Originally Posted by
bykemike
Most of my climbing is done on the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway and, like most of the Parkway, the climbs are 6.6 % or less. This, for me, is just about right. I use 34/28 on my Domane (I have a 32 if I need to use it) and can use one of my single speed bikes geared
quite low (42/23) but keep the distances shorter.
There are a few spots along that 486 mile road that can exceed that grade, usually short sections jumping up into pull offs and such.
I took the BRP handout on cycling climbs a few years back and built a spreadsheet with the grades by mile. IIRC the steepest parts are in the first 20 miles or so climbing out of Cherokee, and then the road gaps the Parkway crosses; max was about 8%.
Beautiful riding!