Let’s Talk About Percent Grade and Climbs
This is your chance to share your percent grade cycling stories and comments with us. This is a bonus, “Let’s Talk“, post but I’m posting this now because I really wanted to find out more about your hill climbing and the percent grade of the hills around the areas you cycle.
Have a look at a couple of the climbs I have outside my front door, and then give us yours in the comments section below:
[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApxfEu797_E’]
I’m just getting into cycling, so anything in the 7% range is right at the limits of my ability to keep enough speed and cadence to not have to unclip and walk the rest of the hill. My data for grade percentage is based on the elevation values from my GPS track and the distance between those two points. The elevation values (RISE) are probably accurate, but I suspect the distance on my tracks is the horizontal distance from one track point to the next (RUN), not the distance I’ve actually ridden (RIDE). Probably not enough to amount to a hill of beans, but I sure do look forward to having a bigger gear on my bike or bigger quads on my body! Whichever comes first… 🙂
Thanks for your comments, Billy Dean. Love to have new cyclists in the world, so be sure to keep at it. Soon you’ll be climbing even steeper stuff.
Rented a bike from Daryll in Grenada in mid January 2013 for 10 days. Great way to see the island at bike speed. As Daryll says there are lots of hills to climb and descend in his paradise. The drivers are suprisingly generous to the few cyclists out there considering they careen around on their roads. Great service from Daryll. The bike was new and in great shape. Thanks. See you next time.
As for climbs at home in Canada, the one that comes to mind is in the Laurentians outside Weir, Quebec that I often ride. It’s an average 14%er for 800 meters and goes up to 20% (that’s the point at which I don’t look up at the road or it could defeat me). My cycling buddies call it “the bastard” as it comes often at the end of a 2 to 3 hour hilly ride. Personally I like the uphills better than the downhills. They concentrate your mind in a way that pushes everything else out.
Now back in Canada and looking forward to some spring riding
Bill
Darril, I live in Gijón, Asturias (north of Spain)… there’s no road around my hometown without a climb minimum 5%, and lots of 7-11%. But, back home to finish my rides, there’s a paved street, 200 meters long with 10%… it breaths me out. Gijón en Bicicleta
Nasty driveway 🙂 I have to go back up a hill pretty much no matter which way I go. Shorter and low 20’s, medium in the 16% range or longer at about 12%. Tough to finish a long ride that way but you will be better for it in the end 🙂
How do you measure climbs in percent? I don’t rally trust Strava and it reads in feet of climbing not %. Thanks for helping!
The best way to track it is with a bike computer. They calculate the percent grade based on satellites and as far as I know they are quite accurate.
I live in Colorado. Avg. training day is 50-60 miles with 5-6,000′ of climbing. Mostly 6-8% (Hwy insists on lower grades for snow removal). The steepest is 17-20%, but those are short pitches. Triple By-Pass is 125 miles, 10,000′
Loving the bike here!
That’s some serious climbing, Jay. Keep up the great climbing.
lots of 7-14% grades around me. One nasty hill starts at 7% and finishes at 23%….Really Hard.
Keep on pushing hard up those hills, Andy.
How are you finding out the % of the climb?
That’s a great questions, Kim and I should have mentioned something about it in this post. My Garmin computer tells me the percent grade of the road based on satellite calculations. This is how the myself and the people who commented know what the percent grade is.
Sorry, finger lakes are in New York. Oh, and of course the street up to my house averages 14% with a little kick right at the top. Something to look forward too after a long hard ride!
Here in the Finger Lakes we have some truly brutal climbing. Average slopes of 15-20 % if you want them, and rather long, especially for mere hills. To get an idea, US Route 20 runs through my area, and has the most elevation loss and gain on that popular cross country by bike route of anywhere east of the rocky mtns. I regularly go on long routes that incorporate climb after climb after climb. I can also do a quick and difficult hill loop within a couple of miles of Marcellus, my little village. The roads are all impeccable, and empty too! My top speed without trying very hard is 60 mph.
I love climbs, I look for them on the map then plan a ride to include them : ]
There are plenty of short sharp climbs in my area around 15-25%
I’ve never climbed anything over 18%, but I did climb a hill that was over 3 miles with an average of 10%. That was enough for me.
There is a hill close to my home that get us to just over 20%. I like to climb it every so often, but it’s not something I add to all my rides.
That’s real steep. The biggest hill I’ve ever climbed is 18% and it almost killed me.