Originally Posted by
markjenn
This list is heavily biased towards climbs with lots of elevation gain, but moderate steepness, so to me, I don't think it correlates very much to difficulty. Assuming appropriate gearing, climbing 10K feet in 30 miles at 6.5% grade is no big deal for most fit cyclists, just a day-long 4-mph average-speed long slog of a climb. But do this same elevation gain in 15 miles at 13% and it is an absolute nightmare that only a tiny fraction of cyclists could even contemplate.
- Mark
"Assuming appropriate gearing", it's not clear to me how 15 miles at 13% is much, if at all, harder than 30 miles at 6.5%. At least if we're talking about paved roads, where traction doesn't become a challenge. The former actually requires less energy expenditure, since the tires don't need to roll as much distance and you're pushing less air out of the way at a lower speed.
Originally Posted by
Seattle Forrest
[MENTION=406505]HTupolev[/MENTION] - What road is that? I'm looking at the picture and can't decide whether I've ridden there or not.
It might look familiar because you recently quoted a post that contained it; it's NF-27, going up the White Chuck side of Rat Trap Pass.