Great fun! How long (miles) are these hills? My local challenge (by no means the only one, just that which I regularly encounter) is a 4/10 mile (another 4/10 mile of gentler climbing on the approach) back road going up the mesa to Rio Rancho just north of 528 on Albuquerque's westside. I often shop at a good grocery store not far from the bottom and go back up with 30 or more lbs of groceries on my 66" fixed gear. I've gotten down, momentarily, below 4 mph, but yesterday I maintained 5-6 mph almost all the way up. It's particularly challenging because the slope increases near the top. I'll try to take a photo the next time I head to Mom's.
I've been really surprised at how well you can climb in a highish fixed gear, even with a load, once you get momentum going. The killer is a steep hill and a stiff headwind. The steepest hill I ever tried to ride up required first gear and hard throttle in my '85 Passat wagon; I tried to climb it in a 42/24 and stalled at the 3/4 point, swung my leg over and promptly fell down in my Dettos and couldn't get back up until I took my shoes off. Gallup, NM, where road building was apparently not a learned science. On Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 12:58 AM, rob markwardt <[email protected]>wrote: > > Greetings > The rains came this afternoon and I wanted to go riding. Rainy > rides can sometimes be a drag so I decided to have a goal. I just > read a website listing 20 of Seattle's steepest streets and since > fortunately...or unfortunately.. at least half of them are within a > few miles of my house I had a mission. I took the Bleriot and made it > up 6 of them before darkness ended the fun. I was going to go down > them all, but after about 4 of them I figured with the rain and grit > and the steepness of the slopes I might run out of brake pads before I > got home. A fun afternoon and only 14 more to go. Here's a few > pics. > > http://www.flickr.com/photos/77502...@n00/sets/72157614660406716/ > > > Rob Markwardt > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
