jppe

Company holiday and a gorgeous day in NC so headed to the NC mountains again to get in more climbing. I intentionally picked steeper roads today. That is one thing about NC you can get on roads with grades 10+% per cent. One of the climbs was 4.5 miles with grades mainly 13-15%. Another climb was 1.5 miles with grades 14-15%. A third was mostly 8-10% but with shortish pitches to 15%. I also took a new road that I thought was going to be mostly downhill. It was mostly downhill..........until it went back uphill!!! And when it did it was a 1/4 mile section of 16%.

I only did 56 miles but it came with 6300 ft of climbing. Pretty good training ride.

BikeWNC

What road is 4.5 miles at 13-15%? Cullowhee Mtn Rd is 4.4 miles at 8% ave but has 16% grades on it. It's tough enough.

jppe

Have you done the climb on Skyuka outside Tryon? It is the other side of White Oak. Howard Gap is the 1.5 mile piece that rises up much faster than I26 which is right beside it.

BikeWNC

No, I don't think I have. Is there an event ride that goes up it? I've only ridden down there during organized rides. I know those escarpment climbs can be really steep. I've been up Howard Gap. I could walk it faster than I rode it as I remember.

B. Carfree

Is it really 4.5 miles at 13%? That's over 3000 feet of elevation gain on a single climb, which is a fair amount in those speed bumps you easterners call mountains. (ducks)

Sounds like fun. I've got a menu of a half-dozen 1000-1500 foot climbs on tap for tomorrow morning. Climbing is the funnest part of cycling, especially on a tandem. Maybe I got warped into that belief by living in the pancake-flat Sacramento Valley for two decades. Hills were the treats we had to ride many miles to get to. We gave names to climbs you wouldn't even notice.

billydonn

I hardly know what to say to reports like this. I climbed 350 feet in 17 miles today. (Sticks chest out proudly)

t4mv

Ha ha, yeah, like Coronary, Cardiac.... C'mon, I *know* you miss riding 50+ miles RT just to do a 200 ft climb.


#1 son and I went for a ride yesterday since it was gonna be the only time we could ride together; 'picked a route with 3 climbs in the 14-16ish% range, but thankfully short maybe 1/4 milers... It sure would be nice to be their age again...just to be able to climb hills like that..at that speed.

VNA

Over 3,200 feet of climbing in less than 8 miles the first 2 were relatively flat so were the last two with an average grade of 6%, but those middle miles were something else with certainly some 25% sections--true it was on the dirt except the last two--that is going up Mount Diablo on Mitchell Canyon!

NOS88

That is steep stuff. I have a very short 16 to 17% climb at the end of most of my rides and at the end of my commute home. I'm ALWAYS thankful it's a short section!

Artmo 

Oh to be young again! The steepest hill around here is a 65ft high bridge and that's a challenge

qcpmsame 

A hill here in coastal Florida is an interstate highway over pass, actually we have some rollers where creeks and the rivers have cut the land down over the centuries and left us with the stream valleys we call a hill. they can be a challenge but to call it a challenging hill to climb is a stretch. We have no rock what so ever save the gravel in the ricer and stream beds, to make a mountain, it is all clay and sand here. I envy you members where there are mountains and hills to challenge you and make you a better cyclist.

Bill

BikeWNC

You need to come ride here in WNC. It will make that ride we did in Franklin, Tn seem flat. It's pretty though, and I'm sure once done with the ride you will say it was worth it. Sometimes during the ride I find it is custom to question one's sanity.

jdon

Overpass repeats?

Mort Canard

Ah, the great plains! I live in Wichita, Ks. and my last metric century had less than 250 feet of climbing. A local suburb has a 50 ft. rise in elevation over a mile south of town. Local cyclists call it the "Alpe d'Andale".

NealH

I've ridden Howards Gap and it has one section that is steep. I remember it being about 15% and I had to zig-zag going up it. I have not ridden White Oak but taking Skyuka up there will give approx. 2k' of gain according to RidewithGPS. Same coming down the White Oak side. One section on Skyuka is very steep. Green River Cove is no cakewalk either. Ride a lot of these hills and the elevation gain is going to add up quickly.

Wish I was getting some mountain miles in but the weather this winter has made it all but prohibitive. Nevertheless, I have logged some flat land miles which is better than nothing (or trainer miles). Just wish I was 15 lbs lighter. Never could get rid of the winter coat.

billydonn

Nah. It is hillier here than you think. But they are mostly short and it takes a lot of them to add up to a big number.

I was in Asheville a few years ago after my first year of riding and the roads around there were fearsome. If I spent time there I'd have to lose weight or quit riding I think.

There needs to be some kind of "wind equivalent" calculation or something. Did ten miles directly into a 15-25 mph wind today and it took a fair amount of power to keep up any kind of pace at all. On the downwind outward leg of the ride I was at least a neo-pro.

Climbing today: 264 feet

spingineer

Very timely thread ... I'm in the Bay Area, and just did Bohlman, On Orbit, and Hicks. Plenty of 20+% grades. I'll give today a rest. https://app.strava.com/activities/46543599#805738040

iBud

I did a ride yesterday with somewhere around 992 feet of climbing total, I think. I used Strava, and when you look at the whole route and add up the elevation for each climb at the highest point, you get 992 feet. When you look at the segments, however, sometimes you can get different numbers, particularly for gradients. I looked at some of the climbing segments and there was one section they had at 40% I'm not sure how accurate the segments are - they all seem to just go up and up (I have never climbed well, but now that I am getting back on the bike after a long layoff and with the extra (read: lots of) weight I also picked up ...), but on Strava, there are inclines and declines on the same climb. It looks more impressive if you just look at the segments

I'm not that fast, and I went down in a corner on the way back, but here is the ride for those of you that would like to take a look.

jppe

After I did Skyuka and Howard Gap, Green River Cove seemed like a picnic! You should descend down Holbert Cove Road sometime. It is the road that goes under I26 at the top of Green River Cover Rd (take a left at the stop sign at the top of Green River Cove Rd instead of going back towards Saluda). I thought it was going to be all downhill to Silver Creek but boy was I in for a surprise. It had a couple 15% walls where you went from 35 mph to 5 mph in just a matter of feet. the climbing is spaced out and I bet it would be tougher climbing back up from the valley to Saluda than Green River Cove Road.

Ever done Pearson Fall Rd? I've always climbed up Hwy 176 from Tryon to Saluda but wondering how that one is. Probably find it on Strava or ridewithgps???