Athletes, what's harder riding up that hill or running up that hill?

[OakLeaf]

Running.

I have pretty limited flexibility in my ankles, so I wind up having to sidestep anything over about a 10% grade, especially when it's steeply crowned as most rural roads are here.

On that 6% grade, it's shallow enough to stay in the saddle and, well, not exactly spin, but maintain a cadence of at least 80-85 rpm. But I think if I were trying to get up it fast, it'd still be easier riding than running.

Either way, on the bici I can shift gears and increase my cadence in anticipation of the hill. I know Chi Running talks about having "gears," but although I get the concept, I don't have clearly defined gears, it's more like a CVT. If there's a way to "lighten up" at the bottom of the hill in anticipation, while running, I don't know what it is (and hopefully someone in this thread will tell me! ).

Maybe part of it's just mental - on the bike I'm used to my speed varying a lot with the terrain; on foot if I'm not maintaining at least a 10 minute pace I feel like something's wrong.