steepest in town

I had to get the bad taste out of my mouth after watching the last minute of the Davidson-Kansas basketball game. Here's what happened. Kansas by 2 has the ball-- no movement or smart passes, terrible 3 point shot that barely hit the rim. Davidson has the ball 15 seconds left. Jog up the court (??? why not hurry here?), double team, pass away from basket, fall away 30 foot shot that missed the rim. Game over.

So I decided to do a back-to-back comparison of the 2 steepest paved roads I know in ABQ. First up was Paseo del Puma. I rode the bottom third in a 36-24 gear, sitting down, the middle third in 36-27 sitting down, then stood for the last part (after the curve below) standing up in 36-27. The top part of the road is very steep, though it doesn't look bad in the photo.

After catching my breath, I headed to Deer Trail. I stood up for the entire hill in the 36-24 gear. What's great about this road is that one must be very careful when pulling up on the handlebars. The front wheel wants to jump off the road, giving that eerie feeling that I could fall backwards on my head. By leaning forward as far as possible, I was able to keep the wheel down up my way to the top. My unofficial opinion is that Deer Trail is steeper than the Puma. In the photo, the retainer wall bricks are about 9" tall, and they are level.

The time was about 6pm, and I was riding in shorts and short sleeves. I love spring!