DaveLeeNC

Back in the 90's I raced a little bit (very little - Cat IV stuff). After over a decade away from cyclng I have put my Bianchi back on the road. At this point it is just a way to make my exercise bike work more interesting. I will most certainly do the occasional Century - racing is much more iffy. When I size up possible Century rides I find that all kinds of great course information is available - particularly climbing info (length, slope, etc). My problem is that I have no good idea what a '10% slope is'.

I have considered taking a four foot level out to some slopes to do some measurements. But that is kind of a pain. Maybe if I had a GPS bike computer but that is not next on the list when an extra couple hundred bucks shows up.

Is there a better approach here?

Thanks.

dave

hueyhoolihan

there are several bike routing sites on the internet (mapmyride.com for instance). use one to map a ride near you. some have elevation graphs, etc. that may show slope percentages. take a look, then ride it.

redcon1

Huey is spot on, I like Mapmyride for the Elevation profile view of the route showing a visual representation of the climbs and descents along the route.

Preloaded routes sometimes have climb ratings, similar to the grand tour climb classifications you see in pro cycling.

rdtompki

You would get a better measurement with a 100' level. The measurement noise over 4' will be pretty impressive. Now, if you're going to walk the entire hill with your 4' level setting it down every 2' or so you might get pretty useful data. This would be an impressive accomplishment and you would rise to hero status in your local cycling community.

znomit

Bar mounted old skool bubble inclinometer
Sky Mounti Inclinometer - Tools & Accessories | Adventure Cycling Association

Long Tom

If it's steep, you'll know it.

krobinson103

When you shift to your lowest gear and it still hurts you know its steep.

znomit

When you know you're in low but you start beating on the shifter just in case there's a lower hiding in there somewhere.

OldTryGuy

Time on or over the saddle will help.

Really steep when you do an unintended track stand.

DaveLeeNC

Thanks for all the suggestions - and observations :-)

MapMyRide should be very useful independent of my question. And I'll add one more 'solution' that should have occurred to me. I am a golfer and laser rangerfinders 'with slope measuring capability' are common (but not 'legal' in the USGA sense of the word). I own a non-slope rangefinder but should be able to borrow an illegal one.

dave

mrodgers

A note on Map My Ride. On the roads behind my house, not a single flat piece of road anywhere and constant rollercoaster hills. I average 9 mph on a hybrid compared to cruising 16-18 mph on the flat bike trail along the river (on an old heavy Walmart mountain bike at that on the flat trail...) Map My Ride tells me 300 feet of climbing on my roller coaster hills in 12-14 miles of riding. On the perfectly flat bike trails, it tells me 400 feet of climbing (ignoring any tunnels.) There's no way I'm climbing more on the flat bike trails than I am on the road where I am alternating between flying at 28+ mph downhill for 10 seconds and grinding up hill at 6-7 mph for 10 minutes.

I am using Mapmyride app to log my rides, but if I'm looking at different routes around home, I use the Ridewithgps website to plan anything. Those same routes that Mapmyride tells me is 300 feet of climbing over 12-14 miles, Ridewithgps tells me is 1000+ feet of climbing. My legs and heart rate tell me that Ridewithgps is probably pretty accurate.

DaveLeeNC

Just for reference (I am the OP in this thread) my question here is somewhat specific. Around here things are rolling (rarely flat) but nothing that I would call a real climb. My current 53/39-12/25 gearing worked fine for me in the hills of the Bay Area (real climbs in this area) in California when I was 50 years old. It is also just fine for riding in the area of NC where I now live (lots of up and downs but not much real climbing).

But if I were to choose a hilly century (say something in Asheville, NC) later this year I need a way to assess my current gearing vs. fitness/capabilities. What I would really like to find is maybe a couple tenths of a mile (or even 0.1) at around 10% - just something to see 'how much I lug' with these gears.

dave

merlinextraligh

Buy a Garmin Edge (500/510 or 800/810) All of those will tell you the grade you're riding up. Fairly accurate over a longer stretch.

10% is pretty steep. If you're familiar with the Asheville area, nothing on the Blueridge Parkway around Asheville is 10%. The steepest portions of the Parkway are 8%. The very long gradual climb from Asheville up to the Visitor's center is typically around 3-4%

The climb up Mt Mitchell averages 6%, but there are likely sections at 10% or more.

Some of the roads up to the Parkway are much steeper. For example Oxcreek is 13%

redcon1

Didn't know the inaccuracies of Mapmyride pointed out above, at least in my somewhat hilly area the data is close to that of my Garmin.

Mapmyride is useful for a before-ride recon of an area. I agree with above too, get a Garmin and let it track your actual progress when you can afford it. The real-time climbing grade measurement is updated continuously and a pretty good indicator if your legs can't tell already of the slope grade. And you can analyze later your actual performance.

An idea-- sell your golf clubs and buy a GPS-enabled computer. ;-)

merlinextraligh

Missed the part where GPS wasn't in the budget.

Could always go old school analog:



Sky Mounti Inclinometer - Modern Bike

Looigi

RWGPS uses old USGS topo map data for elevation and grade. There's one stretch I ride over where the road has been routed through a cut in a big hill. RWGPS shows a hill and 30% grade for my uploaded ride because the cut wasn't there and the road went around the hill back when the topo data was generated. Also, the granularity is pretty big in the topo data, so there can be very steep sections and even ups and downs between contours that won't be captured using the topo data.

mwandaw

I agree that RWGPS elevation/grade was sometimes wacky in the past, so I was glad to hear they recently updated their calculations. Here are some excerpts from their announcement:

Leinster

Strava must have a similar problem. This bridge near me;

Corresponds to this strava segment; Strava Segment | Maxwell Bridge East

Showing a maximum elevation of less than 30 ft.


To the OP, buying a Garmin or similar is handy for real-time slope info, but if you have a smart phone and don't mind waiting until you get back from your ride to find out how tough that hill was, just download a tracking app like strava, endomondo, etc and keep it in your pocket.

berner

I'm not convinced Map My Ride is too accurate accounting for short hills in rolling terrain. I made a protractor device to use with a small carpenter's level to measure slope %. It is more than accurate enough if when taking measurements several locations a few feet apart are used. One hill which from the top feels like looking down into the grand canyon was a mere 12% but still a heck of a workout.

DaveLeeNC

The inclinometer suggestion (twice) is just too cost effective to turn down. So I have ordered one.

dave

cellery

Google Earth's path tool.

Or Topofusion for the hardcore.

DaveLeeNC

I received my inclinometer from Modern Bike today and took it out for a short ride. This is a great solution to my problem. Thanks for the suggestion.

BTW, this thing is really well damped (must use a very heavy fluid in the bubble level thingey) so it doesn't bounce around much at all on any 'reasonably rideable road'.

dave