It's on the paved road so it's not as good. The "flat part" allows about a 5 minute break, perfect, but is still uphill. Not totally flat.
It's really only 6.5 miles up the hill, then we coast on the entire way home.
There is a short cut, a dirt road we used to ride up adjacent the fire house. It's a much steeper grade but we'd get home quicker if we were short on time
Even that quickie ride cut my depression by 50%

"BTW, my belief is that the longer the distance, the less useful the average grade is as a statistic"

I totally agree with this ^^