Peter Strauss Ranch Checkpoint
Mulholland Hwy-Top of Rock Store ClimbApril 10, 2010. Always eager for a journey to territory not yet explored by bike, Map Boy joined former co-workers for the 2010 edition of the Mulholland Challenge, Stage 1 of the "King of the Mountain" century series organized by Planet Ultra. The route is an adventure set in Southern California's Santa Monica Mountains, and is billed as a "ride up, over and along mountain peaks and ridges, and through a multitude of canyons and country sides. Basically, this event is for the rider who loves to climb and to see alot of diverse terrain in the process. Bring gears! Some of the roads have steep sustained climbs of 12-14% with pitches up to 18%".
The ride started in Agoura Hills with rolling roads to the coast on Las Virgenes/Malibu Canyon to Pacific Coast Highway, then south on PCH toward Topanga. Then the "real" climbing began!! First, Topanga Canyon and Old Topanga Canyon Rd. From there, lots of up and down roads through the mountains on Mulholland Hwy. (including the well-known Rock Store climb), Little Sycamore and Cotharin Rd., before entering Ventura County and back down to the coast via a steep and rough technical descent on Deer Creek. After a flat cruise back south on PCH, a monster climb back up Decker Canyon and Lechusa greeted the riders at about mile 75. Climbing continued back to Mulholland on Encinal Canyon. Once back on Mulholland, we rode all the way back to Stunt Road. The serious pain was to begin here, at mile 91, up Stunt Road.
Four miles later at the top of Stunt, after a cold V8, the ride finished with a steep descent down Piuma Road, a short steep climb up Cold Canyon, then back to the finish in Agoura Hills. 116 miles with over 12,000 feet of climbing...definitely a big challenge!
