Help figuring out "grade" of climb for race

[Eden]

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

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.

[jehocu03]

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.