Question about average speeds

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

anyway, this is boustead ave in pittsburgh. though it is claimed to be a 29% grade, they say it is likely steeper than canton ave (the 37% one talked about here) in the middle of it, just that boustead is longer and flattens at the top so it lowers the overall grade of the road.

can't believe people bike up this and i can proudly say i have no intention of ever trying. and trust me, the photo doesn't do it justice. not sure if there is a photographic way to really show how steep it is!

I guess the photo does not do it justice at all because it looks pretty much like the hill going up to my house! (in rural NY) FWIW, I "zoom" up my hill at 2.5 mph.

Anyone have a link to the photo mentioned earlier of Canton Ave?

[Possegal]

trust me, i don't speed up boustead in my CAR, in fact, i won't drive up it, only down it. so yes, apparently the photo does not do it justice. i'll have to try the angle from the top of the hill when i go home next week, maybe that will convey it better. in fact, i bet it will, so i will try that and resurrect this thread yet again.

here is canton http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canton_Avenue and here is video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxWceFTkLRU
37% grade, on cobblestones. the guy who posted this video posted some other streets, but not boustead. you should see links for some other streets on the page for the canton video. suffolk street is also not far from me, as is canton.


let's see if i can add the pic of the the man running in his socks who challenged the bike winner, and beat him. running up canton faster than the biker.

hopefully you can see how steep canton is from these links/pics, and like i said, folks say boustead is probably steeper just that the grade of the road is for the whole road and since it is flat at a few spots, the 28% grade doesn't rightly show how steep it is at some points.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

AAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

[Possegal]

he he he. now naturally these are not roads that i ever felt the need to try, nor was it necessary to travel on them. for me at least. pity the folks who need to drive them because of where they live! especially in the snow! as a kid riding a bike in pittsburgh i learned quickly how to get anywhere with the least amount of hills. but that didn't mean no hills. at least it never meant any of the dirty dozen hills.

[jobob]

Good grief !!!

[smilingcat]

+1 about avg speed. It should only be used on a fixed course you use on regular basis. If you change your course, your avg speed will greatly change. When I do hill reps, I may only avg 11-13mph. going up and down. Byt the time I do my last climb, my legs are frazzled and can only average 8mph.

as for the steepest hills, it seems most are around 30-37% range. I might try the LA hill climb. see how many reps I can do.

Steep climbs :
Climb the kaiser with near 20% grade for half a mile from big creek station to billy creek lunch stop elevation 5280' GPS reading at big creek. lunch stop was over 8,000' after riding for less than 5 miles.

another one was at Sierra Classic on slug gulch. A set of stair case climb. 200foot climb with about 100' flat "rest area" about 18% grade on the climb.

death ride on Ebetts. At hairpin turns, the inside portion hits about 18%.

--------------

Ace,

if you have had knee trouble, seriously think about going to a triple with 30+ cog in rear. Climbing hills by mashing is extremely hard on the knee. So do be careful.

smilingcat

[Brandy]

as for the steepest hills, it seems most are around 30-37% range. I might try the LA hill climb. see how many reps I can do.

Smilingcat...is that Fargo Street that you're talking about?

[RoadRaven]

OK... re that pic on the previous page - I want to know who won that race!!!


Pssst... Brandy... love your bf's helmet!
(Pretty impressive to get up there... how does he find his Scott?)

[Possegal]

do you mean the race between the guy in socks and the biker?? if so, the guy in socks ran up the hill faster than the cyclist biked it.

[Brandy]

Pssst... Brandy... love your bf's helmet!
(Pretty impressive to get up there... how does he find his Scott?)

Yes, I know. That was back in the day, before he realized that he has to listen to me. He's a good boy now and wears his helmet.

Oh, and he loves his Scott!