Yes indeedy.Quote:
Originally Posted by deedolce
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Yes indeedy.Quote:
Originally Posted by deedolce
I was at REI today (the Concord one) and a guy was showing us topo maps on the computer. Evidently you can buy a program that will map routes on a topo map for you, determine elevation gain, etc. My pal Mick (who works in the bike-now ski shop) asked the guy to do a route up Mt Diablo using the roads instead of trails. So, first he did the south side route and then the north side. Turns out the average grade (from the bottom of the northgate route to the summit) is 11%. That makes sense since there are a couple of nasty U turns as you near the ranger station at the junction as well as some steep sections on the summit road. (That average included the 17% climb at the end BTW!). So no easy task getting up the mountain. I think the south side average (also including the summit road) was 10%.
Anyway, he said the demo with the software is there all the time. You can even print out an elevation gain map for any route you choose. He was also talking about how a specific GPS device could coordinate with the topo programs. It was quite impressive. I recommend that you all check it out when you get over to REI. I would imagine they have this program at other REIs as well. :D :D
What days did you say the Pink Lady does Diablo? I'll ride for brownies any time (well unless it's freezing outside)!:p :p :p
Deedolce- Yes, that's the junction. We(the group I ride with) often sit up there in the sun, have a bite to eat, and... if the ranger is around... have him/her call the weather radio at the summit to find out the temp and the wind conditions. At least then we know what we are getting in to.......especially this time of the year.
If you want to know current conditions of most areas just go to the NOAA weather site. For example: Type Mt Diablo on the search window and you will get all kinds of stuff. Go to the MesoWest thread and you will find temps, humidity, wind, peak wind, temps and precipitation for the last 24 hours, etc. It's useful if you are planning to come down to do the mountain. It kind of has its own weather system. Mozie around the NOAA site in the same area (get out of MesoWest) and you can find forecasts for the Diablo range as well. Also useful for longer term (as in 5 days)
I use this site a lot because it doesn't have any ads. Just lots of info and interesting discussions.
Hi Nancy -
We use that Topo program to create our routes for our TNT Death Ride training rides. A BIG caveat to anyone thinking of using it - the climbing is WAY over estimated, at least for this area. There are many suspected reasons why this is, but it will calculate climbing for some rides at double what it actually is (per a GPS or barometric altimeter).
MP- I didn't think 11% average was too far off for Diablo:( :( . We're going up on Wednesday and one of the guys has a pretty reliable altimeter. (He often shouts out what the % of the grade is as we ride along:rolleyes: ) I'll check with him at the end of the ride. We're doing south side up, north side down. Sweet Affaire Bakery beckons us on the way back to Heather Farms
11% average??? I would fall off my bike crying like a baby if that were true. I think 5-6% is more accurate ...
Diablo ain't tall enough for an 11% average grade and a lot of us have ridden it enough times with good altimeters to know.
You'd have to climb 5,808 ft over 10 miles for that. Do the math. Here, I'll make it easy.:D
I thought 11% seemed like a bit much as well. That's Sierra Road/Welch Creek territory. :p
With my CicloSport computer I can download the % gradient over very short intervals of a climb.
So, I pulled up the data from one of the times I climbed the entire mountain up the north side, and dumped the data into this spredsheet.
I color-coded the gradient values so that < 6 % is white, 6% to 8% is yellow, > 8% to 10% is orange and > 10% is red. Apart from the last bit to the summit, there are not very many stretches over 10%. The brief steep sections are mainly switchbacks, and the gradient there depends in part on what line you take going around.
My numbers worked out to about 6% average gradient from the North Gate to the Junction, and 7% average gradient from the Junction to the summit.
Nancy - I didn't mean percentage gradient - I meant cumulative feet of climbing. (These guys know more about percentage and that's not really relevant for what I need for ride planning.)
on the cumulative feet, topo will give me 20,000 feet where a ride only has 11,000, for example.
You can tell I don't know much about gradients! 11% when I think about it seems a bit high since the last pitch is (I understand) 17%. So my thinking is the program I saw at REI the other day didn't calculate the straight areas and the slight inclines very well. It pretty much skipped that part which, as I see now, would make the climb much less steep.
Tomorrow we'll see what the average is for the S Side to the Junction.
I got 5% average for the south side, from the Hole in the Wall to the Junction
Way easier! Why even bother? :D
Let's do repeats up Pilot Butt instead.
I was thinking about this more.
Alpe d'Huez is 11% average, I believe. (They do their roads differently, so the switchbacks are dead flat and the part in between is scary steep, but I digress.) Anyway, when I rode that back in 2003, I remember thinking it was the hardest ride I had ever done, after the 2002 Death Ride.
So 11% is pretty scary steep average.
:)
Pilot Butte averages out to about 9%.
Happily, it's only about a mile long.
But you're almost 4000 ft above sea level. :p
Do a few repeats of that and you'll be tres studly, SK !
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This gradient tabulating thing is fun, in a geeky sort of way.
I'll see if I can dig up the gradient data for Sierra Road - I think I managed to do the entire climb once or twice. Don't know if I saved it, tho.
Welch Creek, however, ain't happening.
V, I'd be glad to lend you my computer and you can slog up it as a Public Service. :cool:
Or just ride it without your bottom 3 gears and on knobby tires.:rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by jobob
I'll look at my data on Welch Creek when I get home and report back.
V.
Welch Creek? Hmmm- where's that one?
Yeah, I'd love to know what Sierra is. Even the Amgen Tour guys suffered on that!
We did Diablo today and wouldn't you know- no one had their altimeter with them. BUT I will say, south side sounds like 5% average to me. After doing it 6 of 7 times up in the last 8 weeks and averaging about 7mph up to the junction, it feels pretty gentle. The last part up couldn't be much more than maybe 7% unless we take into account the 17% grade at the end which might bump it up a bit. I did that one once on a triple with a 25 on the back- it just about did me in! Now I do it on my Jamis which has an XTR on the back. I can almost walk it up (on the bike that is).
It was pretty darn cold- 53 at the junction and 48 at the summit. The only thing that made going up easier was NO wind... as in ZERO! How many times do we get that???? But coming down was a different story. Cold, cold,cold! Thank goodness Sweet Affair had hot soup waiting for us!
As an aside- our oldest club member- Joe Shami (71)has done Diablo 25 weeks in a row. I'm not sure what his goal is, but as of next week, if he gets to the top it will be a full 6 months! I'm happy to support his endeavors until it gets 1) too cold, and/or 2) too wet. Since we have 7 days to do the climb, usually one of those will work. We'll see come January. :p :p :p
Sure is nice to be retired.....
Oh stop bragging! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Bike Goddess