Elevation ... is this a lot?

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04-10-09 | 02:18 PM

#26

keisatsu

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From: Spokane WA

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No, thats not that much climbing...

This is a lot of climbing>
YouTube - Incredibly Steep

04-10-09 | 02:36 PM

#27

Jay68442

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From: Mountain Top, PA

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I do a 15 mile ride on my lunch break that has 900 feet of climbing. According to this formula it would be rolling but there is a spot on the ride that’s a 10% grade. Not sure if that changes anything but I consider the ride to be pretty easy.

climb/mile
0-50 = flat
50-75 = rolling
76-100 = hilly
100+ = mountainous

04-10-09 | 03:21 PM

#28

Issaquatch

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From: Issaquah, WA

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I guess it is all relative. I can't get home without climbing at least 400 feet. There are several roads up the hill to my home, but they all cover that elevation in about a mile. 400 feet in a mile is a good sized hill, but it is no mountain.

You need miles of climbing (and at least 100-200 feet of elevation gain per mile) before you can call something a mountain; anything else is either a steep hill or a not so steep hill.

04-10-09 | 05:59 PM

#29

challaday

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Quote:

Originally Posted by mattm

then there's something like blewett pass, 20 miles at 4-5%.. not too steep but for long of a distance, it wears on you.

Blewett is really different depending on whether you're approaching from the north or from the south. From the north is much steeper and shorter. When I lived near there, I would go up from the Leavenworth/Cashmere side, crest and go back. The downhill on the north side is great. In what might not be my brightest decision ever, I passed a car going down.

There's some other nice climbs around the Puget Sound area too: Crystal Mountain Blvd, NF Road 25 south of Randle, Longmire-Paradise, Skate Creek Road. The list goes on and on.

04-10-09 | 10:25 PM

#30

neospazzy

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From: Orange County, CA

https://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/7009532

This would be considered "epic" then?

04-12-09 | 01:27 AM

#31

Vireo

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From: San Marcos, CA

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Quote:

Originally Posted by mattm

i start to think of rides as "hilly" when you have at least 300m gain over 16km or so (aka >1000ft of gain per 10mi)

even then, if that was a straight climb it wouldn't be worth much. for something like a pass, you can be gaining something like 2000ft per 10miles. (3.8% grade)

I subscribe to that philosophy. Over long distances that ratio tends to be a hard ride.

mattm-- did my 600km (373 miles) last Sat/Sun in 27:20 it had almost 18,000 feet of climbing. It's on my blog. Finished the series so hello fellow SR!

Back to the OP's question here is a lunch time ride I used to do. Almost exactly the numbers the OP was asking about. Not a hard ride but that 1.3 mile 6% hill in the middle of the graph could hurt depending on who should up. Today I did 11 repeats on that hill. It's on my blog.