staehpj1

That has me scratching my head a little and wondering. Do you actually ride somewhere that you actually climb for 6 hours straight steeply enough that finding exactly the right gear is critical. Sure I have ridden into the wind for 8 hours, but a "6-hour long uphill slog" has me wondering.

At 4 mph that would be a 24 mile climb. I have never run across a 24 mile climb that was steep enough to cut me back to a 4 mph crawl and I am not and have never really been a good climber. Sure maybe few miles, but not 24. For 6 hours 12 mph would be 72 mile climb and 16 mph would be a 96 mile climb. I may have been on sections that long that were generally slightly uphill on average, but not steep enough to be a big deal to find the exact right gear within a few percent or enough that I'd call it a "6-hour long uphill slog".

I can't specifically even remember any completely non technical 6-hour long uphill slogs when backpacking, day hiking, or peak bagging in the Sierras or the Appalachians, some were pretty long but I am not sure any ever were 6 hours unless they got to some pretty difficult scrambling, the kind that either involved deep snow or use of hands to get over obstacles.

I have done long tours in many of the mountainous areas of the continental US and am not a very good climber (and am old as dirt now to boot). So I wonder if this is just a matter of perspective, if you tour on in some different locale like the Himalayas or something (I see you are not in the US), or if maybe you just look at the same thing from a different perspective, perhaps with a bit of hyperbole. I apologize in advance if this comes off as me being a smart ass. I don't intend it that way.