low-Key, and would like to see its continued existence, please consider taking over the reins from Andy, and grow a new generation of volunteers to carry the Low-Key banner!
LKHC vanished into thin air; it was as though, somehow, everyone had more important things to think about and do. There was a dark depression. 2017 passed gloomily, and then . . .
Andy Crews couldn't stand it anymore, and took matters into his own hands, and announced the Ultra Low-Key Hillclimbs!
Operating without the apparatus of that dedicated group of volunteers, without funding, essentially taking Low-Key back to its roots, though with modern high tech GPS and Strava, he organized a series of Self-Timed Hillclimbs. In general, the rules are: ride whenever you like on the day of the climb, time your ride either on Strava or with a stop watch, and we'll record whatever you say your time is. Usually we meet at 10:00, and start the climb together at 10:10. No registration required, just show up.
We like to think we're in an interim phase, keeping the Low-Key spirit alive, until perhaps Dan and the Low-Key volunteer team come back out of retirement, or until a new volunteer team forms.
Sorry, folks! We require all riders wear helmets during the climb, and we follow the USA Cycling rule against ear buds or other head phones. Rock to tunes before the climb, perhaps, but we need riders to pay attention to what's happening during the climb.
An email list is our primary communications channel: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/low-key-hill-climbers.
We also have a Low-Key group on Facebook. It's the place to be for facebookie type stuff.
In Ultra Low-Key, nobody is there with a stopwatch, nobody to shout your number to with your last breath. You can ride with the group, or ride solo anytime that day.
If you are a member of the Strava LKHC Club, we'll get your time from there at the end of the day. If you aren't a member, or maybe don't even use Strava, you can time yourself with a stopwatch and communicate it to Andy or Frank at the summit, or by email or on Facebook.
For Ultra Low-Key, scoring has been greatly simplified for now, to the detriment of fairness and the Low-Key tradition, but hey, this is Ultra Low-Key!
Detailed scoring information is available for those who want to know the nitty-gritty!
In ULKHC, all climbs are self-rides, whether you're with an ad-hoc group or alone. It's up to you to judge conditions and the safety of the climb. There is no organized event, so please show respect for all other users of the road or trail. If you need to come to a complete stop to yield right of way, let us know for score adjustment: nobody should feel the need to take undue risks or incourtesies due to this series, and any reports of irresponsible behavior, on or off the bike, will result in scores being disqualified.
Low-Key is all about a group of friends riding up a hill together. It's like any other informal group ride, except we time you to the top and report the results on our web site. But we have no road closures, no lead vehicle, no follow vehicle. We are traffic, sharing the roads with other traffic, following the laws and courtesy which applies to traffic. This includes riding to the right of the road when practicable, and not crossing double yellows to pass riders or to get through corners faster. We're each responsible for our own actions out there, on and off the bike, both as users of the road and as courteous visitors to the neighborhoods we pass through. "Ceci n'est pas un race".
Ultra Low-Key maintains the same philosophy, except every ride is self-timed. You're just out on an informal bike ride, alone or with the ad-hoc group, climbing the hill at whatever pace you want to and are able to.
Like virtually any other solo or group ride in which you participate, your participation in Low-Key Hillclimbs or Ultra Low-Key Hillclimbs is at your own risk.