2026 Ultra Low-Key Hillclimbs

2026 Schedule

This year's theme, Take a Breath, is built around climbs that give you somewhere to recover mid-effort: a flat section, a rolling stretch, or even a short descent, rather than a steady, unrelenting grade. As always, Montebello opens the series and Mt. Hamilton closes it out over Thanksgiving weekend. Climb stats below are pulled from each segment's Strava page.

* These times are pulled from the Strava leaderboard and may not correspond perfectly with the previous LKHC results.
** This specific segment has not been used in an LKHC event, so instead the times here are pulled from the fastest amongst the **Low Key Hill Climbs** Strava group.
Week	Date	Segment	Location	Distance	Elevation Gain	Avg Grade	Climb Category	LKHC KOM Time*	LKHC QOM Time*
1	Oct 1–4	Montebello	South Bay	5.13 mi	1,984 ft	8.1%	2	23:29 (Erik Levinsohn 2025)	29:06 (Katheryn Curi 2022)
2	Oct 8–11	Lobitos	Peninsula	3.31 mi	672 ft	3%	4	12:30 (Chris Peck 2017)**	14:04 (Jen Tavé 2024)**
3	Oct 15–18	John Nicholas Trail (Dirt)	South Bay	2.97 mi	1,824 ft	6.6%	3	16:13 (Alex Wild 2020)**	23:25 (Katheryn Curi 2019)**
4	Oct 22–25	Mines Rd	East Bay	17.73 mi	2,387 ft	2.4%	1	54:47 (Dave Collet 2016)**	1:01:01 (Katheryn Curi 2019)**
5	Oct 29–Nov 1	Bofax to East Peak	North Bay	11.06 mi	2,982 ft	4%	1	43:05 (Hanns Detlefsen 2016)**	58:27 (Janet Gardner 2016)**
6	Nov 5–8	Calaveras + Felter	South Bay	8.54 mi	2,025 ft	4.1%	2	33:06 (Brad Lovegren 2025)**	44:02 (Ilan Jen-La Plante 2021)**
7	Nov 12–15	Mountain Charlie	Santa Cruz	4.02 mi	1,161 ft	5.1%	2	17:01 (Stefano Profumo 2015)	19:48 (Illi Gardner 2015)
8	Nov 19–22	Diablo South to Junction	East Bay	5.69 mi	1,439 ft	5.3%	2	20:17 (Nathan Martin 2025)**	24:18 (Jen Tavé 2025)**
9	Nov 24–29	Mt Hamilton	South Bay	18.2 mi	4,275 ft	4.8%	HC	1:05:16 (Erik Levinsohn 2024)	1:18:45 (Melanie Spath 2010)

Register to ride

Note: you must register before you ride!

Fill out the 2026 registration form. Not sure if you've already submitted the form? Check the current roster.
Set your activity privacy controls to "Everyone" so I can find your time on the public leaderboard. Learn More.
Update your Strava location settings (if necessary) so you are not hiding your map visibility for every ride. Otherwise, if you start or end your ride near the segment, I may not be able to see it. Learn More.

Rules

All riders are expected to follow the rules of the road.
All riders are expected to wear helmets.
All riders are expected to ride without headphones in both ears.
Drafting other Low-Key riders is OK.
- Please do not draft riders that are not participating.
- Please do not draft vehicles.
Any efforts must be made at any time during the open window Thursday through Sunday (Tuesday through Sunday on Week 9).
- This is to optimize for participation, while attempting to minimize the impact of weather fluctuations.
- Exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis.
- Please upload your ride by Sunday evening.

Timing

Timing will be captured via Strava.
If multiple attempts are made on the segment during the open window, the best time will be captured.
To help out with scoring, please consider joining our Strava club.
- Make sure your Strava activity is public ("Who can see? Everyone!"), and that in Privacy Controls you have "Hide the start and end points of activities no matter where they happen" turned OFF.
If your Strava activity doesn't register the segment, even though you did it, message the coordinator with a link to your activity and it will be added manually.
If you don't use Strava, you can time yourself with a stopwatch and send an image to the coordinator (or use some other means to prove you did the segment).

Scoring

Individual week scoring

Each rider will receive a score for each individual week in which they participate.
- **New for this year**This score will be calculated as a ratio of their time relative to the LKHC KOM or QOM time shown in the table above. A compression transform is added to make the competition tighter!
  - score = 100 × ( KOM or QOM time / rider time )^0.5
- There may be a scaling factor added due to environmental factors, if the fastest times for the week are significantly slower than previous times. The goal here is to prevent riders from simply skipping bad weather weeks that may run slower (and therefore score lower than other weeks).
Scores for the week will be published in Age Groups as well as overall (Male and Female).

Overall scoring

Individual scores will be added to establish an overall score for the series for every rider.
Overall scores will be calculated after each week.
- The number of “counting weeks” will equal the number of total weeks so far divided by two, rounded up.
  - Example: after week 3, your top 2 scores count toward your overall score.
  - To maximize your overall score at the end of the series, you need to participate in at least 5 of the 9 weeks!

Team scoring

Team scores are calculated by adding the top three scores from each team for a given week.
Overall team score is calculated using the same number of weeks as individual overall scores.
The scoring is done in this way so smaller teams aren't penalized for not having a large number of riders, yet large teams aren't penalized for including slower riders.
- If a team of three fast riders adds a slower rider, that slower rider's scores will be discarded rather than count against the team.
- On the other hand, a team of three fast riders will not be penalized for not recruiting slower riders from other teams.
A rider's team can change during the year: the team receiving the rider's scores for a given week is the team the rider rode with that given week.
- If the rider changes teams the next week, the prior team keeps the points for when the rider was on that team.

100% Club

The 100% club consists of riders who've climbed every climb in the series. Dedication!

Mass starts/group rides

There will be a mass start at the start of the segment every Saturday at 10am. Show up, say hi, take some photos. We will aim to officially start around 10:10
In addition to the mass start, group rides will be coordinated through the Google Group, Strava Club and/or RidewithGPS.
Group rides will typically include a coffee shop start and a warm-up, arriving around 10am near the start of the segment for the mass start (see above).
Group rides are meant to be casual and social.
Participation in the group ride/mass start is optional. You may do the ride on your own at any time during the open window. You may coordinate your own group ride (though we encourage you to join us!)
Please be courteous. Remember that the people around you may be at different bike handling skill levels.
Riders are also encouraged to organize group recon rides.

Volunteering

Ride Leaders: This is a great opportunity, especially if you're looking to add people to your local club! If you are interested in leading a ride, please reach out!.
Photographers: Pictures are always encouraged and appreciated! A shared photo album will be created where anyone can share their photos. If you have your own album to share, please reach out to post on the site.