do george street

[PJ McQuade]

Haven't done this in a few years, but I can attest that it's a great time. Every year it seems to fall on the same week that I'm on vacation. Good luck!

[crank585]

Thought about this event, and it looks pretty cool. What gearing are you guys using? I don't have time to recon the hill, so if you can give me an idea that would better than just arriving totally unaware.

[RPerson]

Standard gearing, but you'll be in the small ring. I want to say I did something like a 39/17, but it could have been 15 or so. If at all possible, you'll want to get there early that morning and do a couple trial runs. There is no time to shift on the hill without something bad happening to your or your bike so you should try to know your gear. There are typically several fixies and single-speeds at this and it makes a lot of sense because you only need 1.

I'll be a late decision on this one. It's loads of fun so it will just depend on scheduling.

[crank585]

Cool -- I figured the 500' distance made it so we didn't need to convert to a triple or anything like that...and having no real experience with a 20% grade it's good to know us mortals can grunt up with our current setup. I agree it looks like a blast and I hope to be able to attend!

[michaelcole]

I'll be there again trying to regain my title after having it snatched away last year.
I'm not terribly optimistic considering the 50% fitness I've got right now but who knows?

I might still be able to fake it for ~24 seconds

[michaelcole]

who's mike?

[ltolman]

It'll be great to see the Goguens on the hill! Ron, we need a bit more info to complete your pre-registration -- please e-mail the names & ages to info@majortaylorassociation.org.

Mr. Cole and other riders: Preregistration speeds up your check-in and really, really, really helps our volunteers handle the morning crush. Online pre-reg is open until noon next Saturday (July 25) but I've got a "situation" at work on Friday and Saturday nights so if you can register before noon Friday (July 24) that's even better.
http://www.majortaylorassociation.org/e ... et09.shtml

P.S. There's a rider-only drawing for a custom Maietta bike frame , winner's choice of road, mountain or cyclocross. All finishers are entered in the drawing, no charge. We also have a Fuji bike and lots of other cool prizes in a raffle that anyone can buy tickets for, $5 a chance, or three for $12, or six for $20. Uh-oh, the online payment buttons for raffle tix went kablooey, so get your tix at Barney's Bicycle in the coming week or at the race on July 26!

[carlshimer]

I'll be there. Last time I climbed george st. I was in a drunken stupor sometime in College

so - 17.5% isn't bad. However, a hill in my home-town tops out at 37%!

Check out this picture of Canton Ave. in Pittsburgh:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CantonAve_Top.jpg

from the side:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveynin/1425364899/

And some video from the dirty dozen hill climb:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxWceFTkLRU

OMG!

[Rob]

Canton ave is Sick!

[onegeardoug]

Looks like a hoot. I'm in.

[ahamilton]

The steepest hill I could find in San Francisco was "only" 24%. On a rented bike with a triple ring, carrying 10 lbs of crap on my back, in January shape, it was pretty hard to get up. I can't imagine what 37% feels like. I had to keep trying to find the right position that would keep enough traction on the back wheel and not make the front wheel come off the ground.