Frank Krygowski <
frkr...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> On 12/4/2023 8:16 PM, Roger Merriman wrote:
>> Frank Krygowski <
frkr...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Among American cyclists, it's well known that the Appalachians are much
>>> more difficult than the typical passes
>>> through the Rockies. Appalachian roads are much older and steeper,
>>> although the climbs are shorter. For a typical
>>> pass in the Rockies, one can just gear down and crank slowly. It may take
>>> hours, but it's not nearly so strenuous.
>>>
>>> - Frank Krygowski
>>>
>> That is broadly my experience with places such as Tenerife which is long
>> climb 20 something miles, and around the 7k mark at the top, though the
>> summit is beyond that, in that if one takes it easy and drinks/eats
>> regularly it’s doable and manageable, compared to shorter steeper stuff
>> that is a much more intense, even with nice low gearing.
>
> Of course the "summit is beyond that." That's why it's a pass! ;-)
>
> When we were making our way through the Rockies, it was blisteringly
> hot. For my wife, especially, that meant having to stop a few times in
> whatever meager shade we could find on the longest climbs, to drink
> water, maybe eat a snack and just cool down. I'd equipped our bikes with
> nice low gears, so those gradients were well within our capabilities.
>
Certainly with Tenerife it’s shaded the first 12/14 miles or so and climb
though and past the woods, where does become rather exposed and certainly
if you drop into the caldera which has been used for filming due to its
otherworldly nature and pro teams for altitude training at the one hotel
there.
I don’t operate well in the heat, note at 6C / 43f I’m still not in gloves.
So in hot conditions I tend to get out early. Be that climbing Teide at 30c
or exploring Jersey forgotten bays and so on before the temperatures
reached 40c
> The Appalachians are different. Years earlier one of my kids and I rode
> across Pennsylvania from New Jersey back to Ohio. He was literally
> furious about the steepness of some of the climbs.
>
> And as I've mentioned here before, we hosted Warm Showers guests for
> many years. One couple had ridden from San Francisco to Maine, then
> turned around and stayed with us on their way to Texas. They arrived
> here dead beat, and said Western Pennsylvania had been their hardest day
> of the entire trip.
>
Steep stuff you do end up well using strength and upper body and so on,
plus they often aren’t well known, ie quiet back roads and similar, valley
I grew up in, the main road though was being worked on, so folks would see
roads that appeared to be short cuts, forgetting that or rather unaware of
how steep sided the Gorge is.
The look of fear in drivers eyes! And rightly so the road has claimed a
number of vehicles over the years. But it’s out of folk’s expectations and
experiences.
Roger Merriman