Originally Posted by
Roadgraveller
Thanks for the note back - yes I know the hills are surprisingly steep aren't they, they are all paved and used by cars. I live in the hilliest part of England, if you search 'top hill climbs lake district' you'll see the top 8 hills all of which are within 1-15 miles from where I live. I even got it wrong, the steepest is actually 33% not 30. These are the stats for Hardknott pass:Distance: 2.2km
Height gain 298m
Average gradient: 13%
Max gradient: 33%
I hope you can now see the reason behind the question, the hills are monsters around here.
Cheers
I think your gearing is fine. I went up one of my local steeper ones last week on the way up to Foia, Monchique our highest point. It's 2.36km, average 10% and max gradient on the switchbacks hits above 30% but they are brief so not all that different. My time was 13:26 and I have a compact 50/34 and 11/28 set up on my bike. It was just one hill on a 2552m, 136km ride. I'm a similar weight to you, 64kg. My bike is 5.8kg...
