nastiest [local] hill you love to hate

Mount Albert Road in Columbia on the IronGirl course.  I hate it so much I call it "Fat Albert."  Also Green Bridge Road on the Columbia Tri course.  Both are good for hill repeats.  And, I second the Ilchester recommendation, although be aware this is truly the steepest hill around.  I have never ridden it and never will.  But if you wanna cry while biking, do Ilchester.  If you can bike up Ilchester, you will be ready for S'man.

JoshKaptur - 2007-06-27 11:15 AM Hmmm... this Ilchester fellow and I should meet.  Watch for the sobbing in my logs.  I'll probably ride it after my July race, since I don't want to bust my chain or stretch my cables too much before then

If you attempt Ilchester, you will want a trained medical professional with you.  At the very least, a friend with a car and a cooler of beer.  It's narrow.  It's steep.  It's winding.  It's dangerous.  Do it in the morning before there's much traffic, and definitely don't do it before your first tri!

You're a nut.  :p

thanks for all the great suggestions everyone.  I plan to ride them all starting next week (I'm tapering at the moment).

Especially like the nasties off of B&A, as I ride that regularly... if I can just take a slight detour and do half a dozen repeats in the middle, that's always a good thing.

I should have mentioned my local nasty hill... it's on dicus mill road up either direction (one is short and steep, the other long but not as steep) from where it crosses severn run.

Here's my take on some of the hills in this thread, now that I have ridden them.

Ilchester is STEEP (sign says 18%)... but it is short.  You'll suffer for a few minutes and then you're over it.  Repeats here would work well, because you'll get your hurt on for a few minutes, and be back down super fast.

To better satisfy the continuous effort of a long climb, I think you are better off on a road about a mile away - New Cut Road... just ride it in a bigger gear or two.  This climb is probably about 2 miles long, with a few semi steep sections and a continuous gradual climb.  It will make you work much longer.

There are also good climbs (8%) on Bonnie Branch and College Ave.  All of them are in the same area from the historic district of Ellicott city, climbing away from the Patapsco.

There is a very nice route from the BWI loop over to this area (marked bike route).  It is only about a 1/2 hour ride for me (I'm a 16-18mph guy on most rides).

Still - like econway cautioned... you'll need to do more than this before you get a savageman-esque workout.  I rode that course a while back, and it just kills you.  Looks like I'll be making some additional trips "out west" in the near future.

Stoney Run... at approximately 9:00 if the BWI loop was a clock.

The route is marked well with green signs that say "bike route - Patapsco State Park"

The route is Stoney Run, R on Ridge Road, L on Furnace Ave, L on Main and across Rt. 1 on to Levering.  After crossing under 895, make a sharp U-turn onto Lawyers Hill Road for a great climb.  R on Montgomery... this is the heaviest traffic portion of the ride, but is relatively short.  R on Landing Road, which T's into Ilchester.

Since I'm feeling generous, I mapped it for you... 12 miles from BWI to the "historic town ceter" of ellicott city:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/map.asp?routeid=26711

I live about a mile from the Ilchester Hill. I have not attempted to climb it yet. It IS scarey going down.  I've climbed New Cut Road a few times, also Bonnie Branch. New Cut is a nice steady long climb after the steeper ascent from downtown Ellicott City. If you want to make it tougher, hang a left at Hillsborough off of New Cut, and climb that steep hill that goes past the shopping center.

The Gun Road hill on the other side of the state park from Ilchester is probably the toughest hill I have climbed to date. Church Street off of Main Street in Ellicott City is a bit steep also. I'm not ready for Ilchester yet, maybe next year. I still have a hybrid bike anyway...

Gary

Ilchester is good, but don't let everyone here scare you with it.   New Cut is relatively long compared to that, but it is an easy grade.

Westchester is down the street off of Frederick and is a great one as well!  Like New Cut, Oella is long and gradual with a few steeper sections - very short ones.  I like Oella.  Also, just riding up Frederick out of Ellicott City towards Catonsville is a good workout.  And just as you're heading towards Ilchester on River, you can turn left onto Thistle, which is another good long gradual climb.

You can easily create a circuit where you could hit all those climbs and have a seriously good hill session.  Let me know a Saturday you feel like doing it Josh and I'll come up with the route and ride it with you!

And I will be there with a cooler full of beer and a camera at the top of the hill. 

No kidding!  As a Fred-neck county resident, I can't get away from hills.