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Old 04-15-10 | 10:02 AM
  #40  
Elkhound
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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,768
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From: Charleston, WV

Bikes: Trek Mountaineer modified with a NuVinci; Montegue Paratrooper folding mountain bike; Greenspeed recumbent; Surly Big Dummy with Stokemonkey

Two problems:

1. West Virginia is called "the Mountain State" for good reason. Charleston is not as bad as some places, as it is essentially in the bottom of what is almost a canyon. Most of the city is on the flats by the river; however, if you are not on the flats, you are on what are almost cliffs. Googlemaps if you give your destination as somewhere on the heights, will send you up some of the steepest climbs you can imagine; perhaps a trained athelete on an elite machine could do it, but not an ordinary cyclist. There are ususally routes that are longer, but less steep.

2. The timings. They may be realistic if you are going flat-out like Lance leading the peleton, but for an ordinary cyclist at cruising/commuting speeds they are too optimistic.
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