On Friday, May 22, 2020 at 1:01:57 PM UTC-7, Bertrand wrote:
Lincoln Gap in the Green Mountains of Vermont has the steepest mile of paved
road in the US. Another brutally steep climb, not as well known, is Tanners
Ridge Road in Virginia, which climbs from the Shenandoah Valley up to Skyline
Drive.

Then come here and ride the Death Ride. Then tell us about some measly mile of steep road. I did the full Death Ride three years in a row - 130 miles and over 16,000 feet of climbing and I think that the lowest valley is above 5,000 ft.

I did a five-pass Death Ride and finished top 20 (at least according to the signatures on the poster at the end) and also did the one-and-only six pass version, Death Ride the 13th, which was about 20K of climbing. I've also ridden the Sierra on many loaded tours and JRA. AND I've ridden all the ranges on the TransAm trail, including the Rockies and Appalachians. Having actually done parts of the Appalachians, I can attest that they are difficult and tiring. You can string together a lot of short climbs, and they will throttle you as much or more than grinding up Ebbetts or Monitor, although you will not be struggling for O2 -- but the Appalachians have heat and humidity and coal trucks.

Yes, there are no high-altitude climbs in the Appalachians. And except for Mt.
Washington (which is closed to bikes except for the race), the climbs aren't
massive like some of those out west. But Whiteface Mt. (3566 ft gained, 8.4%
average), in NY rates harder than either side of Monitor (east side listed as
the toughest of the Death Ride at 3261 ft, 6.5%) or Ebbetts.

https://pjammcycling.com/climb/160.Whiteface-Mountain
https://pjammcycling.com/climb/217.M...%20Pass%20East

They are very long and in the area of oxygen starvation. They don't call it the Death Ride because its a walk in the park.