Originally Posted by Maelstrom
Personally, slope seems like a ridiculous way to measure the angle of the steep. I tells me nothing about the steepness as it relates to length. No wonder I don't understand roadies haha
The roadies who just use grade as a measure of difficulties are either speaking to newbies or are themselves newbies. The experienced ones also include length. Consider that the climb categories in the Tour de France are a combination of grade and length and that some cat 1 and cat 2 climbs may be steeper than an HC (hors categorie - beyond category) but the HC climb may be longer. Additionally, condition of the climb is taken into account. The toughest climb I have ever done was the one at the beginning of the
Mt. Muller Loop out on the Olympic Penninsula. It rises 2200' in the first three miles. And while this is not an incredibly difficult climb if it were a nice paved road, consider that it's actually a twisty rock and root strewn singletrack climb that is often wet. I wonder how it would rate on the TdF climb scale.
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/bicycles-fa...ection-22.html