How is a cat climb worked out?

andy 3654

This morning while out on a ride I had to make a de-tour as some poor soul had crashed and the police blocked off the road.On my new and completely unknown new route I came across a 16% hill at 1st it was a decent after reaching the bottom of this white knuckkle gripping brakes as hard as I could to keep it at 20 mph as it was wet, leafy and anything but strightI passed 3 riders about to tackle the climb.
I must admit I did have the thought of " I can do that, easy." run through my head so I turned around and went for it.
It wasn't so much as a fools attempt but I now have huge respect for KOM,S.

Any way back to the plot would this of been a Cat climb and if so what would it be and how are they worked out.
It was coming out of the villege of Streatly in Oxfordshire.

ddraver

It used to be the gear the citroen something something had to use to get up it, so Cat 4 you could keep in 4 th gear, 3 in third and so on. If the car could nt get up it, it was "hors catagorie"

Now to be honest I think there is some mathematical forumla that some people use, but it varies significantly between countries, regions and races, to be honest, some people just use tradition or Voodoo...

There is no global standard I'm afraid.

alihisgreat

In racing the category depends on the length, gradient, and position in the stage.

On Strava, MapMyRide etc. they use a formula based on gradient and length.

majormantra

http://inrng.com/2012/07/tour-climbs-categories/

As above though, Strava and others have their own methods.

simona75

andy 3654 wrote:

Any way back to the plot would this of been a Cat climb and if so what would it be and how are they worked out. It was coming out of the villege of Streatly in Oxfordshire.

I think you just discovered Streatley Hill, probably one of the toughest hills in the Thames Valley. It was used in the ToB a few years ago and I think it was a Cat 3 or 4 in that event (but I dont think the ToB use the same system as the Tour de France and others)

gpreeves

Strava use a fairly simple formula to work it out:

Distance in metres x Gradient %

Anything over 8000 is a Category 4 (i.e 1km at 8%), 16000 is Category 3. Not sure about higher categories, Cat 4 is the highest anywhere near me.

The Streatley Hill climb is either 1.4 km at an average 8.7% or 0.8km at 13% (both according to Strava). Either way it works out as a Strava Category 4.

andy 3654

So is 1 toughest or is it the higher the number? Man I must sound dumb

alihisgreat

simona75 wrote:

andy 3654 wrote:

Any way back to the plot would this of been a Cat climb and if so what would it be and how are they worked out. It was coming out of the villege of Streatly in Oxfordshire.

I think you just discovered Streatley Hill, probably one of the toughest hills in the Thames Valley. It was used in the ToB a few years ago and I think it was a Cat 3 or 4 in that event (but I dont think the ToB use the same system as the Tour de France and others)

http://app.strava.com/segments/729782

This the one? Strava says Cat4

gpreeves

andy 3654 wrote:

So is 1 toughest or is it the higher the number? Man I must sound dumb

Not at all mate, not that long since I'd have had to ask myself. "Hors Catégorie" is the toughest (usually just called HC), followed by Cat 1, Cat 2, Cat 3, Cat 4.

simona75

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

simona75 wrote:

andy 3654 wrote:

Any way back to the plot would this of been a Cat climb and if so what would it be and how are they worked out. It was coming out of the villege of Streatly in Oxfordshire.

I think you just discovered Streatley Hill, probably one of the toughest hills in the Thames Valley. It was used in the ToB a few years ago and I think it was a Cat 3 or 4 in that event (but I dont think the ToB use the same system as the Tour de France and others)

http://app.strava.com/segments/729782

This the one? Strava says Cat4

Yup, middle section is brutal

alihisgreat

Might try and take it in on a ride at some point then -> there is a similar one at Brill which I ride quite a lot http://app.strava.com/segments/352587

which looks easier :shock:

I can't even imagine how hard the Streatley one is.

simona75

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

Might try and take it in on a ride at some point then -> there is a similar one at Brill which I ride quite a lot http://app.strava.com/segments/352587

which looks easier :shock:

I can't even imagine how hard the Streatley one is.

It's tough but the hard bit only goes on for 200-300 yards. Is a good mid point climb on a loop out of Oxford

thefd

Strava is wrong on many segments.

This one for example - Strava shows it to be an average of 7.7% - yet put the segment into bikehike and it shows the gradient to be above 10% most of the way and it reaches nearly 20% on one section with other sections being 15%.

I would take Strava with a pinch of salt.