Toughest Hoosier Hills?

I’m not sure but I think you could use trigonometry to find the average grade instead of the quotient. This way it would be relatable to average grades in major races like the Tour de France. Just a thought.

Let me weigh in on Miller Road hill, as I went up it yesterday. Although its difficulty might have been enhanced because I had not ridden in eight days, I thought it physically more challenging than Boltinghouse or Earl Young hills. Two or three times, one especially, I thought about walking, but the hill is not as long as Boltinghouse, so I was able to see the end and keep going.

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.

Thanks for the information on steep Hoosier hills.

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.

Great idea to collect and rank these. What about Shuffle Creek Rd? And the Hilly Hundred favorite Mt. Tabor Rd? I live on Lower Birdie Galyan Rd, which has a pretty steep hill, and coming off of that is Fleener Rd. Being a runner as well as a biker, I’ve done many hill repeats on McGowan Rd, so I’m really familiar with that one.

Thanks! I now have some new comments, and from someone I know! I need to update this page with some new hills, subscribe and you’ll know when I do. ogreworks, huh? I’ll check it out tomorrow. Most of my energy has been going to mitchrice.us/nature lately, Jojo and I saw 3 eagles when we went swimming at Lake Monroe last evening!

How about some of the roads in Brown County State Park? How do these compare. I am thinking about “The Wall” south of the Horseman’s camp as well as Strahl Lake. Also, is Owl Creek, outside of Nashville, close to making this list?

Right, this is a steepness scale, within certain parameters, it works pretty well. The rises I’ve charted go from 138 ft. (Schwartz Ridge) to 308 (Bear Wallow Hill Rd.) Bear Wallow is the king for both length (.75 mi.) and rise, yet I know I climbed it a couple of years ago during the hilly.

But McGowan (904) or Early Young (666), no way, they are so steep that I spin out. I made it up Crooked Creek, which is gravel but a low quotient at 441, but I can’t do either Miller (775) or Boltinghouse (764) Roads. So for me at least, this analysis gives me some clues about the relative difficulty of various hills.

It would be cool to work out some way of assigning formulae to account for gravel, distance and rise, but I think this would just shuffle some of the middle hills, but leave the basic rankings in place. Thanks for your comments!

Sure, which side, north or south, or both?