# Best hill in Seattle for repeats?



## BenWA

Seattlites: what hill can you suggest for doing repeats? Looking for the longest possible sustained climb with the most vert that isn't so steep that a triple is required (I know that varies from person to person), and also that doesn't have a crapload of traffic? Oh, and as few stop signs/stop lights as possible (I'm starting to sound picky, eh?). Preferably, something as close to downtown as possible. 

Seems like all the streets that are a decent grade/length have no shoulder and a billion cars per hour, and the more residential streets have gradients of 36% and require a climbing rope and a mountaineering axe to get up.

Any suggestions?


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## rcnute

65th out near Sand Point. 

Close to downtown--Dravus, but it gets nasty towards the top. And pretty tight with traffic. 

Another good one is from Magnolia on the Ballard Locks side, left up to Discovery Park and through the park--not constant, but do it a few times and it's a good ride. 

What else...Interlaken on Capitol Hill is short but fun to do X times in a row.


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## BenWA

Thx, I'll check em out. 

The only "good" hill (light traffic, good grade) that I've found so far is on Mercer Is but is only 75' high, so you have to do a billion laps to get anything out of it. Everything closer to my house that I've found (e.g., 24th up Capitol Hill from Montlake Bvd) has mass amounts of traffic and no shoulder.


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## JP

Ben,
Get married, have a kid, and move to the east side. We have all the hills you can stand. You will need to drive to get a cup of coffee, and it's not possible to walk home from a pub, but we gots your hills right here.


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## Argentius

I gots your hills a 'plenty down in Milton, too. There are a zilllion ways up the valley on both sides, but my favorite for what you describe is Lake Tapps pkwy... ever done that one? Totally straight, protected cycle path, 496 feet of gain according to my Garmin. Averages just on 10%.

It's a 39 / 23 hill for me, and it takes 6 minutes to go up.


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## ChilliConCarnage

Like RCNute said - going over 65th or 70th from Sandpoint is a good option. They're not too long, but have a nice combination of steepness / wide road / low traffic. I do the 70th hill most days on the way home from work. 

Maybe I will suck just a little less for the Hurrican Ridge ride. Maybe not.

Another ride I enjoy (but not for hill-repeats) is to ride I-90 from Seattle to Issaquah, then follow Black Nugget road from Fred Meyer to the top of the Issaquah Highlands neighborhood - I believe it's just under 1k feet of climb. The view from the top makes it worthwhile.


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## Spinnerman

I was going to say 19th ave from Boyer which then becomes Interlaken. When I was in college, way back in the 80's, I used to ride up a couple streets in Wallingford from 40th, usually 4th avenue. There is a little jog on 42nd. I found the traffic wasn't that bad. Latona is good too, one block west of 4th and it is a one way up the hill to 45th, so that helps then use 4th to go down the hill.


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## s2ktaxi

Just do repeats up Zoo Hill...

Warm up ride to get there from wherever you're riding from and then do 5-10 reps. Then recovery ride on the way home.


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## heliskyr

JP said:


> Ben,
> Get married, have a kid, and move to the east side. We have all the hills you can stand. You will need to drive to get a cup of coffee, and it's not possible to walk home from a pub, but we gots your hills right here.


2nd that!


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## unclemimo

I vote for Thorndyke over in Magnolia. From Dravus up to the top at Condon. Two different gradients, easy at the bottom, a bit steeper at the top. Check it. :thumbsup:


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## forrest_m

For intervals, I like to do a loop on queen anne - from roy street, go straight up queen anne ave. to the top of the hill (very steep (you'll be standing up unless you have a compact or a triple), easy to get to threshold - fair amount of traffic, but slow), then left on mcgraw, then veer right onto 5th NW and work NW past the cemetary - flat, (low traffic, nice curves, shady) onto 8th NW on the west side of the cemetary. Then left on fulton, left again on 10th to come back south. mostly flat at first, with some rolling up & down, then bomb down olympic way & w. olympic place to get back to the start. I like this because it's close to downtown and so easy to do a few loops on my commute home.

Honestly, I also really like 24th ave east from montlake up capital hill, then right on aloha past volunteer park, then down to 10th ave e., north to roanoke, then down the curvy bike lane on delmar down to boyer. 24th is high traffic, but the cars have a long sight line to see you and for my money, it's the most consistently graded long hill in the city. doing loops, you get a 1/2 mile of low grade up boyer, then another mile of steeper grade up 24th, with a final sprint up the steep hill on aloha. then a nice recovery descent to do it over again. I do make sure I'm wearing my red flasher on the back...

in the north end, 35th ave ne from university village north to lake city way and back has two climbs & descents each way. more moderate grades, but less downtime, so good for "constant heart rate" type workouts. you can combine this with the 65th or 70th NE hills for more burn.


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## lemonlime

*Not so close to downtown*

Check out S178th heading east from the South Center Mall. It goes up over I5 and ends at Military Rd. The first pitch is something crazy, slows-your-car-down-kinda-steep, but I think it levels off to a doable 10% after the first few tenths of a mile.


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