http://www.mapmyride.com/edit_route?r=569127145507865342

Unlike Boltinghouse, you get no respite a fourth of the way into the incline: it’s steep all the way.

My calves were cramping considerable when I was riding afterward on Robinson Road, although that may have been due to not having hydrated properly before the ride and not having ridden for the seven previous days.

The same day I went down Miller Road hill, I previously went down Boltinghouse Road hill. I hit a max of 48 mph on Boltinghouse, which is fairly straight. I wanted to compare that with my maximum speed going down Miller Road in order to get difficulty comparison, but Miller is curving, so I never got above 38 mph. I’d say Miller is tougher, but I’ve yet to go up it.

If you’re looking for longer, upward trending, rolling roads, try Shilo from Anderson to Tunnel Road and Robinson from Old 37 to Tunnel Road. Shilo is particularly hard. It lots of fun, however, to take it the opposite direction, rolling hills, but mostly downhill.

I went up Earl Young Road hill for the first time on Sunday. I didn’t know it was there, although I suspected it would be, I didn’t know it was gravel, but was not surprised to find it was. What surprised me was that it was one lane, which was not an issue, except that a car drove down as I was going up. I had to dismount to get out of the way. Getting back on and staying on was a challenge, because the road has only two 18-inch wide tire lanes between the gravel that are suitable for riding. So any weaving results in hitting gravel and losing one’s balance. I fell off two or three times until I got a good rhythm going.

Having ridden up Boltinghouse Hill three times on a road bike, and Earl Young Hill once on a hybrid, Boltinghouse challenges one’s strength more, but Earl Young requires better overall biking ability. If you have difficulty keeping your balance at low speeds on steep grades, Earl Young will be more challenging. Both are very difficult.

I should also add that both are so steep that you can easily pull your front wheel off the road while pulling up on the handle bars, so leaning forward is essential to maintaining balance.

I haven’t ridden up Mt. Gilead west, although I’ve taken Mt. Gilead east twice, both with hybrid and road bikes. The east hill is tough, but only because its about 0.4 of a mile. Success merely requires persistence. My wife made it up the east hill on her hybrid.

I also found Shufflecreek Road difficult at the bottom. I got a real burn in my legs during that climb. But that part is short, and the top part of the hill isn’t too bad.

And the two shorts hills on the western end of South Lake Shore Drive at Lake Lemon leading to Tunnel Road, especially the last hill, are tough challenges, harder than Mt. Gilead east, but not as hard as Boltinghouse. My wife can take the Lake Drive hills, but she’s not even tried Boltinghouse. In fact, we rode on Earl Young to avoid Boltinghouse. She walked up Earl Young Hill. She’s the sensible one.

I’m 57 years old and have been riding for only three years, so if I can tackle these hills, you can also.

Dave