Originally Posted by
Don in Austin
Yep...its not too bad most of the way. As you go up you keep dropping to a lower and lower gear and losing speed. About the time you run out of speed and lower gears you face the 20%+ grade. Its just a stone's throw to the top but its still a b***h! Where did you look at Wilke Street that shows grades? I measured it with my GPS. The roadies around here ride Jester Blvd. It's more like a quarter mile at an average of over 13% as I recall. I have scoped it out but haven't ridden it yet.
Don in Austin
I will use the elevation profiles on mapmyride.com or bikeroutetoaster(my favorite but wasn't working tonight). If you zero in on a section you can get as close as 0.01 mile resolution.
I use it to check out the true grade of my hill climbs.
Try looking at Touareuna Rd, Scotia NY - this bad boy is so steep they don't plow it in the winter because they can't keep the plow from sliding off it. The 20% section approaches 0.2 miles and overall climbs 450' of elevation in it's 1.6 mile length. As I mentioned before - I can't claim it on my list of accomplished climbs, or even attempted - my road bike is just not geared for it, I might be able to accomplish it on my mtb though.