Originally Posted by
Mojo31
Hmmmm......
Years ago, we were going to be Back East for 2 weeks, visiting first my family in South Central PA, then Mrs. GJ's family in the Upper Lefthand Corner of PA, then back to South Central. So I shipped a bike to Mom and Dad's place. Of course, it didn't arrive until AFTER we'd left for the Upper Lefthand Corner. So I ended up getting in maybe 2 rides. I remember 2 things above all else: humidity and gradient. The air felt thick, and it really felt like a lot more effort to move through it. And of course, sweat wasn't evaporating so I just got hot and sodden. And the gradients - out here, the actual hills are so steep you can't just run the road up them, you need switchbacks, so the climbs aren't all that steep - 7-9% averages. Back there, they just run the roads over the hilll with no switchbacks. The climbs are shorter, but steeper.