Gradients

slowbike

Sketchley wrote:

Just remember n% down almost certainly means n% up on the other side.

yer - but if you go down n% fast enough you can be up 1/2 of n% in no time at all .... so it's only really n/2% up ...

roger_merriman

Greg66 Tri v2.0 wrote:

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

Also confusing is that some gradient signs show the gradient at its steepest point. Theres a 17% one near me and the 17% is probably 2ft long - I still have to get off and walk though....and thats going downhill

Yes - the French do it better in the Alps. Markers every km that show the ave and max % gradient over the next km.

So you know when to throw the towel in and give up...

considering in uk the gradients do seem to be vaguely signed and measured by GPS devices over short distances.

5% 1/20 its a hill
10% 1/10 its a steep hill
20% 1/5 its a very steep hill
30% 1/3 your being stupid!

supersonic

They should just list them as angles, somthing we all failed at, erm, understood at school.

tgotb

supersonic wrote:

They should just list them as angles, somthing we all failed at, erm, understood at school.

That would be really depressing...
1 in 10 - 5.7 degrees
1 in 4 - 14.0 degrees

Maybe we could obfuscate it by listing them in radians...

supersonic

Or how about:

- flat
- slight
- getting steeper
- steep
- bloody steep
- walk

?

markhewitt1978

supersonic wrote:

Or how about:

- flat
- slight
- getting steeper
- steep
- bloody steep
- walk

?

Nah, just list them like in the Tour de France, e.g. "Cat 3 climb, 20km, max 21%" - that sort of thing

kelsen

markhewitt1978 wrote:

supersonic wrote:

Or how about:

- flat
- slight
- getting steeper
- steep
- bloody steep
- walk

?

Nah, just list them like in the Tour de France, e.g. "Cat 3 climb, 20km, max 21%" - that sort of thing

Boring. I prefer something like: Hmmm, Crap, B_stard, F_ck, Sh_t, Bollox!

sketchley

Slowbike wrote:

Sketchley wrote:

Just remember n% down almost certainly means n% up on the other side.

yer - but if you go down n% fast enough you can be up 1/2 of n% in no time at all .... so it's only really n/2% up ...

Not if there is a hairpin bend at the bottom, or traffic lights, or a bike shop with shiny things.... Can you put that in the formula?

supersonic

All hills in Yorkshire go up though, none go down.

kelsen

Or a scale you can combine like:

Dammit
B_tch
Son of a B_tch
Mother
F_cker
B_stard

So if somebody asks "What's that hill like?"
You could reply "That is a Damn Motherf_cking Sonuvabitch Bastard climb!" (i.e. Hors Catégorie)

sketchley

You can measure hills relative to other hills. A hill can be not as bad as Ditchling, half a box hill, 2 leith hills, half an Alpe.... etc

supersonic

Box hill is only about 5% isn't it? Northerners call that a mere bump on the land ;-)

t4tomo

supersonic wrote:

All hills in Yorkshire go up though, none go down.

Yep - every route out of my village (middle of NYMoors) involved a 1 in 3 or 1 in 4 hill.

hegyestomi

t4tomo wrote:

supersonic wrote:

All hills in Yorkshire go up though, none go down.

Yep - every route out of my village (middle of NYMoors) involved a 1 in 3 or 1 in 4 hill.

Lucky...