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@clubman
I rode up the Ballon D'Alsace on fixed - September 2007.
This is not on the same scale as the Alpe D'Huez or the Tourmalet, the highest point on the road being 1178 metres (although this sounds better if you call it 3800 feet). However it has often been featured in the tour, and Henri Desgrange is said to have claimed that it was unrideable - he was quickly proved wrong though.
I used a 43t chain ring with sprockets of 18t freewheel(63.5"), to get to the start of the climb and then turned the wheel to use a 22t fixed (51.8") on the ascent itself, which I think is mostly about 7%. The road is now so well engineered and surfaced that this gear (only selected on the basis of availabilty of sprockets) proved just about right. Ithought I'd done reasonably well to average 10mph on the climb, until I discovered that Henri Pottier had averaged 12 mph in 1906!
I have an article on this ride written for my club magazine which I could email to anyone interested.