Key Details
- Category: 2nd
- Length: 5.6 km (3.5 miles)
- Elevation Gain: 395 m (1,296‘)
- Average Gradient: 7.1%
- Watopia Climb Segment
- Watopia Descent Segment
- France Climb Segment
- France Descent Segment
- 5 W/kg: 16 minutes
- 4 W/kg: 20 minutes
- 3 W/kg: 26 minutes
- 2 W/kg: 38 minutes
Strava Segments
Time Estimates
The first US-based climb added to Zwift’s Climb Portal, Old La Honda is a popular benchmark climb for Bay Area locals due to its low traffic, steady grade, and shady clusters of majestic redwoods.
Here’s the “official” IRL segment, which is a bit shorter than Zwift’s:
My local climb, will be cool to sample it in the portals rainbow colors! I’LL Try to beat my PR 26:27
Classic page of Old La Honda (which also used the term “benchmark climb”, which Lucas got from me, having used it on the Western Wheelers climb page, as well as Low-Key Hillclimbs, back in the day): https://graphics.stanford.edu/~lucasp/grade/oldlahonda.html
Lucas measured the gradient using a hand-made gradiometer, which he used to take gradient samples every 10 meters or so.
Nice climb,short and to do with power above ftp
recommendations for what this climb would go well together with for a longer session? =)
I just rode it yesterday. If you turn right at the bottom of the descent, marked “Mt. Ventoux”, you ride to the Marina, and from there you can climb as far as you like, either up the Ventoux climb part or full way, or just the Petit KOM portion. Side note: this climb would really fill a nice niche in Watopia: similar altitude gain as Epic but with far more consistent gradient. There’s a 17% section near the bottom which I don’t think is present IRL, maybe they got that from this page, ignoring the “inside of switchback” comment? https://graphics.stanford.edu/~lucasp/grade/oldlahonda.html.… Read more »
Alternately Zwift could have a climb from the southern coast connect to the Epic KOM climb at an appropriate place: anywhere along the climb (excluding radio tower) would work: from the pass there would be a short descent to the Epic road. Alternately one could then climb the Epic road, turn left to the pass, then descend the new climb to the coast.
The profile looks fairly consistent and it looks, at least from the gradient, to be something that will ride a lot like Col d’Aspin, only shorter.
I used to live near OLH and have climbed it dozens if not hundreds of times. Did the Zwift version this morning — remarkably accurate. I knew exactly where I was even without any scenery. My time was also what I would have expected IRL with similar effort. I’m still curious why the segment on Zwift is 3.5 miles when it’s 3.1 IRL?