Originally Posted by
big john
22% is pretty tough. I'd guess a substantial percentage of recreational riders could not climb a 22% grade of any distance.
I've never seen a recumbent on anything like a 22% hill, and I've done some hilly rides where recumbents were present.
I fit the bill of an average 200+lbs rec rider.
What I am getting to is do not engage in self-defeating assertions that a steep grade is too much to attempt.
What I have learned is some strategy is involved in taking one's time and not going into the red too soon.
Sure gears help, but so does mixing it up with out of the saddle stair stepping, seated slow grinding and spinning at a normal cadence until the grade exhausts that option.
I have several 20% grades within a few miles of my front door. I am nothing special by any means but I no longer have trepidation about steep grades. There are some on dirt roads even steeper locally. Those are to be built up to and the idea of a motor does not even register.