Yeah, just signed up last weekend. Me and the fiancee are doing the 3 Day UP route, starting in Lake City Thursday night/Friday morning. Wasn't sure what I was going to be able to swing for time off work based on my current projects, but I managed to squeeze that one in! I'm excited, I have been wanting to do it the past few years, it just never worked out.

I'll look forward to the wall, might leave it as a surprise for her though :D

Many years ago my bro-in-law and I rode from ME to CT in three days. About 300 miles. On the last day, in CT, we did a long downhill and I hit 53 mph. These days I have no desire to go anywhere near that speed. Too many bad variables.

It's possible we'll co-exist on the roads Friday north of Lake City (depending on how they route us.) I'll end the day at Elk Rapids, you'll be at Central Lake I think. I always liked Central Lake as a stop because the boosters club does a big hamburger cookout.

My advice for doing The Wall (especially for her) is to go easy on the first two miles. The grade goes up gradually and if you're not careful you'll be in your lowest year and totally spent when you round the last curve and get your first glimpse of the REAL grade. I've seem people so disheartened that they immediately get off the bike and walk to the hill as well as up it.

Cool, I love me a hamburger cookout! If you see a big hairy bearded guy on an as-of-yet undetermined vintage steel bike on that bit of road, stop me and say hi!

I need my mountain bike for that Beast. Usually a proper compact double will do but you are right on about pacing up that 2 mile grade out of EJ.

In my upright-riding days, I always made it standing in my 42/28, admittedly with a lot of effort. On my bents I just settled into the seat and spun up in my 30/32. The tough part is steep but doesn't last long; it's the 2-mile grade getting there that wears everyone out.

Jefnvk, if you have questions, pm me. I've done more DALMACs than I can count. There's also a facebook page.

63 mph, 2 panniers, down the the 101 outside of Lompac into Santa Barbara. It was probably just very briefly but I was likely hitting 50 mph much of the way.

That is one steep hill. ;)

Nice work, speed demons! We have a number of short drops in my area where it's possible to get going into the mid-40s with little other than a good tuck. My current max is 48 MPH, but I probably won't top that for a while. I've been a bit twitchy since a very minor crash a few weeks ago, totally due to operator error :(

For the DALMAC riders, please say hi to Lake City for me! My grandparents used to live there, and I'm the proud owner of the last 20 acre parcel of undeveloped land they purchased just outside of town. Someday I want to get a small patch cleared out and let the neighbors know what's up so friends can camp when they're passing through.

You guys aint normal....or is this what I can expect after a few more years of riding!!

I live in the mountains and my rides always include at some climbing/descending, almost every ride I do I hit 40mph with quite a few hitting 50mph. I know theres some roads around that you could hit 60mph, but at that speed I feel like I cannot see far enough ahead to avoid road debris. One of the local climbs just got repaved, but I haven't been up there because the climb is so brutal.

If you're referring to the need to climb challenging hills, I can only speak for myself and say I've never caught the bug. Doing it once for the challenge and bragging rights is one thing, doing it over and over again is masochistic.

You can find just about anything on YouTube. Even climbing The Wall.

If anything comes up, I'll do that!

I'm sure when I get there, I may kick myself for bringing the 39x23, but it'll make for a good story!

Hah! Cool vid. That's my neighborhood. We dont have mountains but we have many, many hills.

There's a very steep hill a few miles from my house. I've never climbed it, I avoid going that way. Whenever I take a cycling friend down it I tell them, even though I've told you about it, when you get to the top, It'll freak you out. I've never hit it with speed or pedaled down it. On a Cateye, which I don't know accurate, it read 46.

The road is really steep for a short time and you pick up speed fast. It usually isn't real smooth and there is a stop sign too abrupt once you get speed.

I'm not brave enough to hit the top of hill at my sprint max. I wouldn't be surprised if 60 is possible if you did.

@Road Fan, we have a Wall right here in Ann Arbor that's more challenging than the East Jordan Wall, namely the Forest Wall, which kicks at well over 20%.

The East Jordan Wall doesn't see more than 15%, I think, whereas the Forest Wall tops out at 27.5%!

Here are the Strava segments for comparison:

Ann Arbor: https://www.strava.com/segments/7375084

East Jordan: https://www.strava.com/segments/2355816

My recorded max of 60.4mph was hit on Valley Mission Rd. outside Bloomington, IN, on the way down to the Lake Monroe dam. I've ridden up it, too, and it kicks north of 23%.

https://www.strava.com/segments/7363781

The Wall isn't the steepest hill around, but it's the steepest one featured on DALMAC, often as part of a 75-100-mile day.