The Algona Hillclimb

Algona was a town that was almost as if it were drawn in small scale. The length of the city blocks were smaller than those found in a standard town, as was the width of the roads. The tar-and-gravel roads were lined with ditches to allow storm water to run off them. Algona was way too small to have storm drains or sewers, but it was big enough to have a library, a city hall, one policeman (with car of course), a gas station, and two little stores. That's about the extent of it. It was a sleepy little town. The was no State Route 167 separating the valley into two parts back then. There was also no frontage road at that time. It came along later, no doubt put in place to parallel the freeway for business and traffic flow reasons. Before the freeway went in, all the roads that ran east and west were limited only by railroad tracks. The way a traveler went through the valley back then was either on the West Valley Highway or the East Valley Highway, which were both right at the bottom of their respective hill. That meant that anyone wanting to travel north or south in anything even closely resembling a speedy manner had to first travel to one of those two highways. With Algona being on the west side of the valley, it pretty much meant that the West Valley Highway was our speed road of choice.

There was a motorcycle hill climb directly west of our house and extending steeply up the hill from the far side of West Valley Highway. I don't know if someone actually put it in with a bulldozer or it just evolved into a formidable climbing hill from the amount of riders that churned their knobbies through it over the years. On any given evening it was not unusual to hear the unmistakable sound of a motorcycle engine laboring up the loose gravel hill. Because there was no freeway or major traffic flow, the valley was very quiet back then, and sound traveled through it unimpeded. When dad would hear some activity at the hill climb he would go out and fire up is S90 and head over to see what was going on. While I'm sure he climbed the hill plenty of times, I think he preferred to just rub elbows with fellow riders. I think his general way of doing things was, if someone was not good at riding and unable to climb the hill, he would show them "how it was done" and go at it. If the riders were experienced, he was the type to hang back and watch. I'm kind of the same way. If you can show off, go for it. If not, watch and maybe learn something.