Heartbreak Hill: W108 Appropriately named Heartbreak Hill, this steep incline after 108th Street winds its way through the North Woods in many treacherous curves. Getting to this point is something to be avoided for the less experienced runners who may have a bit of difficulty with the demanding climb. Reaching the summit might be a victory for runners, but its steady drop is particularly dangerous for in-line skaters who can easily lose themselves in the steep incline. Only the most experienced skaters or runners should consider this potentially stressful route. Not withstanding its dangers it is still one of the most scenic landscapes along the loop. Watch out for the bikers who race along the winding curves. Anytime (cept for this week, I'm on the GS ) as long as you don't mind sleeping on a couch in a studio apt....
This route is right out my door and has plenty of short steep hills. A couple of climbs go for a mile or so, but most are only a quarter, to half a mile. But they are plenty steep. I took my other GPS out on my Adventure and measure the vertical gain with the altimeter. Only 1600 feet. I thought it would be 2000-2500 feet. Longest climb was a gain of 400 feet over about a mile, maybe less. The tougher ones are the ones where you are only gaining 150 feet or so, but in quarter mile increments. When I'm riding well, I'll do two loops. But unfortunately riding well for me had been more than several years ago.
Little Central Park history- "Much of the rich history that predates Central Park is the result of the rugged topography that defines what we now call the Upper Park landscape. Visitors to the Harlem Meer, the Ravine, and the Great Hill, can step back in time to the days of the American Revolution or the War of 1812. The steep bluffs bordering the southern shoreline of the Harlem Meer were a significant military site during both wars. From the bluffs the northern part of Manhattan was visible, as was the Long Island Sound. The major road linking Manhattan with cities on the mainland to the north went through a break in the bluffs that was named McGown's Pass after the owners of a nearby tavern. In 1776, British and Hessian troops sealed off lower Manhattan from colonial armies by controlling the pass and defending it through a series of fortifications. British and Hessian troops occupied the fortifications along the bluffs until the end of the Revolutionary war. Camps for the soldiers were erected on what is now the Great Hill and the North and East Meadows."
Rough calculation from the elevations I can find shows it to be an 8% slope(climbs 85' in 1/3 mile - did I do the math right? ). Whatever the size of the hills around you, they define what a hard hill is for you (applies to a lot more than riding, eh?). I fiddled around with Gmap, and produced the following elevation map for the 23 mile ride up to Larch. I haven't mapped out the route we took down.
Man 50 is screaming on skinny tires. I'm sure there are lots of places to do that out here, but I seem to be locked at 40 ~ 42 in my normal road bike ride. My mountain bike loop has a little rough 2 track where 32 ~ 35 can pop up if you hammer. It seems alot faster doing 30 down a trail on a mnt bike than on my WR
I dunno, seems like more than an 8% to me, I notice roadie teams (I guess they're amateur racers) sometimes having a hardtime crankin up Harlem hill. That one paricular climb is probably 1/3 mile, but it leads to 3 more small climbs right after which kick your ass if you're pushing it. Again, like a rollercoaster after 3 loops. It wouldn't be so bad if the entire circuit wasn't so sharp/tight, and had some long straight level road. I know we got nothing on NP climbs. But fuck it, I'm seein big improvements every week. I'm becoming a more efficent rider, and feel at one w the bike. Losing some weight too, which I find is helping in the uphills.
That's a big piece of what's got me hooked - seeing the improvements week to week, month to month. I've mentioned it before, but I remember the first ride up Mt.Tabor killing me (300 ft climb over 1.3 miles - the easy route). I was stopping every 50 yards gasping for breath, not believing anyone could ride up it. Now I sprint up sections of it and will ride up and down it again and again. I've got a long ways to go and getting better is addictive.
As I have mentioned before, there seems to be a aerodynamic wall at about 50? It's really hard to push past that, unless you've got a strong tailwind. Fastest I've been on a single is 57mph and 62mph on a tandem. I'm getting old (smart) enough now, I worry about a deer jumping out in front of me, when I'm going that fast.:eek1 It's hilly enough around here, that you're always going at least 40mph down the hills, unless you're riding the brakes. And of course, about 6mph going up.
I visited my mom's last year, she lives on a big hill, riding downhill on two different days a deer jumped out in front of me. I almost hit it on the first day. I certainly wasn't expecting to see one on the next day, but I think I was at least a little slower and it was not as close.
New Ti bikes ride completely different than that Basso. Swaged, butted, folded, spindled, and mutilated tubes see to that. More good news: Pearl Izumi offered me a PT position in their outlet store in Gilroy. Woot! That's great news 'cause while I've GOT bike parts, my shorts are about wore out! I'll letcha know what happens. First cross race is next weekend. No, I'm not ready. I'm still sick actooly. Cough is still with me, nose is still running, so I'm gonna go ride around the course and act like a bicycle racer again. Surely NOT gonna be competetive! Not enough intensity in my legs for that. M
My top speed on the big hill during my commute is 48mph. I'm man enough to say that I nearly wet my pants when I hit a bit of sand at the bottom when I was begining to slow for the stop sign... I'm not sure that I WANT to go any faster on the skinny tires... RW
RW, Is that one of the hills alongside 470 by chance? It seems like you might be able to get that kinda speed there pretty easily (the spot I hit 42-ish is right next to Santa Fe...)
