Measuring the severity of a hill

iclestu

How do you measure the severity of a climb?

I have a regular climb out of the town where I live that used to really bother me but is (more or less) accepted and normal now.

My Girlfriend has moved house and I just did the first (28 mile!!!!) commute from her house to work and found a REAL hill. I admit it defeated me. I had to get off for a breather :oops:

Imagine my surprise that when checking out the new hill v the 'normal' one on bikehike the stats are remarkably similar...

Total assent on hill 1 is 210ft over .8 miles with max gradient of around 12

Total assent on hill 2 is 280ft over 0.7 miles with a max gradient of around the same.

(yeah - I know I know - I gotta MTFU)

The slight difference in these figures does little to express the difference in effort required!!! The gradient graph suggests that the second hill has a gradient of around 10% maintained for a longer period 0.5 miles or more. I am guessing this is what killed me?

meanredspider

That's basically it - the ascent over distance. The first hill is only 3/4 the ascent of the second hill over a longer distance. Quite a difference

rjsterry

meanredspider wrote:

That's basically it - the ascent over distance. The first hill is only 3/4 the ascent of the second hill over a longer distance. Quite a difference

Indeed, or put another way, Hill 2 is a third higher than Hill 1, but 7/8 of the length.

gtvlusso

Does 'hurtyness' of legs count as a measure?

UndercoverElephant

rjsterry wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

That's basically it - the ascent over distance. The first hill is only 3/4 the ascent of the second hill over a longer distance. Quite a difference

Indeed, or put another way, Hill 2 is a third higher than Hill 1, but 7/8 of the length.

Or, to put it another way: MTFU you pansy.

notsoblue

MTFUxFurlong^-2

cornerblock

I measure the severity by my breathing, out of the nose it's comfortable, out of my mouth it's getting tougher, out of nose and mouth I'm really struggling, out of my backside I'm in real trouble!

greg66_tri_v2.0

Two different types of hill catch me out.

First, a sustained gradient over 8%. I know from experience I can't stay on top of the gear for long at that gradient, and I'm in the red zone.

Secondly, bastard hills that change their gradient every 30-50 metres. A lot of the Surrey hills fall into this group (Box Hill, by contrast, I have never found difficult because it is easy to tap out a rhythm on its nice consistent gradient). Not being able to settle into a rhythm really plays havoc with me.

iclestu

haha.

I accept the MTFU's with my head appropriately hanging in shame. I must improve my climbing! In my defence my panniers were filled with laptops/clothes/tools/A BIG LOCK and some bike bits but no excuse really.
!

Any of you guys commute over a more serious assent?

notsoblue

Greg66 wrote:

Secondly, bastard hills that change their gradient every 30-50 metres. A lot of the Surrey hills fall into this group (Box Hill, by contrast, I have never found difficult because it is easy to tap out a rhythm on its nice consistent gradient). Not being able to settle into a rhythm really plays havoc with me.

+1. I quite like Box Hill. But by contrast hate Dark Hill, even though its much shorter.

okgo

I hate the steep ones.

I honestly crawled up Winterfold the other day, when I know that I'm about to be faced with something long and sodding steep, I just lose motivation and drop it to the easy ring.

rick_chasey

Short & steep is always bad - it's suffocating, and I don't like those kind of 1-to-5-minute-max-power efforts.

I really like the long climbs, a lot. over say, a 1km or two.

supersonic

There is a hill near me called the Whalejaw (or Jawbone hill) - is about 500ft in 1 mile, which is a decent slog in itself, but it is not even - bits hit 1 in 3 which just sap you!

mudcow007

The worst hill i have ever ridden up Click

fantastic views though

rick_chasey

Worst climb I've ever done was the climb up the Col d'Arthaburu, on the Col Bagargui. (the red bit that lasts roughly 5-6km)

.

To this day, the only climb I've not been able to get up. (granted, I was wildly overgeared).

supersonic

mudcow007 wrote:

The worst hill i have ever ridden up Click

fantastic views though

It's the views that make it worth it! And riding down ;-). This is the same hill as before from the top:



Get up to 50mph no problem, infact I usually bottle it and brake!

notsoblue

btw, referring to a different thread; the kind of hills you guys are talking about here will make you glad you have a compact :P

rick_chasey

notsoblue wrote:

btw, referring to a different thread; the kind of hills you guys are talking about here will make you glad you have a compact :P

Pfft, you're not wrong.

meanredspider

Mount Eagle (in my sig) is my worst kind of hill. It's a dead-straight road so you can see the road climb in front of you and it just gets steeper and steeper until you almost feel like you go over a lip at the top. I hate it

dhope

notsoblue wrote:

+1. I quite like Box Hill. But by contrast hate Dark Hill, even though its much shorter.

+1

optimisticbiker

notsoblue wrote:

btw, referring to a different thread; the kind of hills you guys are talking about here will make you glad you have a compact :P

and a 28T or bigger on the back too

Seriously though, it does depend on the individual. My puny legs will push me up a *VERY* short 20%, can manage maybe a km @8% and I found Box Hill surprisingly easy, once into the rhythm, albeit not at any great speed.

Its the old power to weight ratio (I have little of the former, and probably too much of the latter) that determines how fast you can go up a hill, the gearing just determines whether you'll go too slow to stay upright

Sadly the physics suggests I should do better than I can... its the sustainability that I struggle with...

Kieran_Burns

I'm happy to say that even thought both my bikes are triple chainsets I've never used the granny ring on any road climb.

and the middle ring is a 39 on both of them, so that makes me harder than the compact crew :P

(actually - that's not entirely true... I inadvertently dropped to the granny twice, both times coming out of Ashbourne: once when I had a nasty chest infection inbound and I could barely breathe, so could not get enough speed up to get OUT of the granny ring, and once trying Derby Old Hill when I ran out of gears.

Go look at it before berating me.)

notsoblue

Kieran_Burns wrote:

I'm happy to say that even thought both my bikes are triple chainsets I've never used the granny ring on any road climb.

A madone with a triple, FOR SHAME!

Kieran_Burns

notsoblue wrote:

Kieran_Burns wrote:

I'm happy to say that even thought both my bikes are triple chainsets I've never used the granny ring on any road climb.

A madone with a triple, FOR SHAME!

I ordered a compact, so nuh.

Unfortunately they were out of stock and offered the triple for the same price.

asprilla

Kieran_Burns wrote:

notsoblue wrote:

Kieran_Burns wrote:

I'm happy to say that even thought both my bikes are triple chainsets I've never used the granny ring on any road climb.

A madone with a triple, FOR SHAME!

I ordered a compact, so nuh.

Unfortunately they were out of stock and offered the triple for the same price.

No discount?

Kieran_Burns

Oh yes - I got all sorts of extras with the Madone (and the triple was more expensive anyway, but I got it for the same price)

woodnut

supersonic wrote:

There is a hill near me called the Whalejaw (or Jawbone hill) - is about 500ft in 1 mile, which is a decent slog in itself, but it is not even - bits hit 1 in 3 which just sap you!

I can vouch for the horridness of this hill, it hurts to even drive up there.

roger_merriman

I like steep hills, i'm not fast nor that fit, but rather like a old diesel I can push out a fair old amount of torque, certainly in no danger (geared) of stopping on, whitedown/winterfold and the like.

I like hills steeper than that! hill nr my folks place is half a mile with knocking on for 500ft asent, ie 17% average with some ramps way above that. one hill i've always disliked is the Tumble, since about half is in conifer woods which are dull, dead places, once past and overlooking the tumble and the lost Village of Garn-ddyrys, it's a more pleasent climb and I like Keepers Pond. But I still dislike that way to the top of the Blorange.

First.Aspect

roger merriman wrote:

I like steep hills, i'm not fast nor that fit, but rather like a old diesel I can push out a fair old amount of torque, certainly in no danger (geared) of stopping on, whitedown/winterfold and the like.

I like hills steeper than that! hill nr my folks place is half a mile with knocking on for 500ft asent, ie 17% average with some ramps way above that. one hill i've always disliked is the Tumble, since about half is in conifer woods which are dull, dead places, once past and overlooking the tumble and the lost Village of Garn-ddyrys, it's a more pleasent climb and I like Keepers Pond. But I still dislike that way to the top of the Blorange.

Conifer plantations are dull dead places. Conifer woodlands are joyous magical places filled with faerie midges.

The severity of a hill depends largely on the state of your legs when you start and gear selection. Almost any hill (of significant length) becomes a place of pain and suffering if you run out of gears.

Topaxci

Living in Norfolk I don't much understand this talk of hills, but I do have one hill which is a short sharp shock as part of my alternative commute.
It's 100ft ascent over 0.14miles with a max gradient of 15%

My usual route has the same hill but over twice the distance reducing the gradient to around 9%

This is the best Norfolk can offer but as I like to sit and spin and don't have the luxury of a triple or compact then this suits me just fine.
Contemplating some rides further afield this year but looking at some of the hills on offer here I might try Holland - I hear its quite flat over there

mudcow007

oh this is another stinker

its only short but its brutal

Clicky

an yep that's a 25% sign