Saturday, February 7, 2009

Which local climb is the hardest?

I rode up the White Road hill today. That is just a flipping steep-ass grind. I think it's only about a mile, but man it's steep. Even though it's shorter, I think it's harder than Greenwood. It's been a few months since I climbed Lehman, so I'm not sure if White Road is harder than Lehman or not. 

My relationship with hills has changed over the years. After loosing another chunk of weight last year, I don't suffer nearly like I used to on hills, so they're not as ominous and threatening now. I've always been slow and I'm still slow, though not as slow as I was a couple years ago... there is very gradual improvement there. I actually enjoy climbing most hills now, even when I'm beat. 

My favorite kinds of hills are the long gradual ones. Think Washington Pass east to west. The short (or god forbid, long) and steep ones are not so much enjoyable as they are interesting mind-game challenges. Think Lolo Pass for a long steep one, or White, Greenwood, Lehman, Spangle Creek for the short ones.

Btw: if you are interested in a flat and slow breakfast and bowling ride tomorrow, check out the forum.

8 comments:

Pat S said...

Charles Road. Hands down.

Hank Greer said...

Mount Spokane. Charles Road. Going south on Monroe from downtown, but at least that's not as long.

John Speare said...

Hank: how could I not mention Mt. Spokane? That's a beaut. I didn't do that last year.

Pat: I need to climb Charles road. I went there last fall to experience the legend, but I must have gone the wrong direction. I went west-east. Or I hit the wrong section. There was a steep twisty blind-corner section that emptied out on a bridge that would've sucked to climb, perhaps that was it? It's hard to really judge a hill by going down it.

John Speare said...

Oh yeah. And Monroe. I actually think Monroe is just more of an intimidater. It's steep, but it's never as awful as I think it's going to be. Though I rarely ride it sober. I climb it about 3 times a year and usually it's about 2am and I talk people (I think Jeff and Joe were the last victims) into riding it home.

Anonymous said...

Charles Road starts at the Nine Mile Dam but the climb doesn't start for a few miles. I did the climb a number of years ago with Mr. Main, et.al, but we dropped down on S River Way before the steep part began and completed the climb on a dirt road! Very Euro!

Parker said...

Also, carnahan is a fun hill to sprint up.

Ryan said...

Valley Chapel -- ughh. Thankfully, the beautiful valley makes it bearable.

Jared said...

Looks like the Charles Rd climb is about 650 ft over 1.5 miles....I'd have to say that is a pretty good one! http://bit.ly/2rkYRQ

Sometime in the next couple of weeks I'm going to try a ~1050 ft climb over 3.6 miles. http://bit.ly/ZfQu I just did the first part of it, 450ft over 1.1 miles on Monday. Lot of terrain I can climb around in the Valley.