The Mount Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb is an annual race held in August. You’ve heard of Mount Washington. It’s the highest peak in the northeastern U.S., and is reputed to have the worst recorded weather in the world. As a young mountaineer, I yearned to test my skill on its icy flanks. As a cyclist, the Hillclimb would be a worthy accomplishment. It’s a tough climb over nearly eight miles, with a top grade of 22 percent and a 12 percent average grade. I’d love to be able to give it a try, but the road is open to cyclists only for the race. At other times, the road is closed to bikes. Only motor vehicles are allowed.

So with no chance that I’ll ride it recreationally and little chance that I’ll be entering the Hillclimb next August, I took a virtual ride up the mountain courtesy of BikeRouteToaster.com. Try it yourself. From the home page, click on the link for “Course Creator” and click-drag your way around the map to find the route you want to plot. In the sidebar, make the selections which apply to you, and don’t forget to choose between metric and imperial units at the bottom of the sidebar. As a modest cyclist, I gave myself a 10 mph speed on the flat and climbing speed of 88 feet/minute. Then I plotted the route up Mount Washington by clicking at the start, at intersections, and at the end of the course.

 

 
When finished, I clicked on the Summary tab above the map, and checked out the route’s elevation chart and BikeRouteToaster.com’s guesstimate of how long it would take me to reach the top. I’m proud to say that I climbed the 4661 feet in 1:50:54 hr. Not too bad, and I didn’t even get sweaty.

 

 
Anyone can use it, but if you want to save routes for future reference you’ll have to sign up, though you can choose to keep routes private or to share them. BikeRouteToaster.com is fun and could be a useful planning tool. Give it a spin yourself.

 
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