80 miles? Wow, that's a long ride. I fyou can do tha, you can easly do what we do. The entire climb to the village is 21 miles with 4500 ft, 5000 round trip.
The first 8 miles Gina's vid is only 6% average for the 8 miles. The next 13 eases up a bit 5% (?). I'ta all getting used to it. First time after time out of the hills makes the back hurt, legs fatigue but the more you do it, the easier it gets.
I'm thinking the centuries with 10,000 ft get to most riders after 50 60 miles. Afte that point it's tough but the 20 mile climbs aren't all that bad once you get used to them.
The grades in the vid aren't that bad. I see a couple points where Gina reall slows down. If I remember correctly, others have called out wtih their garmins like 10% max but for VERY short sections. If gIna can do this climb you could no problem. I can't figure out why so many people avoid the ride. Everytime Gina does it she worries before the ride. ON the ride she says, it's not all that bad. After the ride she says, let's do it again soon.
We're even thinking about replacing one of the flat weekend rides with a GMR ride. I hope so, the more she does it, the further she will go and easier. Hillbasher better watch out!
Onen thing I noticed about lots of rider is that they pick it up on the flatter sections, WHEN you do get a break. I use those and preach to Gina to use them as recovery. Lots of guys that I have had friendly compettion with on climb might be a little behind (those that don't kick my butt), we hit a flatter section, I ease up bu tthey use it to hammer to catchup. Righ after the grade kicks back up they are toast while I'm a bit recovered adn ready to take on more. So smart riding helps too, recover while you can.
You can see a couple times (maybe more
) in the vid where Gina is at very low rpm's, around a turn, Those are the tough sections where we all slow our cadence.