The legend of the 17% hill

DonDaddyD

In Norbury there is a short sharp hill at 17% (Ena Road I think it's called).

My Dad (a once national high jumper) rode up it once on my old Barracuda Mountain Bike. I have never been able to ride up it, in fact riding down it has always been a brake affair. Car's struggle up this road as well and it's not very long, just short and immediately steep.

Are there steeper climbs on your commute, have you encoutered steeper climbs, how do you ride up hills like that?

bomberesque

there are some short connecting roads in Hong Kong that are super steep (couldn't get a normal car up them)

I tried riding down one to work once and blew both tyres, I think because I had overheated the rims by using the brakes so much. didn't try it again

flattythehurdler

There are loads. i have a short 17% climb twice on my commute, and I struggle up on a 48x18 fixie, though some mornings it's almost too much. A French lad went up Ventoux on a fixie!
Hardknott or wyrnose in the lakes has a 30% section, and in one of the sportifs, the cyclists have to get up it after 100 miles of hills.
If you did it every day, you would soon get up a 17% climb without too much trouble. It's all a matter of pacing yourself. I use respiratory distress level as a guide.Iit works for me.

iain_j

None on my commute but I've done a fair few on "leisure" rides (hah!), think my steepest was 25%.

How to ride up them? Low gear, pain, sweat, cursing, involuntary noises, exhaustion, thoughts of "why"

jonginge

HOTA had a short 25%er and a longer 21%er just before the first feed. How to climb? It's a sufferfest*

* don't start too hard, change down the gears really early, really control your breathing

prawny

Nowhere near as steep but the last mile of my 20 mile commute home is 9% It kills me every time, when I get to the house I collapse then set about changing nappies cuz the wife's 'been dealing with them all day' :evil:

cjcp

I can take in Nightingale Lane on the commute home, which kicks up to about 18% at the top. It's about 300 yards long, with a bend.

Dunno what Broom Hill in RP is. It starts with a drag and, including the drag, takes me about 3 mins to complete.

EDIT: in terms of what I've encountered elsewhere, see JonGinge's post re the HOTA. There are a couple of 20%er bergs in Flanders, the Paterberg and Koppenberg being two. I've only ridden up the former, but, the only way I oculd get my fat rear end up was through a death-or-glory charge.

Bassjunkieuk

DDD - Looking at Ena Road on Google Maps it's not a million miles from me so I might have to try finding it! For my commute the worst that I encounter is Knights Hill in Norwood, even if I divert to miss it I still get a few other choice hills to climb and depedning on how I feel I either slug up Knights Hill or divert to a slightly shallower/longer one.
Hermitage Road is quite nasty and Cypress Road that meets up with South Norwood Hill is even worse!
I've also got Crystal Palace Hill nearby which ramps up quite nicely towards the end plus a few others leading up from the lower lying areas to choose from. I should imagine with your triple on the SCR tackling that 17% shouldn't prove to difficult, maybe you just need someone to chase :-)

chuckcork

Not a commute, but "White Down" which posts a gradient of about 18% on the sign at the bottom, is a regular feature, going down or up, on Sunday rides for Kingston Wheelers (or so I understand).

Long enough too.

DonDaddyD

Bassjunkie you're a sadist but you're right I do need someone to chase!

I think its either 17% or 1:7 (if that means anything - I assumed they're both the same)

padonbike

i have a short 17% climb twice on my commute, and I struggle up on a 48x18 fixie

Likely either the gradient is wrong of the gear ratio is wrong.

Most likely the gradient. In fact councils classify hill gradient by the absolute steepest gradient found on the hill - albeit just for a metre or so - and NOT the average gradient.

That said, Rosedale Chimney Bank in North Yorkshire is at 1:3 for more than a couple of metres.

You won't be getting up that on 48 x 18.

don_don

I'm rubbish at working out the percentage thing, is it % of 90 degrees, so 0% would be flat and 100% vertical? I've always found 1 in 10 etc to be easier to understand.

We have plenty of steep stuff in the Cotswolds, but not on my commute, thankfully!

Jamey

Ena Road's not too far from me either, I was at a party last weekend a couple of streets down from there. If I'dve known I would have driven back past Ena road to check it out, might have to give it a try.

Most I've done so far is a short 14% hill but it took me right up to my max HR. That was on the old hybrid though, the new bike has lower gears as it's a CXer so I might give it another go... Maybe tonight on the way home.

Rich158

The worst I have is Shooters Hill, going towards Blackheath it's about a 10-12% drag which I have completed in 52x19ish, going towards Bexleyheath it feals like about 14-16% in one place which gets me down to 52x25. Both ways it's stay seated for as long as possible, and try to manage a smooth transition into a standing position. Then just suffer the pain untill you get to the top. I have a number of other smaller pimples which top out at about 14%, and generally I can just punch over those.

Jamey

don_don wrote:

I'm rubbish at working out the percentage thing, is it % of 90 degrees, so 0% would be flat and 100% vertical? I've always found 1 in 10 etc to be easier to understand.

100% gradient is a 45-degree angle because the height of the hill is 100% of the length.

camerone

there is a hill in North Cardiff called The Graig. I have been cycling it for over 20 years as I was brought up there and folks still there. Discovered at xmas using new Garmin its 28% gradient at its steepest.. mostly do it on MTB but in teens I used to road bike it - i was 5 stone lighter in my teens

iain_j

DonDaddyD wrote:

I think its either 17% or 1:7 (if that means anything - I assumed they're both the same)

Nope - 1:7 is the old style "1 in 7" ie. for every 7 metres you go forwards you go up 1. To get the % divide 100 by 7 = 14% (ish). Likewise the other way, 25% hill - 100 divide by 25 = 1 in 4.

I think the % is percentage of vertical ie. 90 degrees from the flat. EDIT - ignore this, Jamey is the right one.

cjcp

chuckcork wrote:

Not a commute, but "White Down" which posts a gradient of about 18% on the sign at the bottom, is a regular feature, going down or up, on Sunday rides for Kingston Wheelers (or so I understand).

Long enough too.

Forgot about that one! It leaves me grabbing the handlebars with my teeth, saliav coming out the side of my mouth and snot blowing from my nose. I know, I'm a big wuss.

cjcp

camerone wrote:

there is a hill in North Cardiff called The Graig. I have been cycling it for over 20 years as I was brought up there and folks still there. Discovered at xmas using new Garmin its 28% gradient at its steepest.. mostly do it on MTB but in teens I used to road bike it - i was 5 stone lighter in my teens

Whereabouts in North Cardiff. Is that Radyr or Creigiaiu way? There's that hill up to Castell Coch too. Been years since I've been up it and it was on a mtb.

Feltup

My standard ride home takes in Winter Hill which is given 10% or 1:10. If I go via Hambleden Valley then there is a 20% or 1:5 which is pretty consistant at that angle for the top 100m. I've been up it using my 39x23 but much prefer to spin a bit more on the 34x27!

camerone

cjcp wrote:

camerone wrote:

there is a hill in North Cardiff called The Graig. I have been cycling it for over 20 years as I was brought up there and folks still there. Discovered at xmas using new Garmin its 28% gradient at its steepest.. mostly do it on MTB but in teens I used to road bike it - i was 5 stone lighter in my teens

Whereabouts in North Cardiff. Is that Radyr or Creigiaiu way? There's that hill up to Castell Coch too. Been years since I've been up it and it was on a mtb.

through Lisvane, past the Ty Mawr pub and keep going up.
I think the Castle Coch road starts in Tongwynlais and goes to Caerphilly Mountain?

rhext

There's a 20% hill I can (and do) sometimes take on if I'm feeling energetic. Just select the lowest gear available at the bottom and spin up, trying to ignore the pain.

wgwarburton

don_don wrote:

I'm rubbish at working out the percentage thing, is it % of 90 degrees, so 0% would be flat and 100% vertical? I've always found 1 in 10 etc to be easier to understand.

It's a per "cent" age, ie X in 100... so 17% is 17 in 100 or 1 in 5.88.

25% is 1 in 4; 33%, 1 in 3 and 100% is 1 in 1, or 45 degrees.

There's a private road near me with a 1 in 3, I can get up it on my Tourer in the saddle but havn't tried it on a fixie!!

Cheers,
W.

redddraggon

Lol, a 17% hill is easy, even for a fatty like me....

Bassjunkieuk

DonDaddyD wrote:

Bassjunkie you're a sadist but you're right I do need someone to chase!

I think its either 17% or 1:7 (if that means anything - I assumed they're both the same)

Problem is once you conquer one hill you look end up looking for something bigger to challenge yourself! I found a few nice ones on the Sunday morning ride I did before Xmas between Croydon and Selsdon :-)

il_principe

Anyone know Crocknorth road, it's on one of my Surrey Hills routes and is a bit of a bugger:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Crocknorth+Rd,+East+Horsley,+Leatherhead,+Surrey,+United+Kingdom&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&hl=en&cd=1&geocode=Ffn9DQMdn4L5_w&split=0&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=6.881357,14.941406&ll=51.250339,-0.425334&spn=0.011228,0.026994&z=15&iwloc=addr

Not sure of the gradient, but I always have to turn into it from the right which involves a v sharp bend and loosing a massive amount of speed. I forgot to warn Jen about it when I sent her details of the route!

il_principe

redddraggon wrote:

Lol, a 17% hill is easy, even for a fatty like me....

kinda depends on how long the hill is though... take the Hautacam for example, avg gradient is 7.4% but it's 19km long.



:shock:

cjcp

jashburnham wrote:

Anyone know Crocknorth road, it's on one of my Surrey Hills routes and is a bit of a bugger:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Crocknorth+Rd,+East+Horsley,+Leatherhead,+Surrey,+United+Kingdom&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&hl=en&cd=1&geocode=Ffn9DQMdn4L5_w&split=0&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=6.881357,14.941406&ll=51.250339,-0.425334&spn=0.011228,0.026994&z=15&iwloc=addr

Not sure of the gradient, but I always have to turn into it from the right which involves a v sharp bend and loosing a massive amount of speed. I forgot to warn Jen about it when I sent her details of the route!

Yep.

Dan Lloyd, you came second to David Millar in the Nat Road Race Champs abotu two years ago, and now rides for Cervelo Test Team (placed 4th in the very recent Tour of Qatar I think) says in his interview on the Cervelo website that the Surrey Hills is one of this favourite rides. 8)

linsen

HOTA?

Hills?

What are you talking about JG - flattest ride I ever went on.......

:shock:

cjcp

camerone wrote:

cjcp wrote:

camerone wrote:

there is a hill in North Cardiff called The Graig. I have been cycling it for over 20 years as I was brought up there and folks still there. Discovered at xmas using new Garmin its 28% gradient at its steepest.. mostly do it on MTB but in teens I used to road bike it - i was 5 stone lighter in my teens

Whereabouts in North Cardiff. Is that Radyr or Creigiaiu way? There's that hill up to Castell Coch too. Been years since I've been up it and it was on a mtb.

through Lisvane, past the Ty Mawr pub and keep going up.
I think the Castle Coch road starts in Tongwynlais and goes to Caerphilly Mountain?

Ah, not been up there.
Yeah, you turn off from the town and then keep going up with the option of the turning left into the CC driveway, I think. You can take a mtb route up the side of the Castle and then take a right down through the trees and join up with the road again.

chuckcork

cjcp wrote:

chuckcork wrote:

Not a commute, but "White Down" which posts a gradient of about 18% on the sign at the bottom, is a regular feature, going down or up, on Sunday rides for Kingston Wheelers (or so I understand).

Long enough too.

Forgot about that one! It leaves me grabbing the handlebars with my teeth, saliav coming out the side of my mouth and snot blowing from my nose. I know, I'm a big wuss.

Don't know about that, but the first time I went up it, it left most of the others I was with off their bikes and walking (I think, I didn't have to stop) :P