Best hill conquered

[eclectic]

Just for fun :rolleyes: Climbed 1 killer hill yesterdat that I have never made it up. We had no reason to climb it other than it was there - it wasn't on our route. My RP looked at it and said "sure - it doesn't look that hard" , RP has never tried it. I went down the road a ways so I could get a straight shot at it and gear down before hitting it.

It isn't a long hill but it is STEEP - I have no idea what the grade or length is.

Shift down, shift down, shift down oops no more gears. Pedal, 1,2,3...20, pedal, 1,2,3...20 so on and so on. REALLY glad I was clipless! Pull up, around, down, just like doing leg presses - not much further, Breathe, breathe, breathe, try to breathe, try to breathe oops asthma kicking in. TA DA at the top! cough, cough, cough, gasp, gasp, gasp big Grin :D :D :D

My speed dropped to 4.7 mph - the slowest I have EVER gone up a hill - but I MADE IT!

Riding partner asked "are you trying to KILL me? - I kept waiting for you to quit and you DIDN'T so then I couldn't either. If you could do it I HAD to do it"
(Can you guess - He's male :rolleyes:

[roadie gal]

Very cool accomplishment! Enjoy the feeling.

[Grog]

I think the toughest hill I've ever had to climb was somewhere between Irasburg and Lowell in Vermont (44deg49'12 N / 72deg21'24 W, top elevation at about 493 from about 250).

That was during the Grand Tour in 2006. It was pretty short (less than 2km I think) but awfully steep!! In a way much worst and a 23km, 5% ascent I have done in France! Thankfully I have a triple crank so I was down to 5km/h at some point. I just kept plugging away at it and eventually made it to the top. That really really made me happy!!

[Bikingmomof3]

Congratulations! Enjoy the progess you are making.:cool:

[Geonz]

I remember inching up a hill and preparing to bail, and AARGH! the sag wagon was behind us. No way!!

Fortunately, the driver went to the top and stopped and waited for us with drinks and goodies in the van :)

4.5 is still faster than walking! And it means you endured it for longer... you rock!!

Boy, do I remember counting the revolutions, breathing, counting the revolutoins (okay, I was doing it yesterday into the wind!)

[miffy'sFuji]

4.7 is a good speed!

My toughest climb is only .4 mi. but goes from 371ft in elev. to 640ft. That's just about 12%. It's one of my routes home. I don't take that way home very often. ;)

[velogirl]

I met Miffy's Fuji yesterday!!!

[roguedog]

Congrats! It is a pretty good feeling. So.. what's your next hill??? hehehe

Velogirl - you make me laugh!

[GLC1968]

The route I took this past Sunday is one of our most varied. We had one hill that was short (less than 0.2 mile) but had an 8.5% grade! :eek: Because it follows a one-lane bridge full of HUGE potholes, you have to basically start it from standing still, too.

Then we had what we call our 'killer' hill because there is no decent leading up to it (unusual around here). It's a 6.5% climb for about 0.6-0.7 mile.

The last memorable hill of the route is the longest one. It's only about a 2% grade, but it's for almost 4 miles with no shade (no biggie this time of year...but it bites in the summer!).

Oh, and I agree with the others...4.7 mph is better than walking!! :D

[Cassandra_Cain]

Hmmm, the best hill? So many to pick from, mountains, hills - the works really.

I'd say the hardest is a specific one in the foothills - it is about 1/2 mile in length averaging about 14%, and with the most difficult section at 36%! :eek:

I don't ride it very much, since there's no real reason to ride very steep grades. Still, every time I have, I always set new PB's for 5-min pwr :rolleyes:

A friend took a picture of me in this area and it almost looks like I'm riding off the picture. To think, cars chug up and down this spot in winter - let's hope it never snows again!