Toughest 50 in Rhode Island
Mike and I went out and did a new loop this morning. Really hard loop. I vote it the hardest 50 miles in RI. I suppose you could jimmy a few extra hills into the loop, but this is really quite sufficient. It includes three of the hardest hills, excluding the East Side hills. The hills, in order of appearance are: 1. Smithfield/Ridge Road, 2. Iron Mine Hill, 3. Manville Hill, 4. West Wrenthem, 5. Tower Hill, 6. Mt. St. Charles, 7. Woonsocket HIll, 8. Burlingame, 9. Mountaindale, 10. Pine Hill. Mike got the better of everything except Tower Hill. For that one, I attacked in one of the downhill/flat sections and gapped Mike before the last uphill section. A little bit slimy, but I’ll take it.
And then, at the top of Woonsocket Hill, I finally remembered to look for the road up to the summit. Brentwood is a little subdivision that gets almost there (with a nasty bit of 20% gradient), but I had noticed that there was another unnamed road on google maps. The verdict is: not possible on a road bike. there’s a layer of soft dusty sand, covered with golfball sized gravel. Here I am giving it a try. I’ll try to get my cyclocross bike back in working order and try it again.
jerry on 29 Jul 2009 at 8:39 am #
Oh please, that looks like my road and driveway, only flatter. Pffft. Totally road bikeable. You city boys.
Sucram on 29 Jul 2009 at 8:53 am #
But, didn’t MM pull a few miles into Tower Hill Road…. ? Don’t see mention of that.
jerry on 29 Jul 2009 at 9:09 am #
Next time you are in Vermont you should try Bolton Valley, and then one mile up the road (at the foot of my driveway) is Notch Road. Notch road is like 20% straight up for a mile. BV is 6 miles and has 18% sections. Its way harder than App Gap, IMHO.
BV is also part of our weekly TT series. Check out the course profile at http://thegmbc.com/timetrial/courses/BoltonValley.html
brent on 29 Jul 2009 at 11:45 am #
Wow. I was about to call BS on the Bolton Notch climb. cause Lincoln isn’t 20% for the last mile, and it’s supposed to be the steepest mile in the country. And Bolton Notch is only about 1K, but it is steeper for that section than the last 1.5 miles of Lincoln. If my calculations are correct, Bolton Notch is 16.6% for the kilometer. Take out the first 1/2 mile of the last 1.5 on Lincoln and it probably beats Bolton for the last mile, but not by much.
brent on 29 Jul 2009 at 12:02 pm #
just noticed that Notch road keeps going after the part where I stopped (levels for a few meters and then goes up again, but at a easier gradient)…but the map I posted is definitely the hardest section.
cc on 05 Aug 2009 at 10:17 pm #
This ride is exhausting! I’m adding Woodward and Waterman as Ridge isn’t a real climb – no?
brent on 06 Aug 2009 at 9:06 am #
yeah, Woodward would definitely be a harder way out of town than Ridge. I think the actual hill part is before it turns into Ridge on Smithfield Ave, but still. Also, Harris isn’t much of anything. I often come down it, and given that it is a pretty fast descent I just assumed it was a bit of a hill. More like false flats.