Intercontinental travellers, Hill question / Poll
 

I consider myself to be in pretty good shape, a strong albiet not-too-fast
rider and have gotten to the point that I dont fret hills.....That is until I moved
to Vermont. Some of these hills are brutal. Torture. Scenic Rt. 7 through
the Green Mountains for instance....I cant imagine a hill being any worse than
this if you take length, elevation and degree of climb together. What areas
have all you USA tourers found the hills to be the most brutal in your travels ??

New England hills are definitely the worst.

The West's might by taller and longer, but not even close to the killer grades (and up and down, up and down) of the Northeast.

The Appalachians are much steeper than the Rockies in most cases. In some places in Western Pennsylvania, Virginia, or East Tennessee you go straight up then straight dwon just to do it all over again. The roads in the West to to have easier grades - albeit over longer distances.

Steep Roads??
3. Gorges du Tarne in the Massif Central
2. Clinch Mountain near Sneedville, Tenn
1. Heckman Pass in British Columbia east of Bella Coola
My rims were smoking going down and I'd never ride up.
http://www.csc.uvic.ca/~msanseve/bik...o/hillmary.jpg

Best - J

I was in Switzerland climbing in the Alps and cursing half the time. Yooooooowwwch! :eek:

Koffee

I came from Pa and they are some steep hills. Mid state to Pittsburgh, some around the Susquahanna
in SE-Pa. Vermont makes them look like speed bumps though :eek: Its like learning to walk again :cry:


I came across 5 older Dutch gentleman who take thier bikes to different countries and ride for a
month every year. I asked them if they got called 'flatlander' yet like I do every other day here...
They said they were in the French Alps last year at this time and after that, Vermonters are
flatlanders :roflmao:

I hear the Race Across America guys find the hills in PA to be the most brutal. Having lived and toured in VT, I'm well aware that you don't go very far before you're going up.

Touring Scotland last year I found myself repeatedly climbing grades of 20%, which is steeper than anything I've seen in the US. Touring Wales in 2000 I climbed a short grade of 24% and lots of 15% grades. I thought I was going to tip the bike over backwards on the 24% climb. When I told a British cyclist about my accomplishment he laughed and told me that where he lived in Yorkshire there were a few climbs of 30% or more.

Cycling through the Pyrenees I found roads like the Col d'Aubisque with grades of 14%, that seemed to go on forever. Roads in the UK and the Pyrenees were much narrower than anything in the US, no shoulder, no guardrails, and lots of tunnels in the Pyrenees to protect the road from avalanches. Roads in Scotland were either 2 lanes or 1 lane with periodic turnouts for 2 vehicles to get past each other. Scottish drivers have a whole system of etiquette and headlight/turn signal flashing to communicate with each other on these roads. The road up the Col d'Aubisque was so narrow that trucks were only allowed to travel one way half the day, and the other way the other half of the day.

Roads here in Colorado have some long climbs, but nothing as steep as back East or overseas. Even the 2 lane roads in Colorado were laid out after auto travel became common, and a lot of the mountain roads have been realigned at least once over the years to make driving on them easier. It's very unusual to see a paved road steeper than 8% in Colorado, and 6% is the usual maximum.

The hills in Pittsburgh are extreme, but not hugely long. There is a local race called the "dirty dozen" where you race up each of the biggest hills. I ride up an 8% everyday to work not so bad compared to these. On some of the hills your front wheel wants to pop up and do a hill induced wheelie.
http://www.dannychew.com/dd.html#anchor003

Here is the list of the big hills and some other tidbits from the local press.

1. Center Ave./Guyasuta Rd. in Aspinwall
2. Ravine St./Sharps Hill in Sharpsburg
3. Berryhill Rd. between Saxonburg Blvd. and Middle Rd.
4. High St./Seavy Rd. in Etna 5. Logan St. in Millvale
6. Pigg Hill/Rialto St. across from the 31st St. Bridge
7. Suffolk/Hazelton/Burgess Streets on Northside
8. Sycamore St. on Mt Washington 9. Canton Ave in Beechview
10. Boustead St. in Beechview 11. Welsh Way on the Southside 12. Barry/Holt/Eleanor Streets on the Southside 13. Flowers Ave./Tesla St. in Hazelwood

According to the local newspaper
"Canton Street in Beechview is the steepest street in this hilly town and, probably, the region, with a grade of 37 percent -- that is, rising 37 feet per 100 feet of run. So confirm records from the city Department of Engineering and Construction. "


Also from the article:

Figures can be fuzzy, but the best San Francisco can do are grades of 31.5 percent. The world's steepest claim is made by Baldwin Street in Dunedin, New Zealand, but its steepest part, according to the town's own Web site, is only 35 percent. Could Pittsburgh have a world record hidden in the trees high above Banksville Road?

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05030/448976.stm


Some of the most extreme hills that I have biked are--
Shenandoah national park range from 1150' around 4050'
The road up to the Grand Tetons from Jackson Hole. Something like a 10 mile hill.
The road up to Hogs back (Amatole Mts) in South Africa from Alice Something like 10 miles an 5000 feet. (Alice is where Mandella got his law degree at the U of Fort Hare.)

Cheers!