Anyone have an idea for a good ‘everesting’ hill in NH? Preferably White Mountains area? Something w/ 8.5-11% grade for 1+ miles, good pavement, no switchbacks. Been on the hunt and can’t find anything quite right.
Hey hey…the most glorious option is Mt. Washington haha!!! But what about that climb from Bartlett towards Bretton Woods (Crawford Notch)…is it too short. I have not biked that area in 25 years, so maybe its not long or steep enough.
I was thinking the ride to the toll gate in Lake Placid (before you climb Whiteface would be perfect) as it is 8% steady grade no turns for 3 miles so you could pick your turnaround , but that’s not NH.
Two that first popped into my head were the beginning of 25B from the Center Harbor side. A little shorter than you are looking for but really steep. The other was Franconia on route 18 by Cannon Mountain. Basically the first 2-ish miles of the White Mountains Tri course. I’m not sure if that meets the pavement criteria, I know they said they were going to pave it but not sure if that actually happened yet.
Actually maybe a third option, Ellsworth Hill Road in Campton. It’s just off route 3 and just up from route 49 to Waterville Valley.
Maybe along the Kanc? There’s one stretch I can think of going from Conway towards Lincoln that is pretty long and steep but I don’t know the grade off hand.
hurricane in conway has switchbacks, but probably your best bang for buck in terms of steepness and length. plus you can do both sides for a little variety. dont pick a weekend day though, tourist traffic for sure. top of kanc, (not whole thing) is probably another good bet
Actually maybe a third option, Ellsworth Hill Road in Campton. It’s just off route 3 and just up from route 49 to Waterville Valley.
Ellsworth Hill isn’t gravel? Grabs bike to go investigate . . .
25B out of center harbor is a little short. It’s like 90 reps. And the traffic on that one isn’t the best, though it’s manageable. It’s probably one of the better options, but I feel like there must be a better one.
Since you seem to be familiar with this/my immediate area, the other consideration is Cleveland Hill Rd. I had a practice session planned for that, but it went wrong and wasn’t able to try.
Maybe along the Kanc? There’s one stretch I can think of going from Conway towards Lincoln that is pretty long and steep but I don’t know the grade off hand.
I"ll re-check, but I don’t think it is steep enough. The descent is a little ‘twisty’ too, but at least the pavement is good.
I was thinking the ride to the toll gate in Lake Placid (before you climb Whiteface would be perfect) as it is 8% steady grade no turns for 3 miles so you could pick your turnaround , but that’s not NH.
This sounds promising. I’ve done IMLP and done some training there, but never ridden anything but the course, unfortunately. So there is a 3mi stretch that isn’t limited by a gate or certain hours? The biggest problem is I’d like to practice it . . . so either two trips (or one longer trip), or just no practice.
how about riding from arethusa falls parking lot up to the highland center. or anywhere closer to make it 1 mile. that climb has to average at least 10%. might not always be the safest, but covid 19 helps reduce traffic up there for sure.
Actually maybe a third option, Ellsworth Hill Road in Campton. It’s just off route 3 and just up from route 49 to Waterville Valley.
Ellsworth Hill isn’t gravel? Grabs bike to go investigate . . .
25B out of center harbor is a little short. It’s like 90 reps. And the traffic on that one isn’t the best, though it’s manageable. It’s probably one of the better options, but I feel like there must be a better one.
Since you seem to be familiar with this/my immediate area, the other consideration is Cleveland Hill Rd. I had a practice session planned for that, but it went wrong and wasn’t able to try.
Nope! Not gravel. I haven’t ridden up that road in a while so the pavement might not be excellent but it is super quiet.
Yeah I figured 25B might be a little short and traffic-y, but worth a mention. I saw a kid once going down it on a skateboard once and thought for sure he would die, but somehow he did not.
Oh I’ve never been on Cleveland Hill Road, will maybe have to check it out. I love riding on 113 and 113A though.
I was thinking the ride to the toll gate in Lake Placid (before you climb Whiteface would be perfect) as it is 8% steady grade no turns for 3 miles so you could pick your turnaround , but that’s not NH.
This sounds promising. I’ve done IMLP and done some training there, but never ridden anything but the course, unfortunately. So there is a 3mi stretch that isn’t limited by a gate or certain hours? The biggest problem is I’d like to practice it . . . so either two trips (or one longer trip), or just no practice.
It’s straight up to the toll gate from the bottom. The toll gate is 3 miles into the climb and it goes from there 5 more miles to the top of Whiteface. Exact same stats at Alpe d’Huez but only two switchback at the top. If you are Everesting, I’d stay at the lowest possible altitude where you lose zero on the oxygen front so from the base to the tollgate its 5 km at 8% so you’re going to gain 400m, so roughly 22 times up and down. No matter how much traffic there is (and I’ve almost never been on that climb with more than few cars at a time) it won’t impede your day. At the very bottom you have a gas station 300m away and there is some vertical to get from gas station to top of climb, but you can park you car beside side of rode at Tollgate, or you can park it at the bottom.
If I were to do Everest challenge, I’d go with this climb. Its a 3 hrs drive from my place in Canada but we’re not allowed over the border for now.
I honestly don’t think you need to practice at all for Everest in the sense that you just figure out your FTP and get your weight as light as possible. Then get the right gearing for your climb for your % FTP that you can sustain for roughly 2.5x IM duration so I am guessing its gonna be at 60+ percent of FTP (not sure if that is too low or hight, the higher your FTP the higher percent you can use because your duration gets shorter).
Another climb in the LP area is reverse Keene (the descent you do at IMLP), however, there is a section that is pretty shallow so you’re wasting energy pushing wind at higher speed. You want a climb where you’re not wasting kilojoules on wind resistance going up and on the way down, you want something where all your potential energy gets you down without burning kilojoules in your brake pads. I would think you want to get down as fast as possible while recovering and refueling, and not using up energy and mental capacity on techincal sections.
If I recall if you climb this at ~4W per kilo, you get to the toll gate in 20-23 minutes depending on wind direction. You have maybe 4 minutes to recover and refuel on the descent. I would grad a bottle, every second climb and drink as much of it as I could on the first descent and then drink the rest of the second descent. This would give you 1 bottle per hour (not sure if that is enough for your projected pace).
Why no switchbacks? for the downhill? or lack of visibility? As I mentioned about Hurricane is still your best bet. it’s well know in the whites as the best best climb for real climbers. its the closest in comparison to washington that you can legally ride and descend. Kanc is easy in comparison, too long and not steep enough. crawford isn’t even steep enough to consider. same with bear notch. Jefferson is fun but gravel and hard to repeat. Pinkam and Evans also not steep enough. Hurricane is 10% x 1.8 miles https://www.strava.com/segments/8162605
then you go down the backside to Maine and come back up 1200ft 2.2 mile at 10% https://www.strava.com/segments/8328233
there are 3 switchbacks but they aren’t that bad, but i have blown a tire in the heat once, which was scary. weekends can be busy.
another good option is switchback road in jackson. you can go up that way 700ft 1.4miles at 9%, then descend tin mountain rd to black mountain rd back to the bottom, avoiding any switchbacks entirely on the down. https://www.strava.com/segments/1301064
the other good option is 3 mile climb mentioned before in franconia, up to Canon https://www.strava.com/segments/4734568 i think they have repaved recently so you can bomb the descent.
I think the switchbacks just slow you down and possibly become a problem after 10hrs of riding. I’m not necessarily trying to optimize every second, assuming I even try it, but better to do something that will make it easier/faster if possible. All of your recommendations are good options though. I’ve done WM half, so am familiar with that one climb/descent, probably the easiest option for me to investigate of the ones you mentioned. The Hurricane mountain looks like possibly the best choice as an eversting climb. How is the pavement on this one? In any case, thanks for the replies, those strava links are really helpful.
I think the switchbacks just slow you down and possibly become a problem after 10hrs of riding. I’m not necessarily trying to optimize every second, assuming I even try it, but better to do something that will make it easier/faster if possible. All of your recommendations are good options though. I’ve done WM half, so am familiar with that one climb/descent, probably the easiest option for me to investigate of the ones you mentioned. The Hurricane mountain looks like possibly the best choice as an eversting climb. How is the pavement on this one? In any case, thanks for the replies, those strava links are really helpful.
I think you want to use your downhills for refueling. Having switchbacks just takes away some downhill refueling time. Even a 20 min climb means you only have 5 min descending before you start your next time up, so its not a lot of time to both let the heart rate drop and refuel. I would want to not refuel as soon as I turned around with my heart rate high, and let it drop and then refuel in the middle of the descent and then have enough time at the end of the descent to let the food settle a bit before jacking up heart rate again. If you throw switchbacks into the middle of the descent, then you lose that option a bit.
I think you want to use your downhills for refueling. Having switchbacks just takes away some downhill refueling time. Even a 20 min climb means you only have 5 min descending before you start your next time up, so its not a lot of time to both let the heart rate drop and refuel. I would want to not refuel as soon as I turned around with my heart rate high, and let it drop and then refuel in the middle of the descent and then have enough time at the end of the descent to let the food settle a bit before jacking up heart rate again. If you throw switchbacks into the middle of the descent, then you lose that option a bit.
I’m not sure I agree with this. The power on the climbs is probably going to be btwn half and full IM power, should be able to eat and drink no problem. But I want both hands on the bars when I’m descending, regardless of the hill!
I think the switchbacks just slow you down and possibly become a problem after 10hrs of riding. I’m not necessarily trying to optimize every second, assuming I even try it, but better to do something that will make it easier/faster if possible. All of your recommendations are good options though. I’ve done WM half, so am familiar with that one climb/descent, probably the easiest option for me to investigate of the ones you mentioned. The Hurricane mountain looks like possibly the best choice as an eversting climb. How is the pavement on this one? In any case, thanks for the replies, those strava links are really helpful.
I think you want to use your downhills for refueling. Having switchbacks just takes away some downhill refueling time. Even a 20 min climb means you only have 5 min descending before you start your next time up, so its not a lot of time to both let the heart rate drop and refuel. I would want to not refuel as soon as I turned around with my heart rate high, and let it drop and then refuel in the middle of the descent and then have enough time at the end of the descent to let the food settle a bit before jacking up heart rate again. If you throw switchbacks into the middle of the descent, then you lose that option a bit.
With respect, this is wrong advice. Your HR should be in zone 2 or maybe 3 for a short while on the climb. No way can you everest at a higher HR, there is loads of time to eat and drink. Priority on descents is getting down safely and recovering and refocusing. It’s an achievement, not a race.
Further up in the thread, I was thinking intensity would be 60% FTP up to IM pace. Eric was saying he wants to do it in between IM and half IM FTP. While I agree regardless the pace is low enough to digest, its easiest to digest at zero percent FTP and ones ability to eat, digest and descend is just based on descending ability and the type of course.
As for it being a race or not, I guess it depends on who is doing it and what they chose as the target. In general, I agree, but Eric’s talking about doing it in between IM and half IM FTP, so that does not sound like a cruise either.
Thanks for the reasoned reply
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