Originally Posted by
Rolla
It's flat downtown and to the east, and gets more hilly as you go west. The annual Tour Das Hugel is 110 miles of the steepest hills in the area, totaling 13K feet of climbing. Brutal on a singlespeed. Brutal with gears, too!
Go to dannychew.com and check out The Pittsburgh Dirty Dozen. Long stated by Bicycling Magazine as the toughest sub 100 mile race in the world. 13 hills. 55 miles. The hills range from 21-38% gradient. Did it in 2009. Built a special Cdale SR300 1x8 38x12-30 w/dt shift. A guy named Montana Miller did it on fg. He was the first. Several others have done it since. 39×22 w/no freewheel decends. I rode with him and chatted a bit. Great guy and an animal on climbs. lol
Nothing you do can fully prepare you for that ride. Train hard. Especially your upper body and core. The hills are so true they're truth. They'll expose every pedal stroke you fudged. lol