My vacation riding has a max 24% grade a few miles from my start. It is short, less than half a mile or so, and the 24% part is only a hundred to two hundred yards. But it truly kicks my butt. It took me a year to be able to get over it. But I don't consider the hill bested, merely equalled, since I am a gasping, wheezing, rubber legged fool at the top. Can't wait to see how it feels this year.