Originally Posted by
carlosflanders
There was a serious wall at the tour of Hermann. About 0.2 mi. 2nd half was 25% or more. On the steepest part I hit a low of 3.8 mph at 39 rpm (after 30 hard miles). And there were plenty other riders going slower.
There's a brutal local climb I do here, 0.5 mi and the last hundred yards is 20+%. I hit low 50s rpm at about 5 - 5.5 mph - and I'm an ok climber. Hard to believe that Road America has something steeper. No indication of it on the elevation chart.
If there is a 28% then some riders will be falling sidewards. I saw one guy do so at Spring Prairie and he took out the race favorite.
I've probably been to Road America 50-60 times, and I agree with this right here. There are some climbs that won't be fun (like, from what they call turn 12 up past s/f) but nothing that looks that incredibly steep. The worst hill there is actually next to the track between what they call turns 5 and 6. It's a popular hill for spectators, but a horrible thing to have to march up (especially if you're carrying brats).