Originally Posted by DnvrFox

Almost flat - some incline at the start, Heartbreak Hill and a couple of hills the last few miles. One of them Nora has to walk up the last.

Heartbreak Hill zaps about 50% of the riders who need to get off and walk (yours truly!)

Originally Posted by http://www.freenewmexican.com/sfguide/679.html

Heartbreak Hill gains 300 feet in just under one-half mile, which for exactly half a mile would be an average gradient of 11.4 percent.

"But that's deceiving," Crenshaw said. "The first tenth of a mile is 7.5 percent, the second tenth is 15.2 percent and the last three average 12 percent."

In other words, it's real steep. Seemingly every year at least one rider will run out of gas near the top, struggle to unclip from their pedals and topple over. After cresting Heartbreak, however, riders enjoy a long descent followed by generally flat roads...