Gradient percentages

[byegad]

10% is not that steep but ride it for 4 miles and you'll damn well know you've been climbing. In theUK we rarely get long hills but on the continent they do. The Tour de France riders average silly speeds up hill, but put them up Limber hill outside Glaisdale in the NY Moors which is 33% and they'll struggle. Not anywhere as much as me, but they will struggle!

 

[jonathanw]

http://ccgi.pinniped.plus.com/cols/

a few to check out if you're up this way

I've been up the bealach na Ba twice and the bealach na gaoithe from both sides (which gets to >25% at one point), this week and the bealach rattagan both ways a couple of weeks ago.

There are plenty of workouts to be had without going to france, just shorter, thankfully

 

[Melonfish]

Basically there are 3 gradients:

Hard
'kin' hard
and get off and walk!

Hope this clears things up for you

Hah, beat me to it!

yeah what he said!

 

[albion]

The % sign is just an abbreviation.

Whilst you get 1 in 10 or 1 in 8 when using percentage the larger number is never shown.
So 10 in 100 becomes 10% and 15 in 100 becomes 10% or 15%.

If you need to get back to a 1 in 10 scenario to perceive then simply place a decimal point before the lst digit.
So 10% =1 in 10
15% = 1.5 in 10
25% = 2.5 in 10

 

[smutchin]

The reason a 10% climb is so hard, even though it doesn't look very steep, is that resistance due to gravity is considerably harder to overcome than wind resistance and rolling resistance, the latter being the main factors that slow you down on flat roads.

Also, what byegad said - the big climb at the end of yesterday's Giro stage wasn't all that steep, but it went on for over 20km and the likes of Hesjedal were racing up it faster than most of us can go on the flat for that distance. But that's because they're professionals who get paid to train hard. Cav may be a poor climber by those standards, but he could still easily leave any of us mere mortals behind on a climb like that.

d.

 

[Dan B]

what doesn't make sense is why 1:10 (or 10%) is such hard work

It's a statistical reminder of a world that doesn't care

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tg8aGYXgZM

 

[PK99]

The reason a 10% climb is so hard, even though it doesn't look very steep, is that resistance due to gravity is considerably harder to overcome than wind resistance and rolling resistance, the latter being the main factors that slow you down on flat roads.

d.

putting some numbers on that:http://bikecalculator.com/wattsUS.html
for a 150lb cyclist
Pottering along on the flat at 15mph = 100W
5mph up a 10% hill = 192W

200lb rider
15mph flat = ~100W
15mph 1.5% hill (the slope of a well laid garden patio) = ~200W