Nacimiento-Fergusson Road Climb
Posted: November 12, 2009 at 4:10 am | Tags: Nacimiento-Fergusson RdCatching up on a backlog of fun rides!
This is one of those roads that requires some serious planning to actually get to for most people. Located right near Fort Hunter Liggett and halfway between Cambria and Monterey, this is 300 miles from Long Beach. Even from San Francisco it is almost 200 miles away. If you happen to live in San Luis Obispo (80 miles away) or Monterey (60 miles), you could actually swing this for a day trip. The rest of us? Find an excuse to drive through the area. In my case, the Woodside Century in northern California served as that excuse. On a side note, I would highly recommend that century – beautiful, beautiful countryside with some great climbs thrown in (7k or so of climbing).
Anyway, heading up with my mom on the Friday before the century from Santa Barbara, we headed up 101 and then turned off on CA-1. I hadn’t actually seen this stretch of 1 except once as a small kid, so the drive itself was great. Slightly more scenic than 101. We arrived at the intersection with Nacimiento-Fergusson just as the fog was starting to lift from that stretch.
(Note that you can click on any picture for a higher resolution version)
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| From 2009-09-25 – Nacimiento Fergusson Cycling and Drive Up CA-1 |
Everything is a little more complicated when you’ve also packed for a whole trip..
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| From 2009-09-25 – Nacimiento Fergusson Cycling and Drive Up CA-1 |
1 still looking a little foggy:
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| From 2009-09-25 – Nacimiento Fergusson Cycling and Drive Up CA-1 |
I should note here that some (most) photos shown for the ascent were actually taken on the descent. So, don’t be surprised if the timestamps on some photos seem really spread out. I’m not actually that slow.
The very first stretch is a pleasant ride with a shallow grade:
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| From 2009-09-25 – Nacimiento Fergusson Cycling and Drive Up CA-1 |
This changes dramatically at the first switchback..
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| From 2009-09-25 – Nacimiento Fergusson Cycling and Drive Up CA-1 |
The stretch on the right is, while not flat, quite easy. As you can imagine, that means the stretch on the left is..steep.
As you climb up this narrow, scenic road:
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| From 2009-09-25 – Nacimiento Fergusson Cycling and Drive Up CA-1 |
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| From 2009-09-25 – Nacimiento Fergusson Cycling and Drive Up CA-1 |
You very quickly hit some incredible views:
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| From 2009-09-25 – Nacimiento Fergusson Cycling and Drive Up CA-1 |
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| From 2009-09-25 – Nacimiento Fergusson Cycling and Drive Up CA-1 |
