Yesterday I was totally humbled by my ride into the hills and finished (should say limped home) exhausted. Some history: after getting serious about riding last year, I have been doing 1-2 hours of fairly fast riding about 3 times a week to prepare for my first metric century and later this summer, the real century. I have gone 45 miles no problem on the flats and that included one ride on my hybrid. Well, yesterday (riding my new road bike) I got my lunch handed to me. The steep climb up Honey Run Rd. (I was riding the 65 mile route) sucked the energy right out of me and I had to walk my bike about 3 times. Looking at my scarf map it says 1500 ft of climb for 5 miles...is that a pretty good grade? I mean at 55 I consider myself to be in pretty good condition, but this was embarassing. I finished my 65, but was totally spent, especially after that wind.
OK, are these hills that hard for riders? And am I not there physically for the 100 miles on the flat? Thanks!

the hills are tough. I got a 27 to help and use heart rate to help pacing. I've found that the more I ride hills the easier it gets to a point. I'm 53 so I don't expect to set any records. My commute involves 1200 to 1800 ft of climbing for the round trip. The trip to work is only 600 ft of climbing, on hard days I'll do it on the big ring. When I started the goal was no rest stops, then the goal was no standing. Set small goals, allow recovery and you'll be laughing at that ride.

1500 feet in 5 miles is about 5.6%. That's a substantial climb. If you're not used to extended climbs, one like that can (did) take it out of you.

If you want to improve yoru climbing, you have to do it often. Get back on that bike, and start climbing those hills! There's nothing else like it.

Don't feel bad. I did the Wildflower, too. Honey Run was killer. It was a lot tougher than I thought it was going to be. I haven't been doing much climbing yet this year, so I was woefully unprepared. I had to stop once on the way up. The guy I was riding with wanted to do a modified version of the century ride, so off we go to do the Table Mountain climb, too. About half way up I started to really struggle. My legs just wouldn't go any more. I stopped and did a gel, rested for a bit and soldiered on. Not too far up the road I ran into my riding buddy who had a broken chain. Neither of us had a chain tool, so he had to avail himself of the SAG wagon to haul him to next rest stop. In a show of solidarity, I chose to SAG with him. (Thank the Lord for small favors!) So, we got the chain fixed and then had all that head wind to deal with. Ugh!! I was pretty wiped out at the end of the ride. But, what a beautiful ride, huh? And how about the post-ride grub? Really good! I will definitely do it again, but next time I will have trained properly. Feel proud of yourself for finishing the ride. It definitely wasn't easy!

5% is not steep, but the length can wear you down if you're not used to hills and you don't pace yourself. You should try Mount Hamilton in San Jose, which is a 5% grade for 20 miles. That one really goes on and on and on.

What does 5% translate to in degrees?

tangent(degrees) * 100 = gradient%

5% = 2.86 degrees

Ah, Mt. Hamilton. It's a beautiful climb. Too bad it's an hour by bike to the base for me. I'd do it more often if it were closer.

The road was graded to allow a mult team to pull the Lick telescope to the summit. The road is actually 18.1 miles, 4045 feet, and 3 seperate climbs with short intermediate descents:

Climb 1: 5.9 miles, 1450' (4.7%)
Climb 2: 3.2 miles, 725' (4.3%)
Climb 3: 6.2 miles, 1860' (5.7%)

And just to make us all feel soft and weak:

When the Mt. Hamilton Road Race does that climb, the faster riders do it in under 1:10.

Yikes!

How would Mt. Hamilton be classified if we were using the UCI race categories? Is it a CAT1 peak? With the intermediate descents I'm wondering if that prevents it from being an HC. What about Mt. Diablo?

Are there general rules for how to classify the climbs? Is it base on some selection rules or is it decided on a case by case basis?

Hill climbing can be hard at first but if you practice, you will get better at it. I told my coach that I enjoyed climbing but wasn't very good at it. So guess what he put in my workouts...

In less than a year I've already shaved 1/2 hour of my time on Mt. Diablo and that's even after going from a triple to double setup where I don't have the lower gearing. If you are willing to put in the effort and suffer a little you can beat these hills into submission

I don't think climb categories have anything to do with the UCI. Race organizers make them up using a variety of criteria. Elevation gain is the most important one, but the intermediate decents and mild grade may disqualify Hamilton. The European race climbs have a substantially higher average grade and also have steeper sections mixed in.

Honey Run wasn't as bad as the Table Mt. climb for me. That heat really hurts! Did anyone else see that guy dressed as a woman giving out beer from an El Camino? I swear that it was real, my friends got pictures.

This was my third year doing the metric. Each time Honey Run has seemed easier. Part of it was me getting more miles in and getting fitter, part was more experience climbing, and part was knowing what to expect. It was easier last year than the first because I had a sense of the distance despite being in worse shape. This year I felt like I crushed it relatively speaking despite my back bothering me all last week. I struggled more in the winds when I didn't have a wheel to draft.

I live in the flatlands of Woodland, so I have to go 20 miles to find a hill bigger than a freeway overpass. I made the effort the past two years, and it has paid off. Mix Canyon and Mount Diablo are on the list for this year...

As for your century, if it's flat you should be fine if you can steadily increase your mileage leading up to it. If you can get hillwork in and it's flat, you'll be that much further along. Which century are you planning on doing?

With less than 4,000 ft of climbing, (I skip the humbolt rd. loop) I find Chico to be the easiest century of the year other than the Death Valley Century which is very flat. The Honey run climb is not that hard compared to many other climbs in the state. Try Sierra Rd. in Milpitas, climbing over 1600 ft in about 3 miles.

Last year I averaged 15.9 and this year 15.2 on my Aero recumbent. I flew through the last 40 after the lunch stop in little over 2 hours. I got to the lunch stop before 11am. I'm 52.

Next year train on some hills before the ride and you should do better.

They do have the best food of any century I've ever attended.

This year I got a free courier bag for having done it more than 10 times, cool.

Next up, the Sierra Century.