Categorised Climbs

LeicesterLad

Right, I know this is the pro-race forum, but the knowledge is also usually in this part of the forum...

Anyway, question is, how are climbs categorised? And is there a way i can find out if any of the climbs on my own sunday morning jaunts would fall in to any of these categories, or is there an online route planner that will tell me?

Just curious...

Rodrego Hernandez

They are based on the gear you use to get up them in a car.

Or at least they were back in the day

FJS

As far as I know there's no systematic or standardised categorisation, and it varies massively between races. It's basically up to the organizers to categorise the climbs of a race, and a climb that is 4th cat in one race can be 2nd cat in another. Many races have just 'mountain sprints' without any categories. And even within races organizers take into account where the climb is in the stage, how many other climbs there are in the stage, what the effect of assigning a category would be on the mountain points competition, etc, etc. It's a mess.

derbygrimpeur

A cat 1 climb on Tour of Britain would probably not even be categorised on a grand tour. At most, Cat 4.

If you're from Leicester, there probably aren't any hills round you are there? :P

LeicesterLad

derbygrimpeur wrote:

A cat 1 climb on Tour of Britain would probably not even be categorised on a grand tour. At most, Cat 4.

If you're from Leicester, there probably aren't any hills round you are there? :P

Yeah thats what got me thinking, these Cat 1's in the ToB look pathetic to be honest (in comparrison to the GT's, not saying i can get up them i might add)

And you are not wrong, Leicester is pretty flat, well its rolling hill country, no proper proper climbs, well, none that i have found anyway!

minardi

www.mapmyride.com

Gives you classifications which they claim are used in the Grand Tours and are applied to your route.

No idea how accurate it is but does give you a way of anticipating and planning new routes for yourself.

mroli

I thought Leicester was flat - I did 100 miles there the other day and there was a lot of up and down. Terrace Hill was one hill I remember - there was a road up something Holt - there was a hill after Terrace Hill and there was one right at the start near Oakham that was dead straight, but steep enough that out of the saddle the back wheel slipped and someone broke their chain.

Good riding, but defo not flat...

FJS

Ah, and what the UK is concerned, taking the Tour de France categories as standard, maybe apart from a summit finish on Great Dun fell I don't think there's a single climb in the UK that would be higher than 2nd cat (and few around Leicester that would be more than 4th cat )

Kléber

FJS wrote:

As far as I know there's no systematic or standardised categorisation, and it varies massively between races. It's basically up to the organizers to categorise the climbs of a race, and a climb that is 4th cat in one race can be 2nd cat in another. Many races have just 'mountain sprints' without any categories. And even within races organizers take into account where the climb is in the stage, how many other climbs there are in the stage, what the effect of assigning a category would be on the mountain points competition, etc, etc. It's a mess.

+ 1. the organisers choose what suits the race and the show.

Gazzaputt

Strava.com

prawny

I rode up Gun Hill yesterday for the first time, was hard work, but I've been up much much worse.

To be honest they aren't consistant race to race. The sprint point in Leek yesterday was half way up a hill that was a KOM point in 2009.

Also the hill out of Lyme Regis (or was it Sidmouth) last year was loads worse than Gun Hill but still a cat 1

derbygrimpeur

mroli wrote:

I thought Leicester was flat - I did 100 miles there the other day and there was a lot of up and down. Terrace Hill was one hill I remember - there was a road up something Holt - there was a hill after Terrace Hill and there was one right at the start near Oakham that was dead straight, but steep enough that out of the saddle the back wheel slipped and someone broke their chain.

Good riding, but defo not flat...

Terrace Hill was a MASSIVE disappointment when I rode out to it. It only get 1/10 in the 100 climbs book, but I wouldn't have even put it in the book. It's got a very very short section that a little tough.

derbygrimpeur

prawny wrote:

I rode up Gun Hill yesterday for the first time, was hard work, but I've been up much much worse.

To be honest they aren't consistant race to race. The sprint point in Leek yesterday was half way up a hill that was a KOM point in 2009.

Also the hill out of Lyme Regis (or was it Sidmouth) last year was loads worse than Gun Hill but still a cat 1

Having ridden last year's Tour Ride (Stoke), I can vouch for the hill "sprint" in Leek. It's tough. Plus there's a hill out of Leek that's pretty tough due to the mileage in your legs.

mroli

derbygrimpeur wrote:

Terrace Hill was a MASSIVE disappointment when I rode out to it. It only get 1/10 in the 100 climbs book, but I wouldn't have even put it in the book. It's got a very very short section that a little tough.

I think Simon Warren (the author) acknowledges it shouldn't really be in the book - however it was his first proper "steep" hill (my garmin said it got to 17% at one (short) point?) that he did, so using author's prerogative, it went in.

derbygrimpeur

yeah, that's probably fair enough. My split up there says it's 0.52 miles long and gains 79 metres. Average of just under 10%, but the first bit is very gradual before the short steep ramp and then easing off again.

EKIMIKE

Fridays stage to Wells includes Cheddar Gorge and Old Bristol Hill (coming out of Wells), both of which i've done a fair few times. They're both Cat 1 climbs in the ToB.

The Gorge has one corner that is quite tough but the rest is pretty shallow. The Old Bristol Hill is fairly long at just over 2 miles but 11% at it's steepest (according to the sign) and that can't be for more than 50 metres at a time. Definitely an average gradient of much lower than 11% probably more 6%.

TheBigBean

I think Ditchling Beacon was a category 4 in the 1994 tour. That's not much closer to Leceister and relies on my memory, but it is a hill in the UK that has been officially categorised by a GT.

Apparently, the French commentators that day, had to explain to everyone that it was not the Alps. So the chalking efforts of kids given a day off school fooled at least the excitable French commentators into thinking that it was proper climb.

Pross

Yhought Ditchling was a Cat 3 in the Tour but could be wrong (I struggle to remember what I did yesterday at the moment).

In the GTs they use length, gradient, road surface and altitude as well as position in the stage so sometimes a climb is a 1st cat one year and Hors another. The Vuelta doesn't have 4th cats. Today's stage showed how random it can be as there is a climb out of Newtown that is about 3 miles long albeit at a fairly gentle grade of about 5-6% which wasn't categorised and yet Llyswen which is steeper at around 12% but only about 500m long was a cat 3. I suspect at full speed the former would cause more problems. There was also a climb just after the Brecon Beacons climb that would have been categorised on another day.

Monty Dog

Cheddar cat 1? I rode all the way up it on my big chainring last week, it would barely make a Cat 4 in a big European race.

Rodrego Hernandez

Monty Dog wrote:

Cheddar cat 1? I rode all the way up it on my big chainring last week, it would barely make a Cat 4 in a big European race.

Alpe D'huez and the Tourmalet amongst others can be done in the big ring so that's not a fair gauge.

mouth

minardi wrote:

www.mapmyride.com

Gives you classifications which they claim are used in the Grand Tours and are applied to your route.

No idea how accurate it is but does give you a way of anticipating and planning new routes for yourself.

When I used this site, I was surprised to find the road I ride up on my way home from work is actually cat 5. No wonder it bloody hurts when I've done a 14 hour shift which started after three hours sleep.