Is 7% Steep?

edindevon

thegibdog wrote:

Are gradients less than 10% signposted? I would've thought it must have been 1 in 7 or 17%.

As pointed out by Mc Boom, anyone who bothers to go onto Google street view can see that the sign at the top of hill clearly shows 1 : 7. This makes it a pretty challenging hill by most people's standards.



I think that the good advice on this thread still very much applies and the OP should be fine if he sticks at it.

Edindevon

Pross

thegibdog wrote:

Are gradients less than 10% signposted? I would've thought it must have been 1 in 7 or 17%.

They are, 5 or 6% signs are regularly provided on high speed roads in particular such as the 6% on the A38 from Exeter Racecourse down to Exeter but the DfT advice is 10% descents and 15% ascents (10% if longer than 1600m).

Chris James

pomtarr wrote:

@ the OP - there's always the chance it says 7% but is actually steeper - UK gradient signage is not always that accurate IMO.

You can say that again. At the weekend I went over the Horseshoe Pass (signposted 20% towards the top). I doubt very much it is really 20%, especially since I don't think the OS map has a chevron on it.

On the other hand there is a road near my home that is very much steeper than the Horseshoe Pass that is signposted 10% which is definitely wrong.

Another road into my village has one chevron on an OS map, a nasty switchback with an adverse camber but doesn't have any sign about how steep it is.

lastwords

I was the same, last year when i started hills i now hardly notice i used to find hard, hill reps helped i found this hill about 15minutes from my home

its around 240ft in 0.58mile its steep in places i used to ride out there and do it five times and each time try to go as fast as i could without going to far, it improved my hill climbing no end.

domhnall_dearg

Chris James wrote:

pomtarr wrote:

@ the OP - there's always the chance it says 7% but is actually steeper - UK gradient signage is not always that accurate IMO.

You can say that again. At the weekend I went over the Horseshoe Pass (signposted 20% towards the top). I doubt very much it is really 20%, especially since I don't think the OS map has a chevron on it.

On the other hand there is a road near my home that is very much steeper than the Horseshoe Pass that is signposted 10% which is definitely wrong.

Another road into my village has one chevron on an OS map, a nasty switchback with an adverse camber but doesn't have any sign about how steep it is.

Another example of inaccurate signage near me has a 12% sign at the top and a 20% sign at the bottom :?

pottssteve

Over time in Hong Kong I built up to being able to do 5km at an average of 9%. It took me over 9 months of riding to be able to do it. If you're new to cycling 7% will be hard work.

Now I've moved to the Netherlands I'll be struggling to find anything over 1km averaging much over 5%. I had to laugh yesterday - a little hill of about 600m at around 6% is marked with a double chevron on my map!

StillGoing

Now this is steep! :shock:

Ignore the beginning crap in the car park. I can think of better ways of riding the route rather than sitting on a hog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtYVjxMr ... re=related


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Andrew N

7% is a good gradient for a road climb. Fairly typical for HC rides in the Tour (that stretch for 15km+).

Factors that may make it harder/easier include:

pace
gearing
rider and bike weight
consistency of gradient
distance ridden before climb
condition of rider
length of climb
weather (wind against, rain etc)