Hill Climbs

[The GCW]

HILL climbs & MOUNTAIN climbs.

MOUNTAIN:

Nothing too steep but the climb up Mt. Evans out of Idaho Springs in Colorado climbs 7,000' to 14,000' -Asphalt to 14,000' folks. I think it is 7% at the steepest but the climb is about 28 miles long.

There is a race up it named the Bob Cook Memorial Mt. Evans Hillclimb race in July. I believe Tom Danielson won it 1 or 2 times.

I've done many much steeper climbs around here in the middle of Colorado, but I like that one.

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HILL:

About 30 years ago, when I lived in Missouri, I rode some routes around the Missouri River bottoms and near the Ozark area that were insane. These were not long climbs but very steep. These were constant up and down steep roads that were hard to believe with out seeing them. They were like someone was playing a joke on You. UP and down UP & down & UP... You might travel 60 miles but the road ride was 100 miles to get there.

If I remember right, in the "Tour of Missouri" one of the racers (George Hincapi -I think) said it was an extremely hard days ride -or something to that effecdt.

I would much rather do any of the mountain climbs listed on this thread than ride those UP & down HILLS in Missouri or any other place in the world where they exist.

UP and down & UP UP UP

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

MOUNTAIN:I would much rather do any of the mountain climbs listed on this thread than ride those UP & down HILLS in Missouri or any other place in the world where they exist.

I would generally agree with that. It's like riding intervals, all day long.

What makes Mt. Evans so tough is the elevation. Bob Cook memorial race is a famous one. Great stories behind it.

 

[LugHugger]

I have never ridden it, nor will I, but I'm calling riding from Hilo to Mauna Kea the most difficult climb on Earth. Sea level to nearly 14,000' in one push, with numerous long grades over 20% near the top. Some stretches are still mostly just oiled dirt, and questionably rideable, but parts of Mt. Washington are gravel. Little by little Mauna Kea gets paved. One of these years it will all be pavement.

OMG! That's gone straight into the 'things to do before i die (or get too old)'. Thank you

 

[titan_90]

OMG! That's gone straight into the 'things to do before i die (or get too old)'. Thank you

I am thinking the same thing
Must come up with a five year training plan to tackle this beast

I found this http://www.steephill.tv/2006/mauna-kea/

 

[rhubroma]

Difficulty has to do with the competition too. So every climb I raced up! just kiding. But a training ride and a race are two different things. For example I raced up Blockhaus, but trained once up Mt. Ventoux. The former I had exceeded threashold for like 7k, whereas on the latter, which I'd say was the more difficult climb, I didn't have to die for as long.

Having said that, the absolute steepest son of a *****, MF climb I road was the one to get back to my hostle during a race weekend at ST Johann in Tirol, Austria. I don't know how steep it was, but it was on a sky mountain and was like 6k at 22%-23% percent. A real mother ****er!

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

I am thinking the same thing
Must come up with a five year training plan to tackle this beast

I found this http://www.steephill.tv/2006/mauna-kea/

That's a good primer on Mauna Kea, but their info is somewhat out of date, as parts of the road that were dirt have been paved in the last two years. Follow this link to these super tough souls rode it last year, and only had to walk two short sections of super steep gravel. Here's the link to it on ClimbByBike.com. Just look at the profile (everything red is above 10%):

 

[elapid]

That's a good primer on Mauna Kea, but their info is somewhat out of date, as parts of the road that were dirt have been paved in the last two years. Follow this link to these super tough souls rode it last year, and only had to walk two short sections of super steep gravel. Here's the link to it on ClimbByBike.com. Just look at the profile (everything red is above 10%):

Great posts and really enjoyed the blog. He captured the emotion of getting to the top of a difficult climb.

I didn't climb Mt. Baw Baw when I was back in Australia, but it is Australia's only hors category climb with the last 6 km being 11.6% (2.2 km) to 13.1% (3.5 km).

If you are ever in Victoria, Australia, then check out the following website because they have good descriptions, profiles and maps of rides and climbs in the state: http://www.cyclingprofiles.com.au/index.html

It would be nice for more cities and states/provinces to have similar websites for those either new to cycling or visitors looking for good places to ride.