Help figuring out "grade" of climb for race

Hey everyone! I'm doing my first road race this Saturday, June 21st! There is a "2-mile-climb" on the 10 mile route (which I will be doing 3 laps of). How can I figure out the grade of this "climb". I'm assuming it's gradual but the difference between a 6 and 10% grade is REALLY large, so just being mentally prepared for the type of "climb" I will be enduring (for 6 miles total, no less) would be great!

I emailed the race director with this same question, but have not heard back. Without giving me some kind of crazy algebra equation, is there any online databases, search engines, etc that could help me find this info?

Thanks!
Jen

If you can get elevation data for the start and end of the climb, you can calculate the average grade. I think Google earth might have elevation data.

% grade = rise/run. Technically, you want to use the straight line distance, but for shallow grades (like one would cycle), the road distance (i.e., hypotenuse of rise over run triangle) is going to be close.

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Originally Posted by jehocu03

Hey everyone! I'm doing my first road race this Saturday, June 21st! There is a "2-mile-climb" on the 10 mile route (which I will be doing 3 laps of). How can I figure out the grade of this "climb". I'm assuming it's gradual but the difference between a 6 and 10% grade is REALLY large, so just being mentally prepared for the type of "climb" I will be enduring (for 6 miles total, no less) would be great!

I emailed the race director with this same question, but have not heard back. Without giving me some kind of crazy algebra equation, is there any online databases, search engines, etc that could help me find this info?

Thanks!
Jen

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I think veloroutes.org gives you incline%.

Veloroutes doesn't work in my area, so not sure how it does in other parts of the country. How far is the race from your home? Can you pre-ride (or drive) the course? (and if so, do you have a GPS you can bring with you - which is still only a ballpark, but helpful?) Are you trying to make a decision about what cassette to put on your race wheel, or strictly preparing yourself mentally?

Remember that average grade doesn't tell you whether a particular hill has very steep climbs interspersed with false flats or shallower grades.

The worst case scenario is that you'll still be completely prepared mentally for the last two of the three laps :) And everyone else has to do the same climb, too.

Good luck! You'll do great!

Sorry. Have to submit the equation. That's why I teach it, because it's important to learn it.

sin A = rise (elevation change)/distance traveled up the hill. A is your % grade

If you have a calculator just put in the elevation change, divide by the distance traveled and then hit 2nd Sin. It will give you a degree measure...(unless you aren't in degree mode)

try routeslip.com, although it's been slow lately

place "dots" along the route and it will give you the elevations and allow you to calculate the grade. I find multiple "dots" are useful...

beginnertriathlete.com also lets you plot routes and check grades and total elevations

You could always go drive and/or ride the course beforehand if you really want to get to know the climb better.

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Originally Posted by Andrea

You could always go drive and/or ride the course beforehand if you really want to get to know the climb better.

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This is very good advice. We encourage all of our racers to pre-drive the courses so that nothing comes as a surprise. (this is usually feasible, as most of our races are technically circuit races, so you rarely have to drive more than about 12 miles to see the course). Not only will you have an idea of what the climbs are like, you will hopefully not find yourself surprised by things like sharp turns.

Thanks, everyone, for the info. I am checking out those sites right now. My only remaining question is, how do I figure out the change in elevation from start of climb to end? Where do I find this info? I have looked in google earth and map, as well as gmaps, but there are huge differences. Also, it's a 2 mile climb, so I assume I would convert miles into feet when calculating with the elevation in feet?

And lastly, I WOULD bike the course pre-race, but the course is about 1.5 hours north and I don't have time to do that. :)