David Does Descanso (Short)

Distance: 25 miles and 1500 feet of elevation gain (mapping software)

All routes today head up to Descanso and on to Montrose for lunch. After lunch, all three routes use the same return to the start. The differences are in the way up to Descanso. While the long and medium do some initial climbing in the Elysian Park and Mount Washington areas, this short skips that and heads directly up to Descanso. It does this by riding up Chevy Chase, as does the medium route (the peak at mile 12.7). As you can see on the profile, this is a significant climb, but it is not very steep. All routes come together for the climb up Descanso (the small hump at mile 15.2) and on to lunch. After lunch, the common return is almost all downhill as we whiz down Verdugo and back to the Zoo.  The climb up Chevy Chase is perhaps more than most of our short routes do, but the entire route is not very long and the climb is not too steep, so even if you are not used to this type of climbing, you should be able to complete this one. 

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