The Mountain Goats is a long-running series of hillclimbs presented by Richard Gill. It’s been held every Wednesday @ 6 PM UK time (typically 10 am Pacific Time, US). Richard just announced he’s taking a well-earned break from running his series.
So we present for you: Mountain Goats Vacation, a series of climbs at same time. And as was the case with the Mountain Goats series, there will be an Australian version of each climb, hosted by Lynda Van Dyke, a bit later (check RGTDB.com for details)
Double Spiral Mountain is an example of too much fun with math. It should be fun. It’s in tradition of the Power Series – not too steep, but gradients changing all the time. Two climbs, two descents, so 4x the fun.
Zion National Park is an historic road with absolutely stunning scenery. It’s another power climb, with a long gradual run to the finish.
Flagstaff in Boulder (or “Super Flag”) is a challenging climb ending with a very steep final kilometer or so. Many locals stop at a parking lot before this segment. But this is Mountain Goats so we ride on! Thanks to Jan Deca for featuring this in his under-appreciated Colorado Thursdays series.
Brasstown Bald in Georgia featured in the defunct Tour of Georgia. It had another steep finish, a nice contrast to the Power series.
Then at the end of June we have the Bike Hut Classic: Mountain Goats edition. it’s an amazing scenic climb thru farmland and then dense redwoods on the peninsula south of San Francisco, a ride to raise awareness of Bike Hut, which provides free service to cyclists 100 meters before the start of this event. There will also be versions of this event on the preceding Saturday, 24 June, at 10 am and 6 pm Pacific Time.
The next week, we’re back to vacation time, with another fantasy route, Hexagon Climb. This route was generated by randomly connecting nodes on a hexagonal grid, then adding a randomly generated altitude profile. The result is a route with variable gradient with frequent turns. There’s a few bits over 10% but nothing too serious.
After this, we have a 3-week series covering the major climbs from the “Lombardia” stage 15 of the 2023 Giro d’Italia. Be ready for some steep gradients and a lot of switchbacks.
Wed, May 31, 2023 Mountain Goats Vacation: Double SpiralRGTDb
Wed, Jun 7, 2023 Mountain Goats Vacation: Zion National ParkRGTDb
Wed, Jun 14, 2023 Mountain Goats Vacation: Flagstaff BoulderRGTDb
Wed, Jun 21, 2023 Mountain Goats Vacation: Brasstown Bald GeorgiaRGTDb
Wed, Jun 28, 2023 Bike Hut Classic: Mountain GoatsRGTDb
I previewed the Hexagon climb yesterday, and it really turned out well. It and next week’s “Double Spiral” are the two fantasy climbs on the schedule so far.
@Dan_Connelly This looks cool. How is the scenery generated? I thought that Magic Road rides just had a few scenery alternatives versus the Just Ride roads.
Here’s a comparison of the RGT view on the steepest portion of the Valcana climb, comparing RGT to IRL. This is part of the 3-week series on climbs from stage 15 of the 2023 Giro.
Double Spiral fantasy climb today, 6 pm UK. This is a lot of fun… if you consider over under interval sets “fun”…. Mountain Goats Vacation: Double Spiral
Aussie version at 12:30 Pacific. (typically a bit lower turnout) Mountain Goats Aus/NZ
At least click on the link to look at the map, which I find somewhat mesmerizing… it almost appears to spin.
This week – Zion National Park, one of the most stunningly scenic roads in the United States. It’s famous for its historic switchbacks and long cliff-face tunnel. It’s one for the power climbers, with gradual gradients in the final kilometers, and never steep.
This one has a “fun” finish… most Boulderites turn around on Flagstaff Road at the parking lot near Flagstaff Mountain, but not us… we ride on to the to summit @ 2335 meter altitude.
Brasstown Bald in Georgia was a regular feature in the now defunct Tour of Georgia stage race. Given the gears at the time, the finishing gradients were dramatic challenge:
And don’t forget: this Saturday (US), as well as the Mountain Goats Vacation climb next week, is the Bike Hut Challenge, a climb of Tunitas Creek Road in the San Francisco Bay area.
This week: the Bike Hut Classic Virtual Edition, climbing Tunitas Creek Road in the San Francisco Bay area. This event raises awareness of the Bike Hut, which provided snacks for cyclists along the super-scenic road, and supports Potrero Nuevo Farm, which practices sustainable agriculture.
This week on Mountain Goats Vacation: a computer-generated fantasy climb which I had a lot of fun test-riding. The algorithm generates a lot of turns (97, I think) and gradient fluctuations so it should be a good work-out.
This week we begin a series of 3 climbs from the spectacular stage 15 (Lombardia) of the 2023 Giro, a stage which finished in Bergamo and was won by Brandon McNulty (UAE, USA). Each of the three features spectacular switchbacks and occasional steep gradients. The first, which we climb today, is the steepest, Valcava.
Today – we do climb 2 of the 2023 Giro stage 15, the Selvino, famous for its incredible switchbacks. This is a moderate climb by Mountain Goats standards, with neither huge altitude nor intimidating gradients, but the switchbacks alone make this an iconic climb.
this week completes are triplet of climbs from the 2023 Giro stage 15, the “Lombardia” stage, won by Brandon McNulty. This last climb, the Roncola, is a steep one, with 17% sections.
Results from last week’s Selvino climb are now incorporated into the overall standings, where Jojo has a solid lead over early leader Arnaud Denet. Nick Hall, in third, is the top “gold-level” rider, while Mathieu just leads Robert Gill for the top silver-level spot.
TBH I’m fairly shocked at how low the turnout has been, but I’m glad people are getting outside to ride, and then there’s also the excellent Chase The Yellow series to take up people’s training time.
This week we begin a series on the 2023 Tour de France, starting with the two climbs from stage 5 in the Pyrenees. This is the first, HC climb, Col de Soudet, a bit short on elevation gain for an HC climb but containing some steep gradients by the standard of the Tour.
The Vacation series is almost done, with only two climbs remaining, as Mountain Goats founder Robert Gill returns to the controls, fresh and ready to go after his summer break.
But first we’ve got to complete our Tour series with our sole Alpine entry, the stage 18 ascent of Mont Blanc.
The following week: Covadonga from the women’s 2023 Vuelta, a stage famously won by Demi Vollering, although Annemieke Van Vleuten was able to hold on to her leader’s jersey on this final stage.
