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Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:26 am
by chillbeast
dr_bar wrote:Good thing there's no hills around here... :mrgreen: :laughing:

Image
Man BC is gorgeous, I really want to go back. Haven't been since 99 when I went boarding @ Whistler/Blackcomb... good times

I know I shouldn't have too much trouble on the hills on the street... I'm more worried about getting out of my house haha.

I need to take some pics sometime.. but my street has a ~50 degree slope that makes a 90 degree turn the bottom of which turns into dirt & gravel road. My house is 2 houses down from that point.. there is always a bunch of dirt and rocks at the end of the asphalt there and it is pretty much a blind curve, barely enough room for 2 cars to be on the road side by side. Just a nice little dangerous spot I get to look forward to dealing with daily!

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:29 am
by dr_bar
chillbeast wrote:Man BC is gorgeous,

It's just the cross us folk have to bear... :roll: :laughing:

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:38 am
by jonnythan
chillbeast wrote:I need to take some pics sometime.. but my street has a ~50 degree slope
119% grade on a public street?

Exaggerate much? :laughing:

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 7:25 am
by dr_bar
jonnythan wrote:
chillbeast wrote:I need to take some pics sometime.. but my street has a ~50 degree slope
119% grade on a public street?

Exaggerate much? :laughing:

Hmmm...

We have a few streets that have close to a 45 degree slope and yes they are public roads. One of them is a residential street heading down to the beach in White Rock BC


Not the hill I'm talking about, (I couldn't find a pic) but you can see the change in elevation. There is one street that goes top to bottom in one fell swoop...
Image


PS: The picture is from the Tour de White Rock hill climb page...

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 9:22 am
by RocketGirl
We're actually visiting with in-laws up here in Down East Maine. My husband is a native boy of Maine. It's been great getting some road time on these hills. Thanks for the replies; I'll definitely use the info.

Today was a bit too windy for me to ride. We rode bicycles in and around Acadia National Park instead. I love it up here! :)

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 10:21 am
by chillbeast
jonnythan wrote:
chillbeast wrote:I need to take some pics sometime.. but my street has a ~50 degree slope
119% grade on a public street?

Exaggerate much? :laughing:
Seriously, it may be somewhere b/w 40-50 I haven't measured myself but it is freaking ridiculous. It hurts just to walk up it

EDIT:
It is only like that for the last 100 feet or so before it bends 90 degrees and turns to a flat dirt road

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:23 am
by Brackstone
jonnythan wrote:
If my bike was at 6000 RPMs going up a hill, I'd be shifting UP :laughing:
Hahaha yeah you're right :)

I forgot different engines have different red lines I shouldn't use RPMs in my examples to newbs ;)

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:31 am
by Shorts
jonnythan wrote:
chillbeast wrote:I need to take some pics sometime.. but my street has a ~50 degree slope
119% grade on a public street?

Exaggerate much? :laughing:
:shock: wow, the Hakkoda switch backs are ride are 7%-12%.


Japan-has-mountains my foot! :laughing:

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 4:07 pm
by jonnythan
dr_bar wrote:snip
Dramatic picture, but it looks more like 50-60% grade to me, if that. You can't really just comfortably sit sideways on the curb of a 100% grade slope.

I've done some inclinometer work for various outdoor stuff, and I've always been surprised at how much lower grades are than they appeared to me. Some ski slopes I would have sworn were about 45 degrees ended up more like 30 or 35. Hiking up a 100% grade on a mountain is really, really hard and really, really steep. I've seen steep roads but I've never seen anything that actually approaches a 100% grade.

Ah well. :)

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 5:27 pm
by Ninja Geoff
RocketGirl wrote:We're actually visiting with in-laws up here in Down East Maine. My husband is a native boy of Maine. It's been great getting some road time on these hills. Thanks for the replies; I'll definitely use the info.

Today was a bit too windy for me to ride. We rode bicycles in and around Acadia National Park instead. I love it up here! :)
Bullshit, hills in Maine? I lived outside of Augusta for 8 months, I didn't find too many hilly roads. Then again, I'm used to WMass. But those hills are good starter hills I guess you could call them. One thing to remember is that if you're going down hill and the road is turning, you've got gravity working against you more than you do turning on a flat road, so watch your speed a bit. It also doesn't help that roads tend to be slightly sloped out from the middle to help with water drainage, and that adds a bit to the list of stuff working against you. Oh, and don't be afraid of running a bit high in the RPM's. The motor can take it. What kind of bike is it btw?

And summers in Maine are awsome, ecspecially near the coast. I can't wait to go back to Portland to visit some friends.