Kingsley Hill
Sunday morning, I got up early and left Manchester for North Adams, intent on finally getting back to do Greylock. Parke was the only one I was able to convince to come. The last time I did it (the south side) was 12 years ago, in 1998. This time I was planning on doing the North side. But first I had a little loop planned to go over to Kingsley Hill Road, reputed to contain the steepest half mile in the country. I didn’t pay too much attention to the terrain on the map I had chosen, and there was a lot of climbing before we even got there. First up was the climb out of North Adams on Route 2. We took a back route to get about halfway up the climb and then did the rest of it. A really nice, steady climb, if you can ignore the traffic, which I didn’t find too troublesome. From there, we descended Whitcomb Hill Road (which will be a great hill for another day, and headed towards Kingsley Hill Road.) The scenery along River Road is incredible, and you begin to feel squeezed by the steep, steep terrain on either side. Especially because of the realization that you’ll soon be taking a left to go up what seems like a cliff wall.
Kingsley Hill is as nasty as everyone says. The first section seems to go on forever. It’s wooded and a little curvy, so you can’t get a great idea of how much further until the gradient lets up. I was doing switchbacks (or snow-plowing, or whatever you want to call it) through a lot of this, but I made it up without stopping. Not sure what happened to Parke, but he was quite a ways back, and eventually I couldn’t even hear his cursing. I had a 34-29 as my low gear, Parke had a 39-27, which is really not sufficient for that kind of hill. After the steep part, it gets easier. But the steep stuff takes so much out of you, you really don’t get to recover until the top. It was also very hot and sunny, so just before the last section of steep (probably 12% or so) I cooled off a bit in some shade. and then went on to the top. Hoping that Parke hadn’t turned around and abandoned me in disgust for subjecting him to such torture, I went back down a ways and found him still cursing. He took a break at about the same point I did, and we rode together back up to the top. I’m not sure if he had to dismount in the steep section or not. From there, we went up Tilda Hill. On Doug’s site, he lists Tilda Hill in combination with Kingsley Hill. The whole thing is about 5%, so I figured Tilda Hill couldn’t be too hard. In fact, there’s a very long flat/downhill section, so you’re fully recovered from Kingsley Hill by the time you hit Tilda, and on its own, it’s actually a pretty tough hill.
Going down Tilda, my bike felt a little wobbly, which I chalked up to the road, which was pretty rough, so I took it easy while Parke sped off on the descent. Then back to the descent down Route 2. Again, Parke took off and I rode conservatively. SNAP! CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG. Fuck it. another broken nipple/spoke. and I wasn’t even pedaling. I dismounted, and discovered that i had snapped a spoke about 2 inches from the hub. The wheel still spun reasonably, so I tried to secure the spoke and kept going. CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG. This time I was sure the entire wheel was exploding under me. Turns out, the spoke had just popped loose and was banging around again. this time I bent it sideways and threaded it between the adjacent 4-5 spokes. Seemed extra secure. Rode the rest of the way down without incident. Needless to say, we ditched Greylock, and Parke bought me lunch. Even without Greylock, we did about 5000 feet of climbing (in just 30 miles)…so not a bad day in the saddle.
Parke on 12 Jul 2010 at 11:38 am #
Yeah, I had to dismount once to put a foot down – A pickup truck passed and where the road narrows and I was swerving so badly I took it as an out.
The thing I had NOT factored in was that it was so steep and narrow that I actually had to walk six or seven paces up to a wider section so I had enough room to cut across the grade (and road) and clip in before standing back up again and cussing your name in lieu of a normal exhale.
“Asshole…(gasp)…asshole…(gasp)…”
Parke on 12 Jul 2010 at 11:40 am #
And, for the benefit of others – this is easily the steepest pitch I’ve ever climbed in my 17 years on a roadbike.
And probably the longest I’ve had to stay out of the saddle.
And, while I’m thinking about it, probably the first time in a very longtime I’ve had to alter my technique to prevent the front wheel from lifting.
My back is killing me today.
brent on 12 Jul 2010 at 11:54 am #
I still can’t decide how I think it stacks up with Mount Tom. It’s definitely harder than Bolton Notch (Sorry, Jerry). There’s something relieving about knowing that once the pitch drops off (to ~12%) you’re done with the ridiculous stuff. Mount Tom hits you with a 1-2 punch. You get through the initial stretch of 20%, it levels off for just a bit, and you realize you’re not even halfway done as you hit the second wall. And that’s where it gets really hard.
Doug Jansen on 12 Jul 2010 at 11:57 am #
Glad you guys “liked” it. I’ll never forget my first time riding Kingsley. A young stud of a rider was trash talking us masters for bringing compact cranks to a hilly ride. Notable quote was “anybody can ride hills with a compact.” Well, guess who didn’t take long to have to put a foot down on Kingsley? Yep, our young superhero. Lots of cursing ensued. The rest of us nearly peed ourselves and fell over in laughter while trying to maintain momentum at the same time.
Interestingly, a Kingsley/Greylock loop was the last thing I did before breaking my ankle this spring. The doctor this morning just gave me a green light to ease back into normal riding without any ankle support. I’m super psyched and plan on hitting Ascutney on Saturday.
brent on 12 Jul 2010 at 12:45 pm #
sadly I don’t think I’m going to Ascutney. (but man, doing Ascutney sure seems like a good way to celebrate being out of the cast!) The problem for me is that I’m planning on doing Equinox 3 weeks later, and I’ll have to swap cranks but I really don’t want to do it twice. (since I’ll need that bike with a normal setup in the interim.) Also annoying is that I now only have one wheel between my two bikes, which means warming up for a race like Ascutney would be a pain…I’d have to swap wheels and cassettes right before the race, although I suppose I could just race on the Gazelle, since it has a triple w/ a low gear of 24-26, it’s just a bit of a tank.
Grady on 06 Aug 2011 at 8:19 pm #
I just did this “hill” and yes definitely as everyone says the most difficult thing I’ve ever ridden on my road bike and yes the most time I’ve ever spent out of the saddle. In fact so much time out of the saddle that my arms started to give way before my legs did from yanking on the handlebars. Now it seems a lot of really experienced riders who have taken this thing on seem to think because it’s in Mass, it’s not going to be the worst climb, get real, it’s a wall of man eating, soul crushing, spoke destroying glory. I surprised myself quite so on this climb, rocking a 39/26 all the way up without touching the ground with my cleats. There were a few times were I was almost track standing using my arms harder than I would sprinting to push my pedals down. This was followed by Greylock from the north, and then Hoosac rd later in the day. Incredible ride, Incredible hills, respect the land.