Originally Posted by
GeorgeBMac
I have trouble buying that a 300 foot climb is "very hard to feel"... Basically, it is climbing a 10 story building -- and most people would not find that hard to feel. Actually, most people I know could not do it. Or, if they did, they would be panting at the top.
But I do agree that a headwind can pose a similar resistance.
But, I post this to caution experienced cyclists to be cautious with their words around new cyclists. As a new cyclist I have heard things like "Anybody should be able to do 25 miles..." or that you should not be able to feel a 300 foot climb...
It is misleading -- which could lead somebody to push themselves beyond their abilities and risk, amonst other things, discouragement.
I apparently didn't make my point very well - depending upon rider weight and normal cruising speed a 1% grade at the same effort might slow things down a bit over 2 mph. This is certainly significant. What I'm saying is that visually 1% can be very hard to discern and given all the other variables, the greatest being wind velocity and direction, it can be almost impossible to tell whether or not you're climbing just from feel. Now, the Garmin display elevation and as your true elevation increases you will be able to visually observe an increase in altitude/elevation.
The new Garmin 800 has much more lag in it's grade calculation and display, but on the tandem I can tell when 1% is about to display, not so easy on a single.