Those Arizona climbs look brutal.
I've done some tough climbs over the past couple of years.
There is a ride on the far-Northern California coast called the Tour of the Unknown coast. At mile 84-ish, there is this hill called "the wall". It follows a beautiful stretch of road right along the ocean, so there is nothing to block your view of this beast for miles to come. The initial ascent is only about a mile, but average grade is about 20-22%!!!. The organizers claim 22%, my buddies all got about 20% on their bike computers. I, along with most, had to tack side to side just to get up this thing without putting a foot down. It would be very easy to fall over if you weren't careful, because you are only going 1-2 miles per hour. After the initial grade, it levels off to about 14% for 1-2 more miles.
Following a brief downhill, then you enter what is called the "Endless Hills". These were more punishing for me, just because they followed so close behind the wall. It is 9 miles of 8-12% grade. It is full of these false-summits that are just demoralizing. Legs turn to butter after about 6 miles.
I'll write more about the other climbs later when I have a second.
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