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.