7 Hills of Kirkland
 

Thinking about doing it for the 1st time this year. Anybody that has ridden it - thoughts?
Are the hills pretty tough? From the profile they show on the website, the last one seems like a monster.

I rode it last year. It's hilly, but not insane.

If you're used to riding around here, I don't think you would find it overly tough - just lots of moderately steep climbs, one after another. The course is pretty compact so if you felt like bailing out you could always just head for the finish line.

I think the Chilly Hilly route on Bainbridge would be a good warmup - 7 Hills is a bit longer, and the climbs are a bit longer, but if you can get around the Chilly Hilly route in good shape you can do 7 Hills.

Since we're talking about local rides, this ride would be another great warmup - it's on May 9 this year - Skagit Spring Classic. One of my very favorite rides last year....

http://www.skagitbicycleclub.org/events.cfm

I have done the regular and metric versions on my own time, and paid for the full century.

I would say that the steepest hills would be Seminary and Winery Hills. Winery is short but pretty steep. No one hill on the route is what I would call "brutal", but they add up over time.

If you are currently in good shape, go out on a Saturday morning to Kirkland and ride the short route. If you get started early enough (before 8:00), most of the route is fairly quiet. If you are not yet "up to speed" get some more saddle time on easier terrain.

Rose Hill at mile 90 seems cruel though. The first half has the most major climbs.

How does this ride compare to SOB (summits of Bothell)?

Rose Hill at mile 90 is no worse than Novelty Hill at mile 35. It's a long gradual climb with no super-steep sections.

It doesn't. The S.O.B. is like getting kicked in the junk by a soccer goalie, especially if you do the extra 9th(?) hill. Comparatively, the 7-Hills century is like stubbing your toe in the dark on an out of place pair of shoes.

Good description.

Since they are close together, one could get the route maps and do the short version of 7 Hills + the SOB route on the same day - that would be 80+ miles or so of solid hills.

Somebody do that and let me know how it goes...

S.O.B. comes with a guarantee: If you don't get enough hills the first time, you can ride the course again for free! That's 80 miles and 7000' of climbing for half price! :D

Come to Austin and ride the tour das hugel in November! I did SOB and I think TDH is worse (in a good way)

The point about rose hill wasn't that it is particularly bad, it is that your legs are gone and then you have to drag your sorry butt up the hill. Winery has the bag piper though :-)

I think it's called S.O.B for a reason. That's what you're saying over ever climb ;)

do you guys want to create a small group ride to run the "7 hills" course if we get a dry weekend in the next few weeks?

I'm up for it, but I've got most of my big rides scheduled already:

This weekend I'm out of town
Mar 8th is the SiR Urban Populaire
Mar 21st is an SiR 200k
Apr 4th is the Daffodil Classic

I'm usually gasping for air too much to say anything.

It depends on what you think of steep hills. On the 7 hills version, seminary and winery are by far the worst, and they're pretty steep. The 11 hills version adds some additional ones, but none as steep as the 7. I haven't done the century, but I've ridden the hills, and they are long but doable.

SOB is much, much worse. There are hills there that will have you wanting lower gearing.

Both rides have very little drafting opportunity, which means they're more enjoyable riding them by yourself rather than in a group, as you can more easily set your own pace.

But both of them pale compared to the Mountain Populaire (aka "half ramrod"), which puts the first 1000' feet of Zoo hill and the beginning and mountan home blvd after 70 miles.

My ride report for the populaire:

http://blogs.msdn.com/ericgu/archive...24/769833.aspx

Here's my summits report:

http://blogs.msdn.com/ericgu/archive...28/728606.aspx

and my 7 hills one:

http://riderx.info/blogs/riderx/arch...ills-2008.aspx

Two of the morons that I ride with doubled the course in '06. They are climbing monsters, but they were really, really tired when they are done.

Last year I rode to/from my place on Redmond Ridge to do S.O.B. That means I crossed Education Hill at 109th (the steep side) and rode up Hill #8 on the course to get to the starting line, then rode back over Education Hill and up Novelty Hill to get home (total close to 70 miles with ~2000 additional feet of climbing).