So, reporting back as requested. I chose Onion Valley and I’m so glad I did, it’s a simply beautiful climb. I stayed in Independence and simply went up and back, but it was a great way to witness a beautiful Eastern Sierra sunrise. The descent wasn’t much fun with gusty winds picking up as I came out of the upper canyon, and my brakes took an absolute hammering, but overall I highly recommend it. Caveat: you need the legs or gearing to make this fun. My FTP is somewhere between 310 and 320 at 195lbs and I basically sat at that for the full climb, I simply couldn’t get the power below 300W with a 36/29 gear without dropping the cadence too low. Maybe my FTP gets a boost when surrounded by such beauty!
Strava write up is here: