What is considered as a tough/hard hill?

dai_t75

Just wondering what people on here generally think of as a tough climb - I have not cycled outside my local area since starting in October so not really sure what the rest of the country is like.

Went out for an early run this morning to try and beat the midday heat. Unfortunately it was one of those days when it felt like I was cycling through treacle! Anyway, I failed miserably on a hill I haven't tried before. According to strava it is 0.6m and an average gradient of 11.6% - would this generally be considered a difficult hill in this country? Just seemed never ending this morning :evil:

Not looking for a bragging contest, as I said I failed miserably today :P

supermurph09

I'd say that is a climb that will feel tough. I have a similar one, 0.5 miles 12.2% average. The difficulty comes when there are ramps on those climbs of 20+%. Making it up isn't a problem but it requires a good deal of effort.

elderone

That's a decent climb for sure.Personally I think climbing is odd as I have climbed up cat 2,s that are long and steep and just a grind,then 1mile from my house is a cat 4 that's 0.9 miles and about 8% average and I hate it.
At the end of the day the ones nearest home are probly the one,s you will do most and the ones you are challenged most on,most of the time.

dai_t75

elderone wrote:

That's a decent climb for sure.Personally I think climbing is odd as I have climbed up cat 2,s that are long and steep and just a grind,then 1mile from my house is a cat 4 that's 0.9 miles and about 8% average and I hate it.
At the end of the day the ones nearest home are probly the one,s you will do most and the ones you are challenged most on,most of the time.

That's why I asked to be honest. There is a cat 3 (bwlch mountain) that I do regularly, but it is just a long slog not too difficult. So I was wondering how bad this one was in terms of the short sharp kind of hill. I am confident on another day I will make it up ok, just struggled a bit today.

I would be a bit gutted with one like you mentioned so close to the house! No time to warm up before you hit it.

imposter2.0

a tough/hard hill is one that challenges your fitness and/or gearing.

Monty Dog

Once you get above 10% and over a 1000m in length you have to start thinking about how you're going to ride up it, but it really depends on how hard you ride it - if you're fairy fit, you can probably sit and twiddle on 34x30 but if you tried to get up on your big chainring, it can be a whole world of pain even for a strong rider. Hills don't get easier, you just end up trying to ride up them faster...

wishitwasallflat

anything that slopes upwards

Joking aside this is way too subjective a questions to get any meaningful answer - I personally now find anything below 10% manageable but still struggle above that (I weigh 18 st 12 though!!) . Also after five years I can now manage all my local hills many of which I couldn't before. In my commute home - at the 38 mile point of 40 mile round trip there is a 1 mile stretch that builds steadily from 1% to a max of 5% and its still a b&*()*&d cause I now try to do it as fast as I can!!!

Don't compare yourself to anyone else just compare yourself to yourself over time taking into account day to day variance, weather and wind etc and if you keep riding as time passes you will get up the ones you can't now and go faster up the ones you can.

Cleat Eastwood

Unknown hills always seem harder imo, its because you can't judge your effort and it often feels like youre over working yourself

chrisaonabike

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

Unknown hills always seem harder imo, its because you can't judge your effort and it often feels like youre over working yourself

That is so true. Today I thought I'd been quite cautious, pushing the distance up to 80 miles, but omitting White Down and Box Hill after I'd done Leith Hill.

Then after coming out of Dorking on the Reigate Road, I was assuming I'd miss any serious climbing, and was confronted by the completely unexpected Pebblehill Road. I was getting a bit tired after 60 miles, and the 16% sign put a bit of a downer on things. The hill itself seemed to go on forever, and I genuinely thought I might have to bail. Psychologically it was harder than anything I've done recently, and although I didn't stop on the way up, I did stop for a rest when I got to the top.

The cafe in the car park on Headley Common Road was incredibly welcome - I'd finished two 800 ml bottles of diluted fruit juice by then and was getting pretty thirsty. Quite a revelation how much of a difference the warm weather makes.

And then I came round a corner at about 20 mph and met a Landrover pulling a horse box in the middle of the road. In moving to the side to avoid that I hit the mother* of all potholes and got a pinch flat!!

__
* Probably not in all reality. But it was a bit of a bump.

lc1981

This is a bit of a "how long's a piece of string" question. 11.6 per cent is reasonably steep. There are obviously much longer climbs than 0.6 miles about, but often they'll be shallower gradients.

Presumably the people who are talking about categorised climbs are basing this on what Strava says? Because the proper categorisation of a climb is somewhat subjective and partly depends on its position in a stage.

navrig

We did the Colle de San Carlos last month. About 9km and an average of 10%. Nearly killed me and cost me a set if cleats worn out pushing the bike.

That climb made the rest of the passes seem easy

http://www.climbbybike.com/climb.asp?qryMountainID=1945

gavbarron

It also depends when in a ride you hit it, an easy ish hill at the start of a ride can seem a complete bitch of a hill after a long day in the saddle.

motogull

I have a ride with 3 mapmyride cat 5s before a 4. The third 5 is 1 in 6 in part and took me ages to get up without stopping. The cat 4 has never beaten me even though it is 3 miles after the 1 in 6 one. I think they are the wrong way round. Its tough if you have to dig deep I guess.

Dezcore

try from Garelochead to Luss cutting across the land. Often had to with my wife get off and push as we had panniers and I couldn't leave her behind . Bloddy hard!

Initialised

I think this was the hardest hill I've ever tackled

http://app.strava.com/segments/711508

I used a rigid MTB with 28t up front and 32t biggest at the back iirc

You may find this list useful for scoping out your local really nasty hills. Beware, when they say pedal bicycle they may well mean moutain bike so best take fat tyres for some of them. Treat Scotland's listings as redundant now they have open access for bikes on all foot paths.

http://www.ocd.org.uk/uk/HighestRoads.html

iPete

When I call myself a pr**k for running 53/39 11/23

Initialised

This one is tough, it broke my chain today.

http://veloviewer.com/Segment/2479469

marylogic

Oooh! I really like these segment views in veloviewer.

I found this hill a complete pig
http://veloviewer.com/segments/3893973/athlete/1732955

I had complete jelly legs at the top and every pedal stroke felt like it might be my last. One of the other guys actually fell over because he had lost all forward momentum and couldn't unclip in time.

me-109

One that has you licking the front tyre and then pucking at the top (or some point before the top).

MichaelW

When I am touring in the Alpes with a light camping load, I think of anything over 12% as steep but I use very low gears and just reel myself up.
18% is but-gustibngly steep.
I really depends on your power/weight, current fitness and the competition.

dee4life2005

marylogic wrote:

Oooh! I really like these segment views in veloviewer.

I found this hill a complete pig
http://veloviewer.com/segments/3893973/athlete/1732955

I had complete jelly legs at the top and every pedal stroke felt like it might be my last. One of the other guys actually fell over because he had lost all forward momentum and couldn't unclip in time.

I've done that climb fairly recently, and know exactly what you mean. The main section of the climb at around 8-10% probably wouldn't be that bad on it's own as it's a fairly consistent gradient ... but what kills you on it is the 16% gradient ramps at the start (beside the clatterin brig cafe) and the other one right at the end as you approach the lower and upper car parks. The sign saying 0.5 miles to the [P] is a bit of a tease, as if you've never done the climb before (like me) you'd be thinking that was the top - but it's not :-(

The climb up to the Glenshee Ski Centre is similar ... fairly consistent 6-8% gradient for a mile or so, then it ramps up to around 12% for the last 0.7 miles.

Both of those climbs probably weren't helped by the fact I'd done between 50 and 60 miles each time before hitting them.

Worth the effort on the climb to get the 47mph on the descent .... weeeeeeeeee :-)

Initialised

That hill that killed my chain yesterday: http://veloviewer.com/Segment/2479469

I used it for hill repeats for an hour on my lunch break.

PR'd every segment on the way up on the ride home.

That'll teach it for breaking my bike!