Originally Posted by
PatrickGSR94
This is probably the biggest one I encountered yesterday. I know it doesn't look like much and y'all probably think I'm a pansy or something
but trust me it looks much bigger in person. I think the Google Maps camera car's optics make it look stretched out and not as big. I believe this hill represents that tallest valley-to-peak in my graph above, on either side of the midpoint.
http://g.co/maps/u89dk
Coming back, going down that hill I hit my maximum speed of 26.x MPH maxed out in the highest gears front and rear. Got close to spinning the 46-11 gears but not quite.
But like y'all said I just need practice. This weekend has been my first "real" riding on this bike in nearly a year, not since the Ride of Silence in May of last year. I believe my recent running has made me better on the bike, but even still I'm not "there" yet with the running. When I started out I could barely run 45 seconds at a time, and now I can run for 6+ minutes at a time before dropping back to walking. Still working up to being able to run a mile continuous, and eventually a 5K.
That hill looks challenging to you now, but after a month, maybe less you'll be able to handle it and may even crest the top with a smile on your face
. It doesn't look challenging to me, but I would be breathing hard at the top for sure. When you first start out any incline is tough, it almost seems as though the looong drawn out inclines are the worst though. I almost prefer a steep ascent, if it's short
.