Categorised Climbs

paulcuthbert

Sorry if this has been brought up before.

How are climbs categorised in professional racing?

LangerDan

I think its as follows

IF you break a bit of a sweat - Cat 3
A small bit of vomit comes up - Cat 2
You required the services of a defibrilator - Cat 1
You arrived at the top with all your internal organs hanging out and your lungs look like a pair of old insoles - Hors Categorie
(A lot of the HC climbs in France have a monument which they'll tell you is to a great rider or a race organiser. Rubbish. They are rider mass graves)


There are probably more formal rules, but thats a fairer indication.

takethehighroad

Originally it was to do with the gear the cars used to get up.

If you used 3rd gear = 3rd Cat 2nd gear = 2nd cat etc

shinyhelmut

LangerDan wrote:

I think its as follows

IF you break a bit of a sweat - Cat 3
A small bit of vomit comes up - Cat 2
You required the services of a defibrilator - Cat 1
You arrived at the top with all your internal organs hanging out and your lungs look like a pair of old insoles - Hors Categorie
(A lot of the HC climbs in France have a monument which they'll tell you is to a great rider or a race organiser. Rubbish. They are rider mass graves)


There are probably more formal rules, but thats a fairer indication.

by those standards there're an awful lot of HC climbs in surrey. Or maybe I need to get fit