Okay, whatever! It's a RR grade crossing, pretty steep 50 feet however you care to look at it

Previously, I had downshifted to the 28T (small) ring and the big cog, however at this ratio you can barely spin it fast enough to move the bike and I moved so slowly as to almost get the bars crossed up (kinda hard to spin 120rpm and keep your balance, get crossed up at that cadence and you'll find it awkward indeed ). Not to mention it took so long I got pretty winded. So best to get some momentum going and up the slope quickly, before you get winded.

Keep in mind I'm only talking about a 40-50 foot long section that rises about 7 or 8 feet, not an extended hill climb. I'm no math expert, but isn't slope rise over run? I always got that grade vs. slope stuff mixed up

Tom

ps: found the formula. assuming the RR tracks are 8 feet above where the trail crosses the street, and its 40 feet from the crossing to the RR tracks, the rise over run is 8 divided by 40, which is .2 times 100 = 20 percent. So, I was only 2/3rds right. 30 percent would be a 12 foot rise, and I'm pretty sure it's not THAT much.