Climb to Kaiser an endurance test

Route through Sierras gives cyclists all they can handle.

Published online on Friday, Jun. 26, 2009

What will Mother Nature have in store for the Climb to Kaiser this year?

Sweltering triple-digit temperatures? Check.

Freak thunderstorms? Check.

Snow on the road? Check.

Smoky, wildfire-choked air? Check.

If previous editions of Central California's most fearsome bike ride are any indication, anything is possible Saturday.

Two hundred fifty riders are signed up to tackle the grueling 155-mile course from Clovis to the top of 9,200-foot Kaiser Pass in the Sierra National Forest and back, which has been rated as one of the 10 toughest cycling events in the U.S. by Bicycling Magazine.

More than half the field - 56% - are either first-time participants or trying to finish for the first time.

Count Paul Chrisman of Fresno among the latter group.

In 2007, Chrisman missed the ride after getting stuck in an Atlanta airport. Last year, he turned back at Huntington Lake after suffering "a record" six flat tires.

This year, the 44-year-old just wants to finish.

"In my mind, it's the Mount Everest of cycling," Chrisman said. "I see it as a huge challenge."

He isn't the only one. When Cindy Moccio of Visalia recently mentioned to a group of cycling friends that she had ridden the Climb to Kaiser, she got a reaction she didn't expect.

"People look at you in awe," Moccio said. "It's amazing how heads turn."

Though other events are longer and packed with even more feet of total climbing, the Climb to Kaiser is unique among California endurance rides due to its severe altitude changes, steepness and inhospitable conditions, ride coordinator John Craft said.

"It's the continuous climbing," Craft said. "You start at 300 feet and go up to 9,000. And the grades of the climbs are stiff, much stiffer than what you typically find at other rides."

The Climb to Kaiser course features five main climbs - Wildcat, Tollhouse, Shaver, Big Creek and Kaiser - that are notorious in local cycling circles.

Of these, Big Creek is probably the most feared. From the small company town near Shaver Lake, it's a lung-busting 2,000-foot climb over 3.5 miles before the road crests at Huntington Lake. The average grade is 10%, but there are sections that go up to 20%.

By comparison, the legendary L'Alpe d'Huez climb from the Tour de France tops out at 13%.

"It's the hardest climb either of us has ever experienced," said Moccio, who is riding with her husband, Jay. "It takes body, soul, mind - everything you've got - to get up that thing."

Guy Van Natta of Fresno, a four-time finisher, said the surroundings on the Big Creek climb only add to its difficulty.

Riders start in the bottom of a canyon hemmed in on all sides by steep granite walls. The aftermath of decade-old forest fires only adds to the foreboding.

"When you look up and realize you have to claw your way out of that, it's pretty daunting," Van Natta said.

Like many Climb to Kaiser riders, Van Natta plays mental tricks on himself so as not to feel as overwhelmed.

He breaks down the course into segments and tries not to think about what's ahead.

"You're kind of out there by yourself," Van Natta said. "There's a lot of things that can mess with you."

Van Natta, an amateur bike racer, is trying to break the 10-hour barrier after coming close the past two years. Most finishers require between 11 and 13 hours, though some will straggle home in 15.

Although the Climb to Kaiser is not sanctioned as a race, Tim Coleman of Clovis is recognized as the course record-holder. Coleman finished in 8 hours, 23 minutes in 1999 - a mark that has held up for a decade.

Last year, Brandon Franklin of Clovis crossed in 8:31. Unaware he was on a potential record pace, the 24-year-old spent 10 minutes at the Shaver Lake rest stop on the way down.

He's been kicking himself about it ever since.

"It's annoying more than anything else," Franklin said. "It's not my obsession or anything, but it would be nice to have the course record."