what do YOU call a hill????

[CorsairMac]

I was watching the TdF yesterday and I thought of this thread:
They were showing Stuart O'Gradys stats and he was climbing the last Cat 1 climb at 10 klicks (about 6.1 mph) over a 5-6% grade.
Ok..I Know he's a sprinter so mountains are just not his forte but for a brief moment in time there I was all excited that I could climb a 5-6% grade faster than a pro racer! LOL
Just thought I'd give everyone a little hill climbing boost there! Next time you're climbing look at your speed - you May just be climbing faster than a pro racer!

[emily_in_nc]

All this hill talk is making me nervous!!! I live in S Florida now (we have an old garbage dump gone park that we call a mountain ) and moving to N Carolina (Asheville to be precise) I will LOVE hills, right? My average is going down huh???

Oh yeah! I live in central NC, and it's rolling hills here. Having lived in central Florida, I can tell you that there is a big difference! Of course, you have more wind there, so that will help you, but western NC is seriously hilly and mountainous. You will definitely have to work hard, but you'll love it. It's gorgeous!

Emily

[Lynne]

I was watching the TdF yesterday and I thought of this thread:
They were showing Stuart O'Gradys stats and he was climbing the last Cat 1 climb at 10 klicks (about 6.1 mph) over a 5-6% grade.
Ok..I Know he's a sprinter so mountains are just not his forte but for a brief moment in time there I was all excited that I could climb a 5-6% grade faster than a pro racer! LOL
Just thought I'd give everyone a little hill climbing boost there! Next time you're climbing look at your speed - you May just be climbing faster than a pro racer!

OMG, too funny! I'm kicking Stuarte O'Grady's butt. Hmmm....now if I could just toss on 2 cat 3 climbs, a cat 2 climb and like 127 miles BEFORE the cat 1 climb and STILL do 6mph...whoo hoo!

[CorsairMac]

OMG, too funny! I'm kicking Stuarte O'Grady's butt. Hmmm....now if I could just toss on 2 cat 3 climbs, a cat 2 climb and like 127 miles BEFORE the cat 1 climb and STILL do 6mph...whoo hoo!

Minor details!

[SadieKate]

They were showing Stuart O'Gradys stats and he was climbing the last Cat 1 climb at 10 klicks (about 6.1 mph) over a 5-6% grade.
Ok..I Know he's a sprinter so mountains are just not his forte but for a brief moment in time there I was all excited that I could climb a 5-6% grade faster than a pro racer! LOL
Just thought I'd give everyone a little hill climbing boost there! Next time you're climbing look at your speed - you May just be climbing faster than a pro racer!

I haven't been able to watch until today, but I have to ask: How far had he already ridden? And how far had he towed a team mate up the hill? And, did he have to go back for water bottles and deliver to a team mate? Even sprinters have to do some work in the hills. And, how many consecutive days had he already ridden at this tempo?

Don't want to rain on your parade, but can you ride at this pace day after day (times 23? days)? Ok, for one brief little shining moment we can all ride faster than a pro. Just don't blink when it happens and make sure someone is there to be witness.

[bikerchick68]

Don't want to rain on your parade, but can you ride at this pace day after day (times 23? days)?

OF COURSE WE CAN!

HA! Corsair thank you for the stat... I, too, am Tour worthy now...

[chick on a bike]

The way I see it, a hill is anything that's not on the flat! *lol* I don't like hills one bit and have reason not to as my one knee doesn't track right and I need like a brace thing for it, and my other knee has had surgery on it in the past (torn lateral maniscus :P) and it's possible that it may not track right either. *bleckh* My knees can hinder things at times, I hate it. ~grumbs~ But I have gotten better at them and the better I get at them, the more I don't have such a problem...even though my knees may. ^^ *giggles*

The kind of hills we have here in Corvallis OR, are slight to difficult, depending on what area you're riding (and also depending on the irritating headwinds that seem to always be against you-at least they are me! *lol*). I don't know what the % grade is on the way up these hills but alot of the hills around my place, you're either down in the grany gears still sitting or you're standing all the way up for about a quarter or more of a mile; and you can easily feel gravity tugging against you. (I'm just guessing on that distance as I only have a car to calculate milage! *lol* Don't have a computer yet but desperately need one!) The hills suck to go up but they're so worth it as the ride down is such a blast!! ~ornery grin~


~Liz

[MomOnBike]

I've been giving this a lot of thought recently. And, being who and what I am, realized I classify them. Roughly:

There are False Flats. You don't really know you're going up until you turn around and go down faster.

There are Inclines that only need a slightly lower gear to handle.

Hills are those grades that terminal velocity going down is > 20 mph.

%$*@!! Steep is when I have to get off and push.

I have come to terms with all but %$*@!! Steep. Those still bother me. A lot.

[Zub_Zub]

All of those who live in auckland should try Mountain road, up in the waitak's. Its about 3 km of just hill. No lies just hills. It takes about 20 mins for me to get up. Ive been cycling for three years. Round taupo is sooooo much fun. I did it last year and i would love to do the ham to auck but ive got a two day on the same week end.

[pkq]

If the land rises 2000' or more above sea level, it is a mountain. Everything else is a hill. SW PA has nothing but hills but they are steep.

Last year, to prepare for the big bikejournal ride on the Talimena Scenic Drive, I rode as many hills and mountains as I could with steep grades. I did this intentionally knowing the terrain in Arkansas. It's very similar to SW PA. I rode with jjfox in the mountains about once a month, sometimes twice. I did hill repeats during the week on a climb with an average 10% grade, that gains 500' in elevation, and takes 1 mile to travel up. It's tough. At the highest grade, my top speed is 6-7 mph cranking hard.

To prepare for this year's bikejournal ride up Logan's Pass in Glacier, I didn't do that much prep work for steep grades. We weren't going to ride anything that steep. I did some hill repeats on the steep grades but concentrated on the long, shallower grades. But I hit them as hard and fast as I could. When staying with friends in Eugene, OR, I rode Old MacKenzie Pass with GEARS. I did fine on that climb and knew I'd be OK with Logan's Pass.

Wind and hills are your friends. They make you stronger.

[trigurl]

I ride up a 10% incline 1.89 miles, takes me oh bout 18 min, first time it took 19:54, I am getting better. Hills here are steep, I don't consider them a hill unless you CAN'T pedal down them

[joyrider]

...is when I experience that moment of clarity going up, consisting of a little voice inside saying, "Why the hell am I doing this?"
I heard it just the other day on the Guadalupe Mines Road.

[Crankin]

I learned on my trip to Austria this summer that i have never really been up a mountain before... I climbed 3 "hills" with 12-15% grades. One seemed long, but it was probably a mile. The others were shorter. At one point, I was going 3-4 km/per hr... on all of them. I didn't care. I cared that I got up them, didn't have to stop or be picked up by the support van!

[pkq]

trigurl, I want to draft you. You are much stronger than I am.

[CorsairMac]

So I saw the title of this thread and my first thought was:

I call a hill a dirty rotten piece of **** (insert whatever cuss word works for you) that God put here just to Mess with my Quads!!

THAT"S what I call a hill!!!!