Featured Hill climbs

This year, we took a trip to Ireland with our Northeastern bicycling buddies. The Emerald Isle: a fitting name for a place that gets nearly 55 inches of rain per year, just shy of the 68+ inches that would classify it as a rainforest.  Although we came expecting rain and were content with a little moisture during our trip, the weather overall wasn’t too bad.

Highs around 65, lows around 55; pretty ideal temperatures for biking considering most of the U.S. was pushing triple digits. This year seemed one of the driest in a long time. Bad for agriculture, but pretty nice for us.

In fact, if you can get over the rain, Ireland is set up perfectly for bike touring. In general, the topography is mild (although we did curse a few steep hills); the back roads have little to no traffic; and the locals are extremely friendly and very bike-conscious while driving (although most still think you’re mad for cycling around the country).

Compared to the U.S., the towns are fairly close together, and you can bike the entire country in a few weeks fairly easily. And most importantly, EVERY community has a pub, even if it doesn’t serve food. If you’re looking for something new to do, bike touring in Ireland will not disappoint.

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Ever wonder how Mount Washington stacks up against Mont Ventoux?  Whiteface with Alpe d’Huez? This page will give you some insight. I hunted around on the web to find profiles of a few of the most famous climbs of the grand tours (I plan to ride these great climbs soon!).

The chart below compares Mont Ventoux and Alpe d’Huez from the Tour de France, Agliru from the Vuelta a Espana, and Passo dello Stelio from the Giro d’Italia, with New Hampshire’s Mount Washington and New York’s Whiteface Mountain.

As you can see, nothing approaches the steepness of Mount Washington. Angliru comes the closest, with an average grade of 10%. Agliru has sustained pitches that are much greater than 10%, so it is a very challenging climb.

The image here suggests a peak grade at 23.5%! Whiteface and Alpe d’Huez are also similar climbs.  Both gain ~3,500 feet in 8 to 9 miles. Whiteface is slightly steeper, but gains slightly less vertical.

Mont Ventoux compares similarly to Mount Washington when starting from the town of Gorham in terms of the average grade. However, Gorham to the auto road is only a couple percent grade, then the rest of the climb is at 12%.

Mont Ventoux stays right around a much more modest 7% grade. Passo dello Stelvio is a huge climb, a pass through the mountains, gaining just over 6000 feet in elevation. Stelvio was in several stages of the Giro.

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