there is one close to where my grandparents’ house is that’s 35% according to the road sign, never seen anything like this anywhere else (there are also a lot of 25-29% walls in that area, everybody has a triple and most people also have a 25 or even a 27 in the back).
Where I’m living now there is a very short road which according to the city surveyor is 25% (there are no signs posted OTOH)
just wondering what steep stuff people here have seen/ridden…
The highest we get around here (Missouri) that I’ve seen is 16-18%. I’d imagine the rockies, alps, appalachians, hell, any mountain range has some pretty steep grades. 35% would be tough on a bike IMO.
I used to regularly train on a paved residential street that started with a 25% grade and ended, about a kilometer later, at 28%. Excrutiatingly steep. I can’t imagine riding anything steeper. I was told the grade by the City’s civil engineer in charge of city streets. The city … Manhattan, Kansas, of all places (in the middle of the Flint Hills).
Berkeley Hills Death Ride Route - Marin Street
I just moved out of a house in SF that was right in the middle of Filbert in b/w Hyde and Leavenworth. 31.5% grade…steepest street in a city that is full of very steep streets. I used to have to walk up and down steps to get to my house. I only saw one person ride it. He used to be out there occasionally doing repeats.
Actually saw a kid across the street go down it on a skateboard a few times. That was entertaining. David Letterman tossed Watermelons down it on the Late Show once as well. Great for parking (most people couldn’t lift their door against the hill), a nightmare for drunk bridge and tunnel peope trying to re-create SF chase scenes at 2 in the morning. It was one way, too steep to drive up w/o 4 wheel drive.
Hey, we used to be neighbors! I’m 3 1/2 blocks away.
From the other thread: Where do you swim?
clm, Russian Hill, SF
Usually at the Olympic Club but I work in Marin and swim at the local HS’s around here after work a lot as well…I’ve been kinda slacking on my swimming a bit this month.
Baldwin Street in Dunedin, New Zealand was a 5 minute ride from the local varsity. Apparently it is 38%. I never rode up it as I use to mess myself getting up the sucker in my car.
Bermuda’s official steepest grade is 6:1 (~17%) but there are sections of that hill that are somewhat steeper. I suspect that there are also some backroads that are close to 25%.
In 2001 I rode up a street in San Fran - fit off triathlon worlds I rode in my 39-23 and by the time I reached the top I was sure I was going to pass out or throw up - just wasn’t sure which.
The banking on the track at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, they have bicycle time trials there. One of the NASCAR drivers actually did the bicycle time trial there yesterday!
in the hills near melbourne australia, turining left at the roundabout in belgrave is thames avenue, otherwise known as ‘the unclimbable hill.’ it averages a bit over 20% over 4k of climbing, with the steepest section being about 27%. it is just unbelieveable. when the euro pro riders are back in town every summer you see them climbing it…and taking a huge fly to start it!
i’ve climbed it twice, both times in the 39/23, my lowest gear. as training, for a long course athlete, it’s pretty stupid, but the challenge is just amazing. my biceps hurt from wrenching the bars, but i’ve never had to traverse it, unlike one of my training buddies.
apparently nz has the world’s steepest suburban street. i remember reading about it in a newspaper. it actually has steps instead of a footpath! some guy died riding a wheelie bin down it. i think it was something like 38%!
East Face of Long’s Peak, RMNP. Of course I wasn’t on my bike. 
Chris
11th Grade was pretty hard. I had Physics, Calculus, my 4th year of French, American History of course, and American Lit., Soccer in the fall, the Spring Musical (“Guys and Dolls”). Plus, that was the year I learned to surf.
I’ve “been” on lots of tough grades. Steepest I’ve gone up in an event is the one I believe referred to as “Thompson’s Hill” on the backside of the loop at HFP’s Little Smokies 1/2. Eye opener/lung expander
Did a climb today that varys between 16 and “unclimbable” (during a hairpin) that’s about 2km long. It’s in Grenoble, France and is the only road up to the fort “le Bastille” that overlooks the town. I think there’s a local time on it every year because the gradient is painted onto the road about every 50-100m. Pretty damn hard, especially the 400m that were all marked 22-24%!
Hi there,
I saw them race that climb in the Dauphine Libere in '93 when I was in France. The TV people claimed it was 25 percent.
Down near Aix en Provence I went over a hill that was 18 percent on one side and 22 percent on the other. Both about 1.5 k long. The 18 was doable, but 22 percent requires you to sit with your butt on the pointy part of your saddle and try not to wheelie the whole time.
If any of you in the west want to try a monster long climb, go to Parowan, Utah (about 3 hours north of Vegas or 4 hours south of SLC on I-15). Climb up to Brianhead ski resort and then past to the summit at about 10,000 feet. About six or so of the nine-mile climb are posted as 13 percent. It climbs about 5,000 feet in nine miles. I have ridden a dozen or so of the famous Alpine climbs from the Tour and none of them can touch it in terms of leg-breaking, lung-busting pain.
Chad
Many climbs in Italy at 26%. I remember long stretches in the 42X27 at 4mph for a mile or more. Lance did the Motorolo in Italy this year and said it was the toughest he’s ever done. It was hard to go down as fast as in France as they twist more with shorter straights.
The steepest grade that I have ridden on was in the Davis Mountains in west Texas. The first six miles are mostly up hill at 15% to 18% to the Davis Mountains Observatory Visitors Center. After that the last two kilometers are about 25 to 28% to the summit. This is at an altitude of about seven thousand feet. Being a flatlander, I was very overgeared for the climb but did it with my 12 - 21 cassette. I descended at over fifty five miles per hour and passed a few cars. Cant wait to do it again!