Originally Posted by psuaero

Distance has to count for something... there is a local "hill" climb near me that is a short 0.9 miles in length with a vertical gain of 350 feet. It's only a 7% average but the real killer is the 18-19% section at the bottom and 10-12% section half way up. I'm not even close to ready to compete yet and it takes me 5.33mins. That's 3,940 feet/minute. I only wish I could sustain that speed for a long time!