City Hills: Madrona, Queen Anne, Capitol Hill

The Pacer is in the shop, getting the new Honjos put on - can't wait to see it in person! Although apparently the Grand Bois 28c won't fit with the fender in the rear.. damn. I can probably at least run 26's on it.

So tonight I took the Ciocc out for a spirited ride, initially to do the Mercer Island Loop. But a few kilometers away from the apt, I realized I'd forgotten a pump! So instead of doing Mercer, I just kept it in the city. Closer to the population of other cyclists, with pumps hopefully!

Ride Description

First, the elevation graph of the route I ended up doing: (max height 439 feet)
From Capitol Hill down to Lake Wa Blvd, right on Madrona Dr (big 1 km+ uphill), follow Union st all the way to Broadway (hilly). I held 16 km/h (10 mph) for the first few minutes going up, but eventually dropped down to 10 km/h (6 mph). The Ciocc climbs well, especially when unloaded & the dynohub taken off!

From there I came back west to Broadway, and bombed down Denny Street over I-5. Probably hit my top speed in the route, 67 km/h there! At that kind of speed in the city, cars start to hold you back. I'd love to do a road race in the city some time, and have that be part of the course!


Then there's Queen Anne, easily the steepest part of the route, heading up to the views of downtown at Kerry Park. Had to take a little diversionary right on a less-steep road on the way up, on which I rode half way up, turned around, and then re-attacked Queen Anne Ave. It's so damn steep!

Then I came down the other side of Queen Anne, and on the way back I held a good 25 km/h heading up the little Dexter hill. Took a left on Denny (crazy traffic) and followed it all the way back to the Hill. Even kept in the 53-tooth ring coming up the steep section next to Whole Foods! Granted, I was grinding at probably 30 RPM, but it was actually a good feeling. I felt like the chain was going to snap before I would.


If the Oregon 600k pans out this weekend, I think I'll be well-prepared! And I felt surprisingly well, given all the climbing on Saturday.


Route Distance: 21.5 km
Rolling Time: 1 hr 2 minutes
Overall Time: +5-10 minutes?
Average Speed: 20.4 km/h (12.6 mph)
Map Link: here