Quote Originally Posted by bikerchick68
when I did the Solvang Century there is a climb 85 miles in that is about 1 1/2 miles long and freaking steep... I was doing 3.7mph and was concerned that if I slowed any more I was gonna fall over and make an *** of myself... I would've laughed about it but I was too tired...
Yeah, that thought has occurred to me at points. : ) I also learned the hard way that it's not a good idea to stop on a very steep part of a hill. When I went to start again, I didn't have enough momentum/coordination/whatever to clip in on the first shot, and over I went at zero miles per hour.

Last week I went on a ride that was a 3% grade or so (I'm guessing) for the 30 miles out, and then the real climbing began. Or so I thought. Then I hit mile marker 1 of the canyon and it starts getting steeper, and think, oh, this must be it. 11 miles later, it becomes seriously steeper, and I slow to about 5 mph. One of my ride partners pulls off into a picnic area, and I say, shouldn't we keep going? He says, "Oh, I've never actually been to the top. Way too much work." Our other partner climbed to the top. This guy was born to climb, and had said he didn't think it would be too hard for me. (I'm still a newbie) On the way down, he says "I take back everything I ever said about Madera Canyon." He said he was pretty sure he was going to fall over for lack of momentum at points. I was really glad I turned around at the picnic area.