pretty entertaining. I doubt I could make it up the hill.

I liked when he was trying to figure out how to even get started.

When he hits the fence.

I charge extra for sniffing the saddles. $10 per, $20 for Brooks or Ideale sniffs.

You'd have to look in somebody else's collection for those. I know the C&V folks love them, but I tend to think that "It takes a while to break them in" means the rider is adapting to the saddle, not the other way 'round.

The problem I have with the video is that mostly it doesn't look all that steep. I mean, I don't doubt it's close to "you need stairs to climb it" steepness, but when he's trying to get started, something about the video doesn't make clear he's trying to start on a 20% grade.

Who's going to ride a horse on a 25%+ hill?

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...208bd407e1.png

No thanks. I do love me some good hills, but I am perfectly happy with 8-10%, even for miles and miles. I don't even mind shorter pitches of 15% but more than that is too steep.

More likely a horse than a bike.

A goat would be best.

How dare you, that's his conservative estimate. :notamused:

My house has a 25% driveway. I don't even think about riding it, even on a nice day. :lol:


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c10880748.jpeg

Functionally, it just IS the new normal now.

Yuh.

I suspect a lot of the estimate is serious WAG, and another part is the highest Buy It Now price on Ebay for every single part on every bike. For example, if I look on Ebay right now for Shimano Sante components, I can find a whole groupset with a BIN price of $1260. I can find a Schwinn Circuit frame set for $400. A Cinelli Giro d'Italia bar for $120. A Cinelli 1a stem for $120. A San Marco Rolls saddle for $120. A SR seatpost for $55. Wolber Profil rims at $130 a pop.

That's $2335 for the 1989 Schwinn Circuit I bought for $450 - and at that, I overpaid a bit.

The posting about the worst climb made me look at the pitch of another climb I like, County Park. It's listed as 0.4 miles at 11%, but it has some sections in the middle where I MUST use my bailout gear and I MUST stand up. Strava says those little *****es are 17-18%. That's plenty steep IMO.

​​​​​​https://www.strava.com/segments/4266154

Someone laboriously measured the gradient on Old LaHonda, and found that at least one spot is 20% - the inside of a righthand switchback. All of us locals know that spot. It's where no matter how low your gears are, you're out of the saddle, grunt, grunt, grunting your way around it, hoping your HR doesn't go TOO high before you reach the telephone pole that marks the return to 'only' 10%.

Just saw some Raptors outside The Four Seasons. Game 2 is tonight at 7:30.

15% is pretty tough, especially after miles of climbing to get there, like Mt Baldy ski lifts. I've done the 23% climb of Balcom canyon 3 times, don't really want to do it again. I don't know what the steepest grades I've done on the mtb are. I've been to the Fargo Street event a few times but never tried to climb it. Years ago it was only road bikes but then people started bringing mtb's and even building special funny bikes just for the event. It's 33%.

Those old TT bikes with the 650 wheel in front would be perfect. You'd feel like you were riding on a level road!

That, and it just smells like saddle soap or whatever it is that they do to them to season them. A true butt/saddle sniffer wouldn't settle for that, would they?

Right! That and add a jackshaft to get a super low gear and up you go. I even saw ElliptiGO type things going up there the last time I went by.
Here is a pic I took of the ATOC on Balcom Canyon just above the 23% section.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3c2dbe9d78.jpg

I don't see you on the top 25 leaderboard.

Of course, that little nugget would leave me gassed and likely dead from an assploded chest.

I wouldn't know.

Marigold jacket just like Dr. Doug's.

Another video showed a picture of the bike used to break the world speed record. The main chainring fed another chainring, presumably through a small gear. You could do the same in reverse - small ring feeds large ring which feeds small ring. Really, really low gear. So low you'd probably fall over.
EDIT: Ah, jackshaft. Had to look it up.

My PR on that is 3:24 which is way off the leaderboard. I don’t have Strava premium so can only see top 10.

Must work harder. Top 10 is 2:24.

I don't know that guy but there are several club members I know on the video. The video is almost 20 years old according to IMDB.

This one is my favorite local climb. It’s long enough (more than a Km) and plenty steep. My PR would give me QOM if I were a female, but clearly only mediocre for a guy.

https://www.strava.com/segments/580148

Hate to break it to you but top 10 is now 2:21 according to the link you posted. :(

Not to worry though, I wouldn't be in the top 1,000,000.

A few weeks ago I tried to best my time on a flat 5 mile stretch that I've ridden a lot. I was trying to bust into the top 1,000 for that segment that day. It was balls to the friggin wall the whole way. But, alas, all for naught. I was slower than my best and got nowhere close to busting into the top 1,000.

It was about then that golf became my realistic retirement endeavor. The miniature kind.

The record is currently 183+ mph, held by a woman, whose motorpacing vehicle appears to be a fuel dragster!
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...abe9796315.jpg