indieVelo's Switchback Hill Climb Lap route is 12.0 km (7.46 miles) with 353 m (1158 feet) of elevation, Straight up the switchbacks twice.
Route Description
The indieVelo Switchback Hill Climb Lap route has you riding the Switchback Hill Climb twice with a return trip down the backside of the hill, through the mountain pass, and around the rest of South Lake in between.
You begin with a slightly rolling counterclockwise trip around two-thirds of South Lake before turning right toward Switchback Hill at 1.6 km (1.0 miles). The steepest pitch of the route is at the base, touching 12%, before a short, false flat 200 meters (656 feet) into your climb. Most of the time spent on this climb is at a gradient of 8-9%, but there are short pitches, particularly around the switchback bends, where the gradient could be as much as 12% or as little as 2%. You’ll pass a significant flat and straight section as well, so close attention to gear selection will reward you with efficiency and speed on your climb.
You crest Switchback Hill at 3.9 km (2.42 miles). The summit is fairly broad, so you’ll benefit from a hard push to gain speed for the descent there. Once the gradient reaches -6% and your speed is ~53 kph (32.9 mph), you can recover in supertuck mode by freewheeling. If you are racing with bots, use them as your cue.
At 5.1 km (3.17 miles), you’ll hit the small climb at the midpoint of the descent, where you’ll want to sprint over to maintain your momentum. Leave that to other racers who haven’t read this course description and follow their wheels because you’ll lose most of your speed thanks to corner braking as you turn left rather than continue straight on your descent.
The last portion of your descent has enough braking bends and turns that hard efforts to break away or bridge will be difficult. At 6.0 km (3.72 miles), you will turn left onto the road that will bring you back to South Lake. It is a perfect attacking point where a hard 400 m (1,312 feet) sprint will give you significant momentum for the rest of the descent.
Many racers close gaps or create them here. Supertuck when the descending gradient is 9% or more for a bit of recovery from your sprint effort. When you are braked for two turns in rapid succession as South Lake reappears in your view, your hard effort will resume as you complete the counterclockwise loop of the lake where you started.
At 7.9 km (4.91 miles), you pass the starting pen where your ride began, and you will have seen the rest of the course. You’ll finish at the crest of Switchback Hill.
Route Profile
Route details and description courtesy of Beta-tester Rob Miller!
Check out the indieVelo-Route Descriptions page for more useful recon information.
Semi-retired after more than 20 years as the owner and director of a private Orthopedic Physical Therapy practice, Chris now enjoys the freedom to dedicate himself to his passions—virtual cycling and writing.
Driven to give back to the sport that has enriched his life with countless experiences and relationships, he founded a non-profit organization, TheDIRTDadFund. In the summer of 2022, he rode 3,900 miles from San Francisco to his “Gain Cave” on Long Island, New York, raising support for his charity.
His passion for cycling shines through in his writing, which has been featured in prominent publications like Cycling Weekly, Cycling News, road.cc, Zwift Insider, Endurance.biz, and Bicycling. In 2024, he was on-site in Abu Dhabi, covering the first live, in-person UCI Cycling Esports World Championship.
His contributions to cycling esports have not gone unnoticed, with his work cited in multiple research papers exploring this evolving discipline. He sits alongside esteemed esports scientists as a member of the Virtual Sports Research Network and contributes to groundbreaking research exploring the new frontier of virtual physical sport. Chris co-hosts The Virtual Velo Podcast, too.
