Originally Posted by Equinox
My friend has a thing on his bike that gives you the % grade. He said some of our roads are 18 - 20% grade. Is that possible? Is that ride-able? I was looking and apparently l'alpe d'huez is about 8%.
20% is rideable, but not for everyone. There is a mental part of it, too. There is a road here called Balcom Canyon, part of it is 20%. We rode there to watch the Tour of California stage race. I crawled up it in 30x25 but a lot of people younger and lighter than me had trouble. It isn't enjoyable or fun.