Brentani’s Cycling Blog

A few days ago, a reader of the blog alerted me to a new hill, southwest of Providence. He said it was 12% average gradient for a whole mile. that turned out not to be true (if it had been true, that would make it harder than Blue Hill by a lot, so I was skeptical from the beginning), but it is a very respectable hill, and maybe even the hardest in Rhode Island. Here it is:

as you can see, there’s a lot of extended 10%+ in there and it’s a consistent climb (none of this up/down/ramping shit). That in itself is a rare occurrence in the Providence area for hills of this length. (The only other hills I can think of that are consistent and a mile long are Tourtellot and Chopmist, both of which are under 5% average grade.) So, this hill wins the “meanest mile” competition for RI hands down. But is it the hardest hill? According to BRENTACOL, the only hill that beats it is Woonsocket Hill Road. However, I’m inclined to think that the long flat/downhill section that interrupts the two steep parts of that climb makes it much easier than it would be if those two sections happened consecutively. I will probably be amending the formula to subtract points for hills that have long interruptions. And then there’s Bowen, which I think is still the hardest hill in RI. But that is hardest on an entirely different scale: is there a strong possibility that you won’t make it up, or will fall over sideways attempting? Bowen, yes. Every other hill in the area, no.

And like any good ride in a new area to find a new hill, I found a couple others along the way. First up, Sand Hill, which starts steeply, but doesn’t last too long:

Next, Flat River Road, aka 117, is long but very gradual:

and last, I came down the hill on Harkney Hill Road (118), which is a very fast descent.

And one last tidbit…last weekend I rode in Connecticut and did my usual route in reverse. Since I didn’t need to go up Mile Hill Road, or Fish and Game – two of my usual hills – I took a different route back to Tunnel Road. As a result I came down Hatch Hill Road. OMFG. That hill is for real. Especially if you come up from Valley Falls Road (the dip in the middle is a quick left on Bolton Road, followed by a right onto Hatch HIll). 11.6% AVERAGE.

ok, I’m ready to go live with my new site. I’ll still be tweaking it, so don’t be surprised if things change or things stop working inexplicably for a few minutes. Here it is:

http://brentacol.com/

Basically, it’s just a searchable database of all the hills I’ve been making gradient maps for. Only now, I can keep the pictures organized, re-generate and tweak the resolution and all that. And the biggest feature is the addition of a rating scheme, which I’m calling “brentacol.” It’s based on the Belgian COTACOL system. You can read about how the system works on the about page.

I welcome any and all feedback, especially subjective opinions about the validity of the ranking scheme. I was pleasantly surprised how well it matched my own feelings riding the hills, but I know everyone has different experiences while climbing. (For example, Woonsocket Hill Road, which I had pegged as #4 in RI, after Bowen, Blue Hill, and Jenckes. Because of their relative shortness, Jenckes and Bowen are downgraded slightly by the system (and I’m still working out a way to factor in the cobbles on Bowen), but Woonsocket Hill Road becomes the hardest in RI, just beating out Burlingame, but still easier than Blue Hill.

I spent the Labor Day weekend up in Maine with Carrie’s parents at their A-Frame on Small Point. The riding there is pretty much idyllic and the terrain, while not containing much in the way of big hills, is relentlessly rolling and makes for a great work-out. It requires constant shifting between big rings. Possibly a place where the compact crank isn’t such a good choice. With a 42 or 39 instead of the 34, you might be able to stay in the little ring most of the time. Anyway, as much as I love riding there, I’ve gotten a little tired of my usual route. To mix things up, I decided to start trying some of the dirt roads that are almost as plentiful as the paved roads. The first day, I did my normal loop of riding out to Fort Popham, up Parker Head Road. But instead of going all the way to Phippsburg, I took a left on Sam Day Hill, a road I knew would connect me back to the main road. Not much of a hill, but the dirt makes it a little more difficult. Nice road, anyway.

That night, I perused a topo map and noticed Morse Mountain Road. It was only about 3-4 miles from the A-Frame, so I asked my father-in-law. He said the road was dirt and in pretty good condition, with even some paved sections. I went there on Sunday, only to be turned back by a guy at the gate. They apparently don’t really let people take cars up during the summer, and wouldn’t let me take my bike. The initial section is a nice easy gradient on nice smooth packed dirt, with a few rocks. Since we were staying until today (the day after labor day), I figured I could come back this morning after the entire state of Maine had packed up and left for the winter. I was right. I rode up the initial section, which was mostly the hard packed dirt, with a few sections of broken up pavement. That part only lasts maybe 1/4 mile, and then you dive back down and cross the tidal marsh. Stinky. The “pavement” here is nasty. It’s all egg-sized rocks, that seem to be neatly arranged like cobblestones. It felt like riding on cobblestones, too, except that the “cobblestones” had a nasty habit of kicking up and hitting my shins and my frame. Needless to say, I rode that section nice and slowly. Once you cross the tidal marsh, the real hill starts. The surface constantly changes the rest of the way up between dirt, rocks and extremely broken pavement. The pavement sections were actually the hardest to navigate. The hill is too short to be too difficult, but there are some really steep sections, and dealing with the transitions between the different surfaces were challenging.

Then there was the descent. 1/2 way down, I flatted. It was at this point that I realized the whole area was completely infested with mosquitoes. I didn’t really want to change my flat under those conditions, so I walked back to the road (~3/4 mile). Back at the road, I had to change the flat, even though there were still mosquitoes everywhere. It was at this point that I also realized that lycra does nothing to stop mosquitoes. Or that’s not quite true. It does stop you from noticing that a mosquito has landed and lets them suck with impunity. I changed the flat as quickly as possible, and went back home. I counted 21 bites, some of which were probably clusters of 4-5 bites, since they were about 1 inch in diameter.