How to measure height climbed

pmsansom

I saw a great route the other day but it said that there was around 1500 metres of climbing. I was trying to guage how much that really was.

I can't afford a fancy GPS unit but would like to be able to map a route and find out the height climbed.

Does anybody know of any websites where you can do this free of charge?

Thanks

Pete

chedabob

Runkeeper will let you map out routes without a GPS.

LeighM

Bikehike.co.uk shows elevation and how much climbing you've done.

compo

A map? use contours

Anonymous

pmsansom wrote:

I saw a great route the other day but it said that there was around 1500 metres of climbing. I was trying to guage how much that really was.

I can't afford a fancy GPS unit but would like to be able to map a route and find out the height climbed.

Does anybody know of any websites where you can do this free of charge?

Thanks

Pete

Doesn't really matter "how much" climbing there is, the problem comes with how fast that altitude is gained.
For example, say you had a 35-mile end to end run, with a constant gradual incline which gained 1,500 meters. That wouldn't be so bad.
However, if all the climbing was done in the first 5 miles, and then remained flat, or descended gradually down to the starting altitude over the remaining distance, then THAT would be a killer of a run.

So, like Compo says, check out the gradients.

weescott

Try Sportypal if you have a mobile phone that supports it.

Anonymous

weescott wrote:

Try Sportypal if you have a mobile phone that supports it.

Well.... My phone supports sportypal, allegedly, but it just causes the phone to lock up entirely.

MountainMonster

It completely depends on the grade of the climb. I climb per ride on average about 2 miles, some of them at 27% for most of it, and some of the climbs are extremely long gradual climbs of 10%.

It's all about the grade, I don't know what grade hills your rides have, but it could be not much at all, so it won't kill the legs too much, or it could be all in 3 miles. Then expect your legs to be dead.

Bar Shaker

I have the new Boardman bike computer. That gives you vertical distance climbed during your ride.

popularname

Mapometer (http://gb.mapometer.com/en/) gives ride profiles

KenHardaker

I have a Garmin Forerunner 305, great with distance climbed, shows gradient on the move, speed, distance, heart rate, max heart rate, and all averages, etc. Can than load it into google earth from the training centre to get to grips with how the ride went, compare against other times on route, etc. Think mine was about £130, but it's such a good piece of kit it's worth it.

dresbo

ridewithgps is great!

paul.skibum

Bikely.com which is affitiated with this site through the routes and riding section allows plotting of courses on maps/satellite photo and gives an alevation profile when done. You can save your routes and post them here for others to enjoy to.

Which is nice.

bamba

if your phone has a built in gps receiver , (lots have ) there are many sports tracking aps ,free ! that can be used that give all sorts of information while on your ride

Anonymous

If you've got a Nokia smartphone with GPS, Sportstracker is the way to go (http://www.sports-tracker.com). Again, free.

Endomondo is popular also and works on many phones.

Note thought that I find GPS tracking in phones not terrible accurate. It looks good when you get the track, but try the same route another day and things like the altitude will be different (often by a few hundred feet) for the same spot. Consumer GPS itself is deliberately crippled to be a little inaccurate anyway, though should be in the order of a few meters though.

Anonymous

Endomondo is pretty good, actually, that's the one I used, but I couldn't remembe the name of it.
My one ride I've done with it is shameful though, since I kept stopping to take pictures with an SLR, so the average speed is just apalling

Uchiga

i use gmaps pedometer and that gives you a function to look at the altitude of your ride so to speak. It has a graph which has distance across the bottom in miles and the altitude from your start point to the end going up and down. Its what i use for m running and for some of my cycle rides it just takes time trying to draw out the route you took...

unixnerd

I quite like the Livestrong site for height profiles:

http://www.livestrong.com/loops/aviemor ... durkV0UJR/

Be aware that no two programs or GPS will give the same answer for total height climbed / lost in a ride. This is due to the sampling frequency they use, it's unlikely to be the same. Kind of a granularity issue.