Name Your Hill.

[Kimmyt]

from my commute:

-the 'you're not there yet' hill, a long hill on a busy highway followed by a slight break where you think you're done, followed by a steep climb, followed by a slight break where you AGAIN think you're done, followed by an insanely steep section that leaves huffing and puffing at the gates to get into my workplace (no doubt the laughing stock of all drivers and security people)

from my normal rides:

-Mt. Misery, a mile-long hill of long slooooow climbing that leaves you wondering why on earth you ever took up cycling, and if it's possible that you could WALK up the hill faster

-Mt. Joy, a steep and switchback-y hill that, surprisingly, compared to Mt. Misery, IS a joy!... also followed by a screaming descent on a road with no opposing traffic and lots of fun but scary turns looking over the spread of Valley Forge park

-the Wind Tunnel, not actually a hill, but instead a deceptively flat section of bike trail that runs along the highway and sometimes feels like a hill, when you're headed home on it (west-bound on the Schuylkill trail) and you break out into this section from the shaded and tree-lined part of the trail it can feel like someone punched you, the headwind is that strong. For some reason it's always more windy in this section, only about a half mile long, but it's usually at the end of a ride so it's the last thing you need...

K.

[Geonz]

Snork.

The "Hey! This could almost be called a hill!!!" coming out of Prospect that I can actually get out of breath on. Then the "Hey! It must hve been a hill because I'm going down it now!" hill where I try to hit 25 mph if the school traffic permits.

Welcome to the prairie :-)

[MomOnBike]

Going to work it's called The Commute. One grind uphill 'til I get to a screaming downhill (up to 30mph in 2 blocks) that is interrupted by the busiest street in town. "But Mommy! I don't wanna brake!" screams my inner 2-yo.

Going home there is a block-long hill that some days I'd swear is vertical. I've logged as low as 3.2 mph on that section. When done with that, its downhill rollers all the way home. Wheeee! I haven't named the hill, but it has my number.

[nicolezoie]

I wish I knew the grade percent of the hills I commute on daily. My guess is they're between 5-8%, but they're fairly short - no more than a mile or two.

I haven't given names to the hills, but my weekday commute includes a hill that just goes on and on. At times when I was in better shape, I could make it up the first part of the hill at a steady 8mph+, but these days I'm lucky if I can keep it between 6-8mph. That same hill, going downhill, I don't dare look down at my speedo only because I'm going 45mph+ and the cars don't care that I'm going as fast as they are. The hill has two parts - the first part is the 6-8mph part, and the second part winds thru a neighborhood but steadily climbs higher and higher until I'm at the top of one of the highest hills in town. It's quite a spectacular view from up there.

My weekend commute includes a hill that starts out in a false flat, but then I hit the true climb. Usually I'm able to do that climb at 7-8 mph, then it flattens out into a brief false flat, then the final portion of the climb I'm able to do around 8 mph. The other hill in my weekend commute is probably one of the steepest climbs in town, but it's less than 1/4 mile long and hardly worth mentioning because of how short it is. The downhill portion of that climb is fast enough that I leave my lighting rig on my bike year around so cars don't decide to pull out of the residential street near the bottom.

[Bron]

Not a hill, but the railway bridge is a pain - I can´t avoid it as I live on one side and work on the other. It´s windy on the top and there is always a traffic jam of r-e-a-l-l-y--s-l-o-w people on the cycle path.

[Jolt]

Not on a commuting or errand route, but on a ride I did this past Sunday and will probably do again: a large part of the ride was on a road called Brigham Hill Road, which has a long climb followed by a long descent (the fun part!). The climb is pretty tough, especially coming back home. I've decided to start calling that road Brutal Hill Road!

[Blueberry]

which hills these are?? As a fellow bull city resident, inquiring minds want to know....

My current 2 nemeses are:

751 from Erwin Rd. up to Kerley road - not that steep, but a b!tch

Couch Mountain Climb on Cornwallis - Double UGH!

CA