On Biking & Business: The Hill Climbing Gear
When I booked my Backroads bike trip to Alaska I had just two months to train. I dusted off my road bike and started riding. I knew it would be important to up my mileage and to get in a lot of hills to match the challenges I’d face in Alaska.
What I didn’t know is that my two-decade old bike was lacking something critical – a hill climbing gear.
Hill climbing gears make going up hills easer, and are particularly important for the steepest grades on a long hill ride. My first training ride was a 3.7-mile hill climb of 1,290 feet, in Woodside up Old La Honda Road to Skyline Blvd with my college roommate Kim. She, too, was sporting a 20-year old bike without a hill climbing gear.