I popped that ballpark route in the Strava route builder. Looks like some 1200 feet of climbing over that distance. That's a SOLID ride. At least you could keep up with traffic on the way home.

That's a 2% grade.....doesn't seem so bad..

No, But I can imagine after riding a constant uphill the whole time with work related stuff in tow, it would grind on you.

I always liked the name Antofagasta. Sounds like it should be a dish.

There's no road with 49% grade. On a bicycle you'll topple over backward before trying what you wouldn't be able to do. In a car you couldn't get any traction to climb the hill.

THIS. The last three miles of my commute involve a 3-mile multigrade climb, max around 10% grade. I sometimes have to REALLY remind myself how nice the rest of the trip is. At least mine is at the end of the day.

Try it first. If, while you're going up, you find the ride grinding on you, start to think about how much fun the ride home is. Also, make sure your brakes are in good working order.

speaking of 49% grade (or the possibility of), remind me what 50% grade means? Does it mean 45 degrees (because 100% would be 90 degrees or pure vertical?), or does it mean arctan(0.5)=26.55deg, the angle which yields 1 rise per 2 run?

No,a 45 degree angle is 100% grade. 100 feet of rise on 100 ft run.

I think you're looking at a problem, where I see a potential opportunity.

Although I did it daily, I was never a fan of round trip commuting. The ride in was long enough (11km) to get me to work sweaty, yet too short to be a "ride". Plus, even though I had multiple routes, commuting got pretty boring.

The bright side was the ride home, which I would extend according to my mood, often making a nice ride of up to 60km or so.

So, I see your situation as nearly perfect. Take the bus in the morning, then enjoy a beautiful, relaxed ride of whatever length you choose on the way home.

OK then, so it's option (b) 50% means 1rise/2run = atan(0.5) = 26.55 deg.

10% = atan(0.1) = 5.7 deg, and in general for small angles you could apply a rule of thumb that N% ~ N/2 deg. It blows my mind that only a few degrees is such a difficult slope to ride up!

I keep a change of clothes at work (and my employer provides lunch) so the only thing I carry on the bike is a small handlebar bag with my personal items (wallet, mobile phone, etc). I hang the bag on my rear rack though because there's no space on my bars (with the bell, lights and cross top levers it's a bit crowded). I'd have ditched my rear rack long ago otherwise lol (no like riding with backpack).

This is my bike on usual commuter mode.
IMG_6325_2.jpg

I've never seen a fork with that much rake before. I guess it's necessary to avoid toe overlap, but maybe smaller wheels would have been a better option.

I've explained this a few times but, no, smaller wheels were not an option for me. Locally I can't find 650b wheels or tyres that are NOT MTB oriented and the selection of 26" tires is mostly MTB and city (no CX/gravel grinding options). I'm sorry if I sound a little fed up, but I did consider this before having a bike made and I knew there were going to be some sacrifices in geometry. That said, the bikes seems to handle well to me.

with correct gearing and fitness you can spin up most climbs in whatever exertion level you choose. You can cruise up it in z2 endurance or attack the full distance at z5. But with a 1200 ft climb, you can't climb it in z5, you'll pop.

If I had that commute with a shower at the top, I'd be in heaven. z2 today. z4/z2 intervals tomorrow, z5/z2 intervals the next day, and within 3 months I'd be killing everyone (bros, not pros) on just about every hill.

If you don't have to carry anything, ditch all the racks and bags. spare tube and air in a jersey pocket, wallet / phone in another pocket.

And if descending that mountain daily, maintain your brakes religiously!

We did the ride! Estivalia67439944's Profile

It took us about 2hrs with several stops along the way and mainly because as we were heading out my SO suggested it'd be fun to ride along the train tracks and since I hadn't taken my bike on a proper gravel ride I was all over it.

The last third going up we did it on the highway and here's a few things I hadn't anticipated. There was a strong headwind (and crosswind sometimes) and the shoulder on the highway is kind of narrow (1,5mts?) with traffic barriers on the right side.

Even for a Sunday morning there was a lot of traffic of heavy trucks going up at 80-100 km/h. Some drivers gave us space, sometimes a full lane, but others passed very close. On my current commute I do 90% of my ride on a bike path so riding that close to heavy trucks and buses made me feel uneasy.

We rode the gravel roads on the way down. The wind turned at around noon so even going down we were slow, thanks headwind.

Next week we'll ride the highway all the way up & down.

You might want to add a low-weight electric assist. My favorite is an Austrian one, the Add-E. This uses a battery pack that looks like a water bottle, the motor simply rubs the rear wheel and creates no drag when it's not working, and can be easily removed from the bike. The best part is that only weighs 2,4 kg.

One of the funniest features is that it can provide 250W or 600W. The 600W version can thrust your ride up to 45km/h, making your ascent stage real quick.

Since you might have to deal with headwinds while riding a loaded bike, the assistance might be a good idea.

And the best part of the Add-E is that since it can be removed easily, you can use your bike without the added weight anytime!

Yes, I'm a fan of the little thing.
add-e ? The retrofit kit for your bike ? Technical information