Understated Club ride descriptions

[jenniferh]

Steep isn't something you can really quantify. It's different for everyone because we're all at different riding abilities. Today I did a 22 mile ride with 3300 feet of climbing. We had ten miles of climbing spread out in three separate climbs with the longest being about six miles. For someone else that could be freakishly steep. The only "steep" part was a little .7 mile jaunt through a neighborhood, with lots of little hills, some with grades of nearly 20%. Because they were so short, I didn't think of them as steep.

Not everyone rides with a unit that will tell percent of grade either. I guess steep means it was a challenging climb or descent for that person.

Veronica

omg! Yep, that is freakish to me I live in Houston, TX and our hills are only the little bridges that go over the tiny creeks. To train for the hills in Austin, TX for the MS150 ride my hubby and I go to the soapbox track outside of town where we get a 1-sided hill, but at least it is something that actually goes up. It's all relative. Your hills are my mountains.

[loopybunny]

This isn't an understatement (or a club ride), but my favorite was Lance Armstrong's description of Metcalf Road used in the San Jose Livestrong Challenge.

"I'm not going to lie to you. It's tough. You've been warned."

Ya think? It's 2 miles at up to 14%...

I think the description that threw me off the most was for Levi's GranFondo talking about Graton Road. "It's challenging, but manageable." I should have considered whose words those were. The climb is 2 miles at up to 10%... I didn't make it. I may be ready this year.