Fifty Plus (50+) - Hill Day

Red Rider and I went out on the tandem today for a hill climbing day. We are trying to get better on the hills. There is a hill called Cantelow hill. We have ridden up many times from one side but have not attacked the other side yet as we were a bit intimidated. It is an approximate 450' climb in about .85 miles. There are steep sections and Red was always afraid we may start going backwards and fall down.:eek: We conquered it today. :D We did a few hill repeats on one hill that is fairly steep but not that bad. Here is a screen shot showing grade on the steep section.
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w76/cgallagh/Hillday7-07a.jpg
Here is our speed profile.
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w76/cgallagh/Hillday7-07b.jpg

45 miles, 16.1 mph average, 3005 feet of climb. I'm tired.

Congrats!
That's why you have so many gears on a tandem . . . use 'em!

And on a tandem at that. Gosh.

4 legs probably doesn't hurt, either :)

You're tired, I'm really impressed. Way to go! ( I hate hills)

Getting up hills that steep on a tandem is no easy task.

The question about bombing down them is, who was the captain? I'm not sure I could be a stoker going 45-50 mph.

Getting up hills that steep on a tandem is no easy task.

The question about bombing down them is, who was the captain? I'm not sure I could be a stoker going 45-50 mph.

That is a good reason why the computer is on my bars and not hers. I have a governer built into the bike. When RR starts squeaking,:eek: I can only go about 5 mph faster then I better start exercising the dual disc brakes.;) I always remember that my back is exposed but she won't do anything during the descent. She will wait for a slow moment and then there will be remediation. The fastest we have ever been is 49 mph and that was on a long straight run with no curves.

The fastest we have ever been is 49 mph and that was on a long straight run with no curves.[/QUOTE]

NOW you tell me?!?!?! Obviously I need to pay closer attention. Geez. :(

RR will be lobbying for a cyclometer on the stoker bars soon.

My stoker and I failed on the steepest hill of the the Hilly Hundred (Southern Indiana) two years in a row. Downsizing the chainrings and getting a cassette with a lower low and , oh, yeah, training a little harder on our local puny hills, helped us conquer it last Fall.

RR will be lobbying for a cyclometer on the stoker bars soon.

My stoker and I failed on the steepest hill of the the Hilly Hundred (Southern Indiana) two years in a row. Downsizing the chainrings and getting a cassette with a lower low and , oh, yeah, training a little harder on our local puny hills, helped us conquer it last Fall.

How steep is that hill on the Hilly Hundred? I'm thinking about doing it this year and I want to do additional training beforehand.

Congratulations!!

I'm not sure I would want to tackle that one on a single:rolleyes:

There's an elevation graph on the Hillyhundred.org site. Tabor Hill is NE of Stinesville, just before the Sunday lunch stop. Looking at Google Earth, N Mt Tabor Rd rises about 131ft in 0.31mi. (To where the route turns onto W Tabor Hill Rd). The steeper section near the top rises 54ft in 0.14mi. Wouldn't be so bad if it weren't crowded with cyclists, many of them struggling, and that there is often auto traffic to contend with, too.
Southern Indiana is much hillier than the flatlands of Central Indiana. No real elevation, just lots of steep.

There's an elevation graph on the Hillyhundred.org site. Tabor Hill is NE of Stinesville, just before the Sunday lunch stop. Looking at Google Earth, N Mt Tabor Rd rises about 131ft in 0.31mi. (To where the route turns onto W Tabor Hill Rd). The steeper section near the top rises 54ft in 0.14mi. Wouldn't be so bad if it weren't crowded with cyclists, many of them struggling, and that there is often auto traffic to contend with, too.
Southern Indiana is much hillier than the flatlands of Central Indiana. No real elevation, just lots of steep.

Thanks. I had seen the hill profiles but missed the hill data document with the actual grades.

I think Tabor hill was posted as 20% max grade, which must be at the very top, where ya drag yourself onto the cross road. Overall, it doesn't seem as steep as it was when I started doing Hilly. Maybe all the bike traffic is eroding it to something more reasonable.

It's reading stories like this that keep me climbing. I had a wonderful ride, with four women friends this last Sat, two of us climb out of Sherars on a fairly regular basis (2.5 miles 4-6%), because we want to keep getting better. Sat, 3 women who have been riding for the last month or so, strictyly on level ground, decided they were ready to try the "climb". I was so excited, I've been nurturing this bunch hoping they would want to branch out more, we climbed it with one stop in the middle, and yes their horizons opened! I enjoy riding by myself, but this is a fun group, and I am looking forward to having more people along for the longer rides. Here's to climbing!

The fastest we have ever been is 49 mph and that was on a long straight run with no curves.

NOW you tell me?!?!?! Obviously I need to pay closer attention. Geez. :([/QUOTE]

You Don't need to pay closer attention- Unless you are not going fast enough. I used to get annoyed with Stuart because at speed- I would tuck in tight behind him and all I could feel was the brakes going on too early. I swore at him Once when this happened but he pointed out to me that he had to brake because the Cows were right across the path And would not move. Then on a road ride he braked again on a curve and Lots of swearing this time. Then he pointed behind at the Surface on the Curve and it was loose gravel.

Thats the problem with Pilots- They chicken out occasionally.

Now get the T offroad with a few Lumps and hollows in the Trail and that is when you do know the speed you are going at. 53.8mph and We had to brake halfway down because we did not know if the gate was open.

I think Tabor hill was posted as 20% max grade, which must be at the very top, where ya drag yourself onto the cross road. Overall, it doesn't seem as steep as it was when I started doing Hilly. Maybe all the bike traffic is eroding it to something more reasonable.
Definitely steeper at the top - glad to hear that the natural process of bike erosion is at work.
Folks tend to congregate at the top and watch/cheer on others who make it on bike or on foot. http://http://render2.snapfish.com/render2/is=Yup6aQQ%7C%3Dup6RKKt%3AxxWtUq4P0-ofrj%3DQofrj7t%3DzrRfDUX%3AeQaQxg%3Dr%3F87KR6xqpxQQGJxaonxeQexv8uOc5xQQQ0nlaaJlelPqpfVtB%3F*KUp7BHSH qqy7XH6gXPe0%7CRup60eP%7C/of=50,590,273 (http://render2.snapfish.com/render2/is=Yup6aQQ%7C%3Dup6RKKt%3AxxWtUq4P0-ofrj%3DQofrj7t%3DzrRfDUX%3AeQaQxg%3Dr%3F87KR6xqpxQQGJxaonxeQexv8uOc5xQQQ0nlaaJlelPqpfVtB%3F*KUp7BHSH qqy7XH6gXPe0%7CRup60eP%7C/of=50,590,273)

RR will be lobbying for a cyclometer on the stoker bars soon.

My stoker and I failed on the steepest hill of the the Hilly Hundred (Southern Indiana) two years in a row. Downsizing the chainrings and getting a cassette with a lower low and , oh, yeah, training a little harder on our local puny hills, helped us conquer it last Fall.

Problem with all tandems is getting the gearing right for the hills and still have a high enough gear for the road. We have a compromise with 48/36/24 on the crank and is just about low enough for our offroad hills and just high enough to get a sensible speed on the road. cadence of 100 in 48/11 is 30 mph and any faster than that and we would be coasting (Although we did achieve 45mph on the flat once and I never want to spin that high again.) We have an 11/32 rear cassette- and a 34t is made- but we bend it. So our lowest gear is 24/11 and we can handle the 15%ers for 1 mile- but cadence drops to 80ish by the 10th one.