Discussion: Lincoln Gap

My brother rode it yesterday. 40:52 for 5 miles, going (in his words) "supa-dupa hard...".

I hope to get up there one of these days/weeks. I'll be going supa-dupa slow....

Are you looking at the east side or the west side? And what's your lowest gear?

East side. 32-36.

Alan says the steep part of that is the hardest mile he's ever ridden on a bike. And he's ridden some famous climbs.

I don't disagree with your brother. The two contenders around here (Kingsley Hill Road and Mt' Tom's B-17) have sections that are just as hard, but not for so long.

43:15 up from Rt. 100.

Glad to see you got this done, and with no mishaps. Congrats!

Very impressive! The rain only adds to the epicness.

I'm really glad I called it quits when I did. Lincoln took a lot out of me. And if I hadn't don't it first, no way I would have made it.

Ian, on the other hand, is strong enough and perhaps stupid enough to do it as the goal of a long bike trip from Toronto? :-) There's no reason it should be any harder in the dark.

I was guessing that the omen was a nearby lightning strike, rather than a dying battery.

Alan thinks it's very cool that you did that (as do I). He usually does that loop in the opposite direction, but he has done it the way you did.

What impresses, beyond the grit it takes to do this, is that the quarter mile splits show you going 22:48 per mile between 4.5 and 4.75 miles. At that pace, I would have just toppled over.

Great ride!

Alan commented that your lowest gear (32x36) is about at the limit of what's usable, because with anything lower it's tricky to keep the bike moving.

I suppose it takes some skill to go so slowly. I do have a lot of practice at it. Would have been nice to go faster, but even 3 mph was out of reach. Working as hard as I could. And, for sure, really concentrating, knowing a moment's inattention could have me off the bike.

I've gotta believe it 32x40 would have been easier. Going just as fast because the rpm would have been higher. I haven't done the math on what my cadence was, but it was painfully slow.

So you were going supa-dupa hard.

This is just nuts! :) Congrats on another impressive achievement.

So you were going supa-dupa hard.

Close. Pulse peaked at 165. I'm guessing my max is about 168-169. Usually I hit my max going up South Sugarloaf, close to the top it's a little below max and then you bust the last 50 to 100 yards just to get as good a time as you can, and a good reading on your max pulse as a side bonus.

Actually could have done that at Lincoln Gap. The last 50 yards was almost flat, going past the parking spaces, but the high point was a tiny bump at the far end so I went to there before stopping the watch. But the 50 yards before that the grade suddenly eased, maybe only 10-12%. Could have busted that, been really supa-dupa hard. But I guess I forgot. Just wanted to do the last little bit without falling over.