Fifty Plus (50+) - Is this the right equation?

"The length and grade of a climb are in direct proportion to the number of miles directly preceding it"

I think this could be correct! Thoughts? :rolleyes:

That's certainly a factor.

Another factor is whether or not the person you are talking with has ever seen the climb you are talking about. If not the correct answer to "How steep was it?" is "42".

The correct answer for most folks are age is "Depends"

Direction enters the equation as a modifying vector. Hills are never as steep going down as when going up.

I have a 40 mile route that I routinely do on weekends. There's a long stretch of road that's not fun to go up. Did the route in reverse today. That same stretch of road was not fun to go up in reverse either. How is this possible? Are the bike gods just up there cracking up at me?

The square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the two adjacent sides.

Hills also get steeper and longer if you are either low on fuel (haven't eaten in way too many hours) or water or if you foolishly ate way too much just before arriving at the base. Somehow, the hill just knows it needs to stand up to its full height under those conditions.

Hills also get steeper and longer if you foolishly ate way too much just before arriving at the base.

A local club used to put on a "Spring Chicken Ride" every year. At about the mid-point of the ride St John Guildehouse Church put on an all you can eat fried chicken dinner. The chicken was really good and came with all the fixings including home made pie and it really was all you could eat. I ate a lot. There was a big steep hill on the route right after leaving the church - steep and long. I think it was a 42.

Organisers of rides have habit of causing as many problems to riders as they can. One local ride has a 16% slope in it--3 miles after the start. I am not warmed up by then. You do the ride and whether it be the metric of the full 100- 5 miles from the end is another slope for a mile. Average of 6% for a mile BUT the first 1/4 mile starts at 8 and then quickly goes to 10%.

The length and grade of a climb are in direct proportion to the mind set you get into. My ride last weekend had a few hills in it but Right at the end we had DevilsDyke. A long drawn out hill in 3 parts----- 6 to 8% for a mile then flat for a while before the same degree of slope but shorter. You think that is enouigh and you have a long downhill to get the legs cold and lose height---That has to be climbed in the final 1/2 mile at 10%. Riders took one look at the first bit and several walking. Second and more walkers. Final bit and LOTS of walkers. This came 55 miles into a 60 miler. I took one look at it as I am not fit enough at present but there is no way I am going to walk with the bike. In these shoes? ? ? and that bike gets heavy.

Then to make it even more stupid the route home had two choices. Lomg ten mile climb at 3 to 4% or 4 miles with a lot of short sharp hills. I took the 4 miler cos it was shorter.

A local club used to put on a "Spring Chicken Ride" every year. At about the mid-point of the ride St John Guildehouse Church put on an all you can eat fried chicken dinner. The chicken was really good and came with all the fixings including home made pie and it really was all you could eat. I ate a lot. There was a big steep hill on the route right after leaving the church - steep and long. I think it was a 42.

Had me rolling on the floor!:roflmao::roflmao: