My Rock: BI’s Steepest Biking Hills

Posted by Julie Hall on April 18, 2011 at 5:09 pm

Going up? If you bike on Bainbridge Island, soon enough you will be. But the good news is that what goes up must come down, so those hot humps eventually ease into fast, cool glides. I was raised on the easy cycling of flat Midwestern roads, so it took some time for me to embrace the challenge of the Northwest climb. Cycling on Bainbridge has conditioned me to find some satisfaction in the challenge of the upward grind, but what I love best is the fast descent, face to the wind, hands off the brakes, watching the speedometer rise. Comparing a few hills in my neck of the woods recently, I was surprised to find that for fast downhill flying on my fat-tired mountain bike Lovgreen Road topped the list at 37.5 miles per hour, faster than Spring Ridge Road at 35 mph, Arrowpoint Drive at 34.5 mph, Peterson Hill Road at 34 mph, Baker Hill (toward Crystal Springs) at 33 mph, Old Mill Road at 31.5 mph, and Koura Road at 31.5 mph.

When it comes to biking hills, we all have our pet peeves, or true loves, as the case may be. Here are my nominees for the top 10 steepest biker hills on Bainbridge. You may have your own ideas in your particular quadrant of the Island, so please share! I’d love to hear about your best/worst Bainbridge hills. A warning to novice bikers: Be careful out there, especially on loose gravel.