Climbing

How do you know the grade you're climbing? I notice people mention it, but am not sure if you know because you're in an area where it's marked, or...?

I'm fooling around with routeslip and see that one of my "tough" little climbs in the neighborhood is only a 40 foot climb on .46 mile, which doesn't look like that much in black and white. (Of course, I'm riding a 40 pound bike and carrying that much extra weight, which may be why it FEELS like so much, gack.)

Anyway, is there an instrument you use on your bike to tell you the grade?

I think the Garmins do it...

taking distance traveled over altitude gained? (trying to remember math)...they do it for you I think...

Also, I saw this thing on some website, I don't remember where I found it but you attach it to your bike and it tilts in some way (or something) to let you know the grade....I'll do another search and see if I can find it.

If you don't have a GPS or altimeter, you can find the beginning and ending elevation of your route on Googlearth and if you know the distance covered, input the info into this website

http://www.csgnetwork.com/inclinedeclinegradecalc.html

and it will calculate the grade for you.

I have no luck with routeslip or bikely etc. Not sure if it's because I'm on a Mac or Canadian or both.... :o :rolleyes:

Oh, thanks!

And now that I see the grade is less than 2% I guess I'll forget about "grade" because that's pretty much nuthin, I guess. :o

Yeah well I sometimes find those ones the hardest because I can hardly see them and yet I can't seem to maintain my speed. I have a gradual climb like that over about 2km that precedes a much tougher 8% 1/2 mile up to my house. The 2-3% wears me out ebfore I even get to the hard one. :rolleyes:

Oh wow, isn't that the truth! Invisible hills are the WORST! Like you say, you don't really see that you're climbing, speed just creeps down, no matter what you do it seems, and you can't figure out why...


At least on the real hills, you KNOW why it's hard going!

Karen in Boise

I think that's one of the reasons I love the Garmin.....now when I'm on one of those false flats, the speed is dropping and it feels like my tires have turned to glue, I can look down at the Garmin and see that I have a 2-3% grade. Yeah, not much, but it makes you feel a little better knowing you aren't travelling on a flat....

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Originally Posted by Thorn

I think that's one of the reasons I love the Garmin.....now when I'm on one of those false flats, the speed is dropping and it feels like my tires have turned to glue, I can look down at the Garmin and see that I have a 2-3% grade. Yeah, not much, but it makes you feel a little better knowing you aren't travelling on a flat....

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Ho, boy. I've done that. Riding along...say to my DH riding in front of me..."Hey hun? Can you check my back tire? I think I have a flat!" :rolleyes:

I have a Gamin Edge 305 that will give me the % rise of a hill. I got rid of the display that gave it to me real-time, so I only see it when I download the ride at the end of the day.

One stretch of my commute to work is a long (3 miles or so) gentle downhill - no more than 2%. It's fun in the morning, just zip along. But in the afternoon, after a stressful day in the office - UGH! - that road can be a real grind.

We have some invisible hills around here, but the ones I'm thinking of aren't invisible at all. They're visible enough that the foundations of the houses are obviously built up on one side to keep it level, and the rooftops are nowhere near even. I'm thinking that maybe the info on routeslip isn't reliable, or I used the csgnetwork incorrectly.

OTOH, we definitely have some of those "invisible" hills, too. The nice thing is that one of the main ones is on the way to the cafe where we often eat breakfast, which means coming home from eating, it's downhill. (wink)

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Originally Posted by mountainchick

Also, I saw this thing on some website, I don't remember where I found it but you attach it to your bike and it tilts in some way (or something) to let you know the grade....I'll do another search and see if I can find it.

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Ninabike has one of those little gadgets, its really cool; you may want to PM her and ask where she found it if Mountainchick can't find it!

trac'

I have an ANALOG inclinometer on my bike. It's just a bubble like a carpenter's balance! I LOVE IT! none of that high tech stuff for me! :cool: :cool:

Analog sounds cheaper, too.

http://www.biketiresdirect.com/produ...il.asp?p=STSMI

Way cheaper but way more likely to make you crash. You HAVE to look at it whiel riding but you can look after the ride at a computer that records the info.

I have one of those on my mountain bike.

V.

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Originally Posted by tprevost

Ninabike has one of those little gadgets, its really cool; you may want to PM her and ask where she found it if Mountainchick can't find it!

trac'

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The one that SadieKate posted is the one that I have. Very low tech but it works. It will even fit on oversized bars. You just need to get longer screws.

SadieKate, you don't HAVE to look at it, only if you want to see how steep the hill is that you are on :D i have found that i don't have time to look sometimes :p
and I have already pegged it (found a hill too steep!):cool:

The ones that are too steep to look are the bragging rights ones. What's the point otherwise? :D

I just got a Blackburn Delphi 6.0. It will calculate incline based on the last 20 feet and it updates every 5 minutes. The delay is just enough to give you an answer when your thinkng "cr@p, that was hard, how steep was that?"