When last I climbed up Quimby Road in San Jose, it was during training for the 2007 Death Ride. A very difficult climb it was, with 18% switchbacks! And, we still had yet to do Mt. Hamilton that day!
Today, the Low-Key Hillclimbers went up Quimby Road for race #3. I had missed last week’s climb up West Alpine because I was in San Diego for David and Audrey’s wedding. For Quimby, I had signed up to be a volunteer, as once up Quimby is enough for me!
I armed myself with my cameras and shot photos of the riders as they climbed up Quimby. Thanks to Christine’s nimble driving up the narrow roads, I was able to get some good photos of the action in the front. I wonder if I had a hybrid hub like one of the Week One riders if I could keep up with Tim, Clark, and the other top finishers. Somehow, I think I would still need a little more power to keep up with the big boys and girls!
Christine and I drove up to the top, where we waited for the cyclists to come to us. Similar to the finish at Mt. Diablo, I waited patiently in the same position, letting the cyclist come into my photographing firing zone. I’m pretty happy with the shots… out of 811 photos, I have posted 263 onto my SmugMug gallery for Quimby, a 32% hit rate. That’s out par for the course with regards to sports shooting.
Christine was protecting this cute tarantula which was trying to cross the street over and over again. We were afraid a car or cyclist would end its life! That tarantula really need to watch where it was going!
Here’s a photo of me taken by Brenda of me in the car:
tow.com 
Outstanding photos. They really capture the essence of what we were going through.
Adam: Thanks for the great shots! I really enjoyed them.
Great photos, Adam. I remember going up Quimby once with the Tri-City Tri Club. Good climb; I think I decided that it was very nearly on par with Sierra Rd. in terms of difficulty.
Anyhow, some questions:
1. Was the disc brake on the Fox fork on a road bike? Those look like road rims…
2. Was the runner able to keep up with the cyclists?
Inquiring minds wanna know! :)
Gary finished in 25:53, or 7.65 miles per hour. He definitely ran faster than I could ride up the hill, scoring a 107.66 on the climb! See more results here: http://www.lowkeyhillclimbs.com/2008/week3/results.html
Here’s the photo of the bike that had the Fox shocks. It was a mountain bike: http://photos.tow.com/gallery/6297370_eFJ8G#397027179_EvagM