Hill Hell Day...Part 1

Yesterday one  of our friends, who was visiting from another island decided it would be "fun" to get a group of folk together to do an epic ride, riding all the ridges on Oahu, basically 85+ miles with over 10,000 ft of climbing! He decided to call it, "Another bad idea." Aptly titled. Who knew there was that much climbing on Oahu! It would have been quite the epic day, had we done what was planned, but we diverged from the plan a bit, thank goodness, my legs couldn't handle any more climbing yesterday! It was still a solid day of riding and climbing. We rode about 60 with over 6,000 ft of climbing in not very much time.

Climb #1 Tantalus, my weekly staple.....about 1500 ft to the top, 5 miles up, 5 miles down

 

It's always a good idea to start a ride sprinting up a mountain because you forget a spare inner tube and have to go back to the car to fetch it and the group (of pure cyclists mind you) decides not to wait for you...

Climb #2 St. Louis Heights...just shy of 4 miles...just over 900ft of elevation gain...average grade 7.49%, max grade 17%

 

The best part about this climb, was the mini pit stop at this park (Waahila ridge State Park) at the top. This climb is no joke and I get to do it again this coming weekend! 

Climb #3 (we skipped Sierra Drive and Laukahi, I'm sure we will do them this Saturday) Proceed to Kamehame...just over 3.5 miles to the end, 1085 ft of gain, average grade of 9%, max grade 18%. (I love this climb, even when my legs are screaming at me, this is a great climb, I think my favorite here on Oahu)...the views at the top are totally worth it! 

Climb #4 (kind of) Makapu'u, Not sure this really counts as you have to go up this hill on almost any ride you do on the east side of the island, but I'm counting it yesterday because that's how tired, heavy and sore my legs were. 

Climb #5...Waimanalo back roads...this doesn't really count as it's not truly a climb, a hill, or a mountain, It's a gradual hill that I absolutely cannot stand, hidden in the back roads of Waimanalo, if you've ridden with me you know what this road is and if you are ever here and ride with me, you will for sure hear about it. It's nothing special really and if you were riding on it, you wouldn't think twice, but I despise this piece of road, not because it's difficult, but because it gets me everytime! 

Climb #6 Old Pali...we did this in reverse, so I don't have true data of info, but we took the Old Pali then hiked a bike, under the freeway for a few feet and made our way to the Nuuanu Pali Lookout. 

There was a Climb #7 Pacific Heights (3.5 miles, 721 ft of gain, 9.11% average 19% max grade) I opted out of this one as we will for sure do it this coming weekend.

Yesterday was a beautiful day for riding and thanks, Rick for getting all of us together! A great morning was had by all.