As long as we're on the topic of beginners and climbing... Team in Training, where I learned how to ride,  does hill repeats on Mt Eden (over by Stevens Creek Reservoir) once per week. That climb set the tone for the rest of my cycling.  The great thing about it is, you do as many repeats as you want.  Your friend can start with 3 or 4, work up to 8 or more. They should do long climbs too, but if they want a fun hill interval workout on a  weekday between the LKHC climbs, they could try that out.  It's a beginner climb because it's short and they can control how long they spend out there (i.e. how many repeats).

 

 

On 9/28/08, Dan Connelly <djconnel@...> wrote:

Rupert Brauch wrote:
> I wouldn't call any of those beginner climbs. I'd recomend Hwy 9,
> King's Mountain, or Old La Honda. Mount Hamilton is a pretty gradual,
> although a beginner wouldn't want to climb all the way to the top.
>
> -Rupert
>

My favorite beginner climb is actually east Alpine from Portola Valley road to the where it becomes dirt. Do NOT continue onto Joaquin :).

It's slightly steep towards the end, but not too bad.

From there, a good progression is to Santa Maria, near Hayfields off Portola Road. Hayfields is not a beginner climb :). There's a little loop at the top of Santa Maria (ride it clockwise) which is nice, but it's basically up-and-down.

But I was limiting my recommendations to 2008 Low-Keys....