Originally Posted by staehpj1

Don't discount the Appalachians. On the Trans America the Rockies were not particularly tough compared to the climbs in the East, despite the fact that the TA crosses the continental divide 9 times. The grades are long and not all that steep. In my opinion Virginia had the hardest riding of the whole trip and the Ozarks had some challenging climbs as well. I read somewhere that the Virginia part of the route even has the most elevation change of any state on the TA.

I have since found that not all western climbs are not of similarly moderate steepness though. On this year's tour I found the Sierras in SoCal plenty challenging.