Let me start this post by stating that I am not a climber. Going uphill on my bike is hard work and my goal is simply to make it to the top. That said, I wanted to do a tour of a few of the bigger hills in my area by mapping out a route that would take about three hours. So this weekend, I rounded up a few friends (Ana-Maria, Doug and Andy) to join me on a ride that included some local hills on both paved and gravel roads.
Waterloo Region isn’t known for hills but thanks to the Waterloo Moraine, there are some “rollers”. The route started in Waterloo and went west to the steep climb on Wilmot Line. I’ve heard this climb referred to as “Murder in the Dirt”, or “Heartbreak Hill”. It’s a gravel road climb that reaches gradients of nearly 20%. Using Strava and Veloviewer, I was able to create this profile:
And here’s a photo of Doug, Ana-Maria and Andy starting on the gravel road leading to the climb.
Once we completed this, we continued west along Wilby, where there are a few rollers, north on Sandhills towards Wellesley where we hit Greenwood Hill Road (any road that has “Hill” in its name must have a good climb, right?). This is a paved climb that isn’t as steep as Wilmot but still tough (remember, I’m not a climber!).
The route then took us along gravel roads Hackbart and Boomer towards Ament Line where we hit Hawkesville Hill, which has been featured in the KW Classic road race in the last few years, as well as the Tour de Waterloo. Here’s the profile:
And gratuitous photo…
After racing down the other side of the hill, we made our way back. The sun was hot and it was really humid. And although I rode only 67 km, I went through three full water bottles and was still dehydrated. Still, it was a great ride, with wonderful company – thanks Doug, Ana-Maria and Andy. Here’s a link to a cool video of the ride: Click Here.
Finally, remember to check out Greg’s Ride – the annual Share the Road ride on my previous blog, and sign up to support this fantastic cycling advocacy group. Details and registration can be found HERE. And here’s a link to my blog post about the event: https://ridecyclespin.com/2016/08/19/share-the-road-and-gravel-routes/
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