The road looked great, at least the section I hiked up. Maybe it was recently repaved? The backside we crossed a crappy road a couple of times IIRC. Dunno, I was pretty tired and dehydrated by then after hiking and rock scrambling two days on one arm (this was right after my dooring --> elbow sprain) so my memory may be a bit faulty.
7% for 4.5 miles. IIRC "Alpine d'Huez" averages just under 7% and it's 2.2km or so if you start from the river level. So BM is like 3-3.5 times as long at roughly the same grade. Sounds like a nice challenge for climb-deficient NYCers.
