Hills. I hate them. What Would Dirt Do?

[acc]

Week #2- Ain’t Dead Yet.
I received helpful ideas and suggestions about how to deal with the hills I loathe on my commute. I mulled them over. I reread posts on the Bike Forum and pondered. What should I do?

First, I named them. Naming the hills helped me focus my anger, I blame the hill and not myself. The first bit of evil I named Northface. I have to stare at him from the bottom while I wait for the light at University Drive to turn green. I hate that hill more than I hate okra. The second hill is a tricky bastard, he isn’t hard, just a long slog right up until the very end (not unlike first husbands) so I named him Killawomanjaro. The third hill is actually a combination of two hills with a very small separation in between. The second one is more rounded and shaped than the first so I call it, My Best Friend’s Boob Job.

Then I sat and thought. And as I thought I began to formulate the one question that would help me the most. What Would Dirt Do?
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By God, he’d put on his Forever Lazy Suit and stand up to climb.

And that’s exactly what I did.
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Note: I found a way to deal with the rain ruining my hair.

Topic

[DaveK]

Not long enough for a Strava segment… especially considering the trees and how bad the GPS reception will be there anyway.

[eminva]

So, this morning I took CaBi on a little trip to Petworth. Along the way, I decided to revisit the site of prior doom, the infamous Meridian Hill of 15th Street (see above).

It didn’t seem as steep or as long as I remembered it. Hmm . . . funny how memory distorts those things. Still, it was pretty bad . . . as bad as anything the Custis dishes out.

And, I made it! See photographic evidence.

I concede it is not nearly as impressive as jrenaut’s trek over the same route with kids and groceries.

I can’t remember if there were bike lanes there back in the day, but they are a nice addition now.

Liz

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[consularrider]

The Glencarlyn section has three tough climbs, two are the 4MRT and one is the road from up from parking by the bathrooms to Jefferson. If you are heading east on the W&OD you take the first right after passing under Arlington Blvd, this climb on 4MRT isn’t so bad, maybe 10 to 12%, but if you take the fifty or so feet on the access trail up to Harrison St, I’ve had a reading of a 30% grade and then you’ve got another half block climbing up Harrison. The other two climbs are heading west, if you take the road up from the parking it is longer and not quite so steep, I think I got a reading of about 20% or so at its worst. The 4MRT next to that tops out at about 25% in the middle of the climb.

One of the issues with the 41st St climb is that it is two or three times longer, probably averaging around 15% and then you hit the 28% grade when you have to turn right onto the path which is slightly longer than the path to Harrison in Glencarlyn.

[KLizotte]

@eminva 18843 wrote:

So, this morning I took CaBi on a little trip to Petworth. Along the way, I decided to revisit the site of prior doom, the infamous Meridian Hill of 15th Street (see above).

It didn’t seem as steep or as long as I remembered it. Hmm . . . funny how memory distorts those things. Still, it was pretty bad . . . as bad as anything the Custis dishes out.

And, I made it! See photographic evidence.

I concede it is not nearly as impressive as jrenaut’s trek over the same route with kids and groceries.

I can’t remember if there were bike lanes there back in the day, but they are a nice addition now.

Liz

Whohooo! Getting to the top of any hill on a CaBi is a major achievement in my opinion.

And just for the record, I can’t even walk in 4-inch heels; I fall over at 2.

I think it would be a really cool scientific experiment to measure people’s fitness levels the day they sign up for CaBi then one year later. Not everyone would show serious benefits but I’m sure a lot would.

[bikesnick]

@consularrider 18844 wrote:

The Glencarlyn section has three tough climbs, two are the 4MRT …. If you are heading east on the W&OD you take the first right after passing under Arlington Blvd, this climb on 4MRT isn’t so bad, maybe 10 to 12%, but if you take the fifty or so feet on the access trail up to Harrison St, I’ve had a reading of a 30% grade and then you’ve got another half block climbing up Harrison.

yes! that section was steep going down. it is part of the arlington history ride.

[jrenaut]

@KLizotte 18847 wrote:

I think it would be a really cool scientific experiment to measure people’s fitness levels the day they sign up for CaBi then one year later. Not everyone would show serious benefits but I’m sure a lot would.

You’d see definite improvement for both me and my wife. We both have downhill in the morning, uphill in the evening commutes, and didn’t always do the evening part when we started. Now there has to be extenuating circumstances to take anything but a bike.

[vvill]

@creadinger 18816 wrote:

Speaking of Purcellville – is Route 7 rideable near Bluemont? I wanted to ride the section between Snickersville Turnpike and Williams Gap Rd in a new loop, but looking at it on streetview I’m not sure if the shoulder is wide enough for a bike.

Sorry, I have no idea. I was riding purely on the W&OD.

[PotomacCyclist]

@consularrider 18844 wrote:

The Glencarlyn section has three tough climbs, two are the 4MRT and one is the road from up from parking by the bathrooms to Jefferson. If you are heading east on the W&OD you take the first right after passing under Arlington Blvd, this climb on 4MRT isn’t so bad, maybe 10 to 12%, but if you take the fifty or so feet on the access trail up to Harrison St, I’ve had a reading of a 30% grade and then you’ve got another half block climbing up Harrison. The other two climbs are heading west, if you take the road up from the parking it is longer and not quite so steep, I think I got a reading of about 20% or so at its worst. The 4MRT next to that tops out at about 25% in the middle of the climb.

One of the issues with the 41st St climb is that it is two or three times longer, probably averaging around 15% and then you hit the 28% grade when you have to turn right onto the path which is slightly longer than the path to Harrison in Glencarlyn.

Good training for those who aspire to finish the Savageman Triathlon one day. That race, out in western Maryland, has been named the toughest triathlon in the world.

Westernport Wall: http://www.savagemantri.org/Westernport_Wall.html

Big Savage Mountain: http://www.savagemantri.org/Big_Savage.html

Killer Miller: http://www.savagemantri.org/Miller.html

I haven’t done it yet, but I might within the next two years. (Not this year though. I’m focusing on other races this fall.)

[SilverSpring]

I’m thinking of trying the Civil War Century this Fall, but the website suggested there’s a bit of climbing. While I’m used to going up and down small hills locally (5th/6th street, 14th street, occasionally the Custis Trail), my only Century (the Seagull) was blissfully flat. How hard do you figure the Civil War Century might be?

[creadinger]

I haven’t done the Civil War tour, but I did a similar brevet with DCRand 2 years ago. We went over Mar-Lu Ridge and South Mountain heading west toward Antietam and then over the mountain again on Raven Rock Rd near the PA line going east. The Mar-Lu ridge and South Mountain are steep, but Raven Rock road has gotta be 4+ miles sustained climbing.

A simple way to test yourself would be to do the 50 mile Sugarloaf Challenge Loop on Bikewashington.org from Poolesville. That’s a tough 50 miles! If you don’t want to ride the canal take Rt. 28 instead. You could also do a shorter loop and throw in 2-3 climbs of Sugarloaf to see how you do on longer sustained climbs. DC has some decent hills, but it would be good to get out into the countryside to experience what the hills #9 or #10 do to your legs. Most people can get up and over hill #1.

[JimF22003]

I’ve done the CWC three times I think (and ridden the route solo a couple of other times.) The hilliness is mostly in the form of rollers, which can grind you down a bit. The actual “climbs” that I recall from memory are

1) right out of Thurmont for 4 or 5 miles, mostly 5-6% with some steeper sections
2) up to Gathland Park near Burkittsville, fairly short, but 7-8%
3) a long climb out of Smithsburg (Raven Rock and Ritchie Rd)

This is a great ride, but it does sell out, so get your money in soon

[americancyclo]

@DaveK 18842 wrote:

Not long enough for a Strava segment… especially considering the trees and how bad the GPS reception will be there anyway.

Strava’d!

Glencarlyn Park to Harrison
Glencarlyn Park Sidepath

[eminva]

@americancyclo 20674 wrote:

Strava’d!

Glencarlyn Park to Harrison
Glencarlyn Park Sidepath

Not to diminish your efforts (and kudos on your KOM! I won’t tell Tim, I swear!), but I think the hill up to Jefferson is steeper. Try it at least and see what you think.

Liz

[consularrider]

@eminva 20677 wrote:

Not to diminish your efforts (and kudos on your KOM! I won’t tell Tim, I swear!), but I think the hill up to Jefferson is steeper. Try it at least and see what you think.

Liz

On the climb to Harrison my GPS tells me there is a section between a 29 and 30% grade, on the climb to Jefferson, the most I get is a 28% grade, although I would swear that first 15 feet as you continue off the 4MRT must be over 30%.

[americancyclo]

@eminva 20677 wrote:

Not to diminish your efforts (and kudos on your KOM! I won’t tell Tim, I swear!), but I think the hill up to Jefferson is steeper. Try it at least and see what you think.

Liz

Coming down from Jefferson sure did seems steep to me, covered in water, mud and leaves!

[Author]

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