Sports
PHOTO GALLERY: 2011 Fargo Street Hill Climb
The event brought over a hundred cyclists to Echo Park to push their limits.
Echo Park’s Fargo Street just off Alesandro Street is legend for being the steepest block of street in Los Angeles. Near the crest of the hill the grade hits almost 33 percent.
For decades now, cyclists have gathered at the bottom on a Sunday morning in March for the Fargo Hill Climb. The goal? To count how many times in one day they can pedal up the hill.
The free event is sponsored by the L.A.Wheelmen, who bill themselves as Los Angeles’s oldest cycling club.
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This year more than a hundred showed up to try their luck and test their stamina. [Ed.: The final count was 113, according to organizers. 73 made it up the hill at least one time.]
Echo Park photographer and cycling enthusiast Andy Takakjian was there and snapped the accompanying photo gallery.
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Some had trained hard before the event. Others hadn’t been on a bike in months.
Some come every year. Others like Havel Rush of Beverly Hills were there for the first time.
Event organizers told him his bike wasn’t cut out for the climb, and it’s possible they were right: Rush didn’t quite make it to the top, but he said he’d be back next year.
The Fargo Hill record of 101 climbs in a single day was set in 2008 by Steve Gilmore. As of 12:30 p.m. the two leaders in the event—Kent Karns and William Aligu--had just around 50, which onlookers said was behind the record-setting pace. [Ed.: Organizers said Karns won the day with 62 ascents at closing.]
Kermit Garnier of the LA Wheelmen stood at the top of the hill with a clipboard, ticking off each time a rider passed over the crest. He hasn’t participated in the climb for a while, but comes every year to help.
“I’m still alive because of cycling,” he said. “I had staph infection a few years ago that put me in the hospital. Everyone said I only made it because I was in tiptop shape from cycling.”
No doubt.
The final results of the Fargo Hill Climb will be posted at the LA Wheelmen website. You can also find information about the club’s many scheduled rides there.
