Introductions - New to BikeForums, hello velocipedians!

Hi there, I live in the San Francisco bay area, I love to cycle around town on errands, and I am beginning training for the AIDS Lifecycle, a seven-day ride from San Francisco to Las Angeles to raise money for AIDS/HIV services in SF & LA. I rode for the same purpose in 1999 in California AIDS Ride 6. Training for my second ride has also inspired me to plan a tour of Ireland later this year. The reason I joined Bike Forums is that I feel newly inspired to network with fellow cyclists for adivce and support, to make friends, and hopefully I will be able to help someone with the same with what little expertise I have. That's my introduction, thanks for reading, and feel free to email me or send a message anytime. Thanks!

-E

http://www.aidslifecycle.org/

Judging by the large number of San Francisco related threads in "commuting", "safety", "mountain biking", you seen to be living in a cyclist paradise. But, my foggy memories of visiting your city thirty years ago is of hills that go straight up...are there folks that can ride them all the way up?

Sure, there are a lot of hills in SF, but there are ways to avoid them and ways to get used to them. I live on the other side of the bay now, where it's relatively flat, though not as flat as Houston. The hills are part of our landscape, part of our psyche, part of our cycling "paradise," and generally don't intimidate us - they're just another part of the ride. One of the best things about cycling in Marin is making it to the top of Mt. Tam after 16 or so miles of pure climbing! To answer your question, I would say it would depend on the hill, and depend on the rider...when I lived in SF, there was a hill near my house which was at about a 30-35 (?) degree slope. Every time I would attempt to ascend it doing switchbacks, I could only conquer the first quarter before I would run out of steam. One day, in what seemed total defiance of gravity, I watched my friend Chris (RIP) ride straight up, all the way up!

One of the best things about cycling in Marin is making it to the top of Mt. Tam after 16 or so miles of pure climbing!
You must take a different route to the top than I did. Eldridge Grade from Fairfax, seemed much shorter, when I lived there. It was a long hard ride, all the same.

Velocipedians--I like that!