What Does 25% Grade Look Like?

[Mr. Bloom]

You might be surprised. This is near the Ohio River in our small suburb...Its about 320 feet from the stop sign to the top of the hill; my Garmon measured it at 25% grade - much to my surprise.

I have done it twice, but I'm using the first and second gear (on a triple). I tried to start it in 5th gear and couldn't get halfway...unable to shift down at such slow speed.






And, I never knew I was going the "Wrong Way" until I looked at this picture. For obvious reasons, it doesn't get much traffic...

[solobiker]

Pretty steep hill. I grew up in upstate NY then moved to CO. I have biked far stepper hill in NY then I have ever found out here in CO. Keep up the great work, just think "power"

[RolliePollie]

Mr. Silver - I'm so glad you posted this! It's ironic...just today I was pondering grade percentages and wishing I could figure out how steep some of the hills are around here. I don't have GPS or anything else for measuring. I know what a 3% grade is like because the local bike path runs up an old 3% railroad grade. Now I also know what 25% looks like. Hmmm, does anyone else have pictures of a 5%, 8%, 10%, 12%, 15%, etc.? Just kidding

Good job making it up that hill...I would only attempt it in my super granny gear and even then, it looks like a challenge!

[Eden]

. Hmmm, does anyone else have pictures of a 5%, 8%, 10%, 12%, 15%, etc.? Just kidding

lol - if you ask me after a certain steepness they all "look" the same. I've tried to use some of those online route mapping sites, but there's just too much margin of error.

[mimitabby]

Eden, let's go out with a bike computer and an altimeter; we can figure it out!

[Tri Girl]

Yowzers that's steep! Good thing you've been going up the wrong way, because if you were going down I don't think you could stop in time- you'd be swimming in the lake up ahead.

[Eden]

Eden, let's go out with a bike computer and an altimeter; we can figure it out!

It would be easy with that info - rise over run! shucks tho - I don't have any fancy gadgets like that - spent all my money on the fancy bike....

[mimitabby]

oh.. I don't either! But Raleighdon has enough of that equipment to drive his bike out into space.

[Torrilin]

US geological survey topo maps will let you get an approximate grade for large hills. I've cross checked them on hills I know have a posted grade, and it's usually pretty close (+/- 1% or better). The only depressing part about checking them was discovering that my nemesis hill is a piddling 5% grade on the steepest incline. *shakes her fist at Wisconsin for being so flat*

[Thorn]

Torrilin, Torrilin, Torrilin...what am I going to do to convince you that not all of Wisconsin is flat!?!?!?!?!? Where are you located? Perhaps I can help you find a real hill?

Even with the fancy gadgets, getting a good measure on a hill is hard. A good lock on my GPS and all measurements are still +/- 15m. I've gotten pretty good at doing running averages when I'm going up hills, ignoring those first glimpses of 10-12% unless I see a lot in that range. I have a hill that I can see several spikes into th high teens, but it averages out to only 12%.

In Italy we saw some really steep grades...going into one of the hill towns was a 25% grade. Quite a bit longer than your road, Mr. Silver, but I will admit I didn't make it up the hill...oh, it wasn't that I ran out of oomph...oh, no...it was because I was moving so slowly the horse parade caught up and I had to pull off, of course Seriously, there was a horse parade, but, ok, I really wasn't going any farther. 25% is really steep--I'm impressed you can get up that hill.

Oh, and I agree with Eden--all inclines start to look the same. I have some 4% grades nearby that look almost flat, but in Italy, after climbing for an hour, I was convinced the road was going downhill, but I looked at the GPS and it said a steady 4%. It is just a matter of perspective.

[Torrilin]

I'm in Madison. And I know it's not *all* flat, but I'm used to the mountains around LA and central PA hills. So lots of things that a sane person would say is hilly I look at and go "that's flat".

Never claimed to be sane tho

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Pretty steep hill. I grew up in upstate NY then moved to CO. I have biked far stepper hill in NY then I have ever found out here in CO. Keep up the great work, just think "power"

I live in rural upstate NY and we have nothing but rolling hills around us in every direction, and some of them are killers. My riding average is usually only 10 mph partly because of the hills.
I have tried to take pictures of some of the hills but through the camera lens they don't look nearly as steep as they are in real vision for some weird reason. In the phoots they look dinky and then I put the camera down and they looks monstrous again! Sort of like how a photo of a sunset never looks nearly as breathtaking as the real thing.

[Aggie_Ama]

Lisa- We have a lot rollers mixed with an equal amount of steep hills. I don't know of one ride from our house that could be considered flat! I wonder how bad the grades are? A lot of them look as steep as Mr. Silver's hill.

The other thing that makes some of the not so intimidating ones bad is the quality of road. They may be rough county roads, turn or have banking. It sure does make you strong for a flat ride.

[Thorn]

I'm in Madison. And I know it's not *all* flat, but I'm used to the mountains around LA and central PA hills. So lots of things that a sane person would say is hilly I look at and go "that's flat".

Never claimed to be sane tho

Sure...we ain't got mountains, but I guess I prefer rollers for training--consider it speedwork for those long mountain rides you really want to do when you go back to visit LA and PA!

If you're in Madison, you're just a hop, skip, and a car transport to Bluemounds. The Horrible Hilly people keep their cue sheet on line--http://www.horriblyhilly.com/course.html Never long by mountain standards, but many steep hils. That route was actually plotted to maximize incline. A little west still has some steep ones... Try http://www.dairylanddare.com/ for another cue sheet.

Of course, I'm rather smitten with that area of the state--rolling hills, gorgeous land, relatively friendly vehicles. Sigh..but I'm a long way away.

But count your blessings--you could be located in the Stevens Point area--the sandy flat lands of the former glacial Lake Wisconsion. I think Florida has more hills than they do.

[CR400]

Wow, that looks painful. The only blessing is that it is short compared to what it could be. Imagine trying to climb that beast for another 100ft. I don't think I would make it.