Originally Posted by
akahn
Wow, looks like a beautiful road.
To acantor and Erick-- I visited that area of Quebec last summer and even driving on the hills that steep was intense! How does anyone get around in the winter?? I tip my hat to y'all for having the guts to ride bikes in that area.
That kind of thing is no big deal to drive in a car. It's easier in a stick shift, but it's not *impossible* in an automatic. You just have to know how to manage your acceleration, and in an automatic, how to force gear shifts. On a back road of that kind of grade, the speed limit tends to be 35 or 45mph, and a lot of times there will be safety curves to enforce it. (if you have to cross the yellow line to get up *or* down, IMO you should have your license taken away... what if I'm in the other lane on my bike?!) SUVs, light trucks, and minivans can have power to weight ratio issues. CDL required vehicles often do.
If you live on top of this kinda hill, in winter you do not go down unless you've got a plan for how to get back up. Non-clumping kitty litter is your friend. Same with good winter driving skills. And you desperately want to know the *other* back road, where the grades stay below 10% the whole way up even tho it's an extra 4 miles of driving. Also, it takes a *lot* of snow to make things unwalkable...
On a bike it's... more demanding. I usually can't ride up grades like that. I walk. Doesn't matter how good my gearing is, my cardio conditioning just isn't good enough. Go up it til just before you would go splat, then walk. Lather, rinse, repeat, and eventually you get the conditioning to ride up.