A view of Bernal Heights in San Francisco.
JasonDoiy/Getty Images
Bradford Street in Bernal Heights dead-ends after a sharp slope, but it’s a trophy for hill climbers. The steepest street in San Francisco is shorter than a football field and recently turned into a battleground for competitive cyclists. After an elite visitor beat the record for fastest sprint to the top, a competition craze started off among cyclists, and a born-and-raised San Franciscan has prevailed — for now.
British cyclist Harry MacFarlane kick-started the frenzy while visiting the city during a tour of the United States. The reigning British National Hill Climb Championship titleholder recorded himself on April 26 riding up the roughly 230-foot climb in 14 seconds. The feat tied the record set by Mike Scanlon in December 2020.
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MacFarlane and other competitive cyclists record rides in the fitness-tracking app Strava. The platform awarded MacFarlane “King of the Mountain,” its top achievement, for the fastest ride up Bradford Street, since his ride was more recent than Scanlon’s.
SFGATE published a report on MacFarlane’s ride in the afternoon on April 28, but by that evening, he had been dethroned.
It was only the beginning in a war of pedals.
Bradford Street in San Francisco in August 2025.
Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images
Local cyclist Gino Gabuyo scaled Bradford Street in 12 seconds, giving him the King title. He uploaded his ride around 6 p.m. that night showing how he beat MacFarlane by 2 seconds. However, his reign was short. The next morning, another local rider named Jake Lanich completed the ride in 11 seconds.
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Gabuyo shared with SFGATE the notification from Strava that confirmed he lost the course record for Bradford Street before noon on April 29. “Uh oh,” the app told him while delivering the salvo.
Across town on Russian Hill, amateur cyclist Ivan Linser heard about the fuss. “I wanted to see what it was all about,” the lifelong San Franciscan said. “If you look at the leaderboard, probably half of them are from April 28 and 29, all after the article was written. I just wanted to see what that hill was like.”
Linser had already planned for a ride that day with some sprint training, so he decided to chart a course for Bernal Heights. Bradford Street is on a hill and the back half is extremely steep — a grueling 41% grade.
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Approaching the start of the hill from the west, on a street with a slight decline, Linser said he powered up and felt good about it. “I’m a smaller guy and can do solid sprint numbers,” he said. “There are guys who can beat me all the time in a flat sprint but on a 41% sprint, I have an advantage.”
He doubled back and repeated the climb, for good measure, but couldn’t upload his rides into Strava until reaching home. He sent in one of his sprints, but there was a glitch; it recorded him at 51 seconds. After he uploaded his other ride, a notification on Strava shot over to Lanich. “Uh oh,” it read.
Linser had conquered Bradford Street in 10 seconds, taking King of the Mountain. A week later, nobody else has dethroned his record.
MacFarlane told Cycling Weekly that he’ll return one day. The outlet reported that he added, “I sleep well at night knowing I have caused a civil war in San Francisco.”
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Currently on a gap year after high school and regularly competing in — and winning — races, Linser, 18 years old, said he was proud of his feat, but even more excited to see the San Francisco cycling community receive further recognition.
“Cycling is a contained community,” he said. “In Europe, it’s a big sport. But in America, some people think of it more as a hobby than a sport.”