Manic Melon

Dear MS150 riders,
Ever want to know just how tough the Shawnee Mission training ride (DOD=5) hills are?
Here are some new stats I collected today

Hill Size

Loop II of the ride consists of 1300 feet of climbing. There is a single hill that is 214 feet by itself, which is the climb you may have heard about. It’s followed quickly by a 120 foot climb that’s not too bad if you keep your momentum from the awesome decent leading into it.

Grade (%)

What’s almost more important than the length of the climb is the grade. There are four (4) climbs at more than 10% grade, and you hill climbers will be thrilled that the monster 214ft climb is at an aggressive 13% peak grade. I don’t know about you other riders, but I’m in my lowest gear the entire time.

I will point out that the streamway trail hill inside the park is is only a 150 ft climb, but does hit a peak grade of 15%. I love that hill!

I met a rider named Rick today who told me that “Ogg” rd north of Midland Drive is the nastiest hill he knows of… I’ll have to try it… someday :) Also, from the chart above you may note that the 165 ft decent down Renner road to Midland Drive is 18%… anyone seeking some punishment could take it the opposite direction.

My ride stats

I’m behind in training for RAGBRAI and the MS150, and today’s ride showed it. I averaged just 14.6mph for this ride. However I was trying not to stress my legs too much as I’m hoping to take a nice long ride tomorrow… the Lone Star Century.
The downside of the largest hill is great… I hit 39.9mph in a 40mph zone… next time I’ll be sure I get that last tenth!

Thanks for waiting on me Rick, Steve, and Brian. It was nice to meet all of you.