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.