Working of the grade of a hill

[outnabike]

I go up a fairly steep hill going through Doveton in Vic. If I cycle to the Dandenong market.
I don’t have to, as there are plenty of alternatives. But with all the talk of 20% hills that some members do I thought this hill was pretty steep.
Anyway I got onto this site that will work out a gradient anywhere in the world, and typed in the street at the top and the street at the bottom.

http://veloroutes.org/hillgradecalculat ... ia&units=m

It reckons the grade is only 7.9 percent and that means I am a bit of a woos.

So you can all try it on a favorite hill and see if you reckon it is pretty close to correct. I suppose I could get info from a local council but it isn’t important enough to pester them.
The take a given height above sea level of the bottom point and same again at the top. So then it must calculate it out from that. (not getting into Pythagoras here.)
Maybe some one knows of an easy to measure 20 percenter and can check it out.

I must say it doesn't look real steep now that I look at it....

https://www.google.com.au/maps/(AT)-37.995 ... 56!6m1!1e1

[RonK]

But such a calculation will yield the average grade, not the maximum.

There would be few climbs that ascend at a constant rate over the entire distance.

[Mulger bill]

Walmer St from the Yarra to the start of the Boulie comes in at 30%+

[Usernoname]

I go up a fairly steep hill going through Doveton in Vic. If I cycle to the Dandenong market.


http://veloroutes.org/hillgradecalculat ... ia&units=m

It reckons the grade is only 7.9 percent and that means I am a bit of a woos.

So you can all try it on a favorite hill and see if you reckon it is pretty close to correct. I suppose I could get info from a local council but it isn’t important enough to pester them.

https://www.google.com.au/maps/(AT)-37.995 ... 56!6m1!1e1

I checked a short hill near me that shows 19% max on my garmin, came out 8% on the calculator. So may give a rough average over longer distance but seems way off on short climb and only shows average.

[Leaf T]

Have you tried it on RidewithGPS site? It gives elevation info although I have no idea how accurate it is.

Just had a look and it says it's steepest point is 4.6%

[softy]

Really doesn't matter how steep, get the right gearing and hit it! see it as a challenge. As long as you can get up and get fitter, does it matter how steep?

[bychosis]

The easiest way to work it out is to ride the hill and if you run out of puff in your lowest gear, then it's really y mountain bike, that is actually really steep. On my road bike, it is quite steep. On my big w fat bike it is pretty much flat, or may even be a descent.

[outnabike]

He He I still recon it's 20%....even if it's 10, thanks guys, all good fun.

[OldBloke]

According to Strava: https://www.strava.com/segments/620567
The overall grade is about 8% but it goes up to 11.7% not far up from the bottom of the hill.

OB

[Derny Driver]

I have managed teams to races overseas with hills so steep that cars and motorbikes cannot go up them. One particular one we did in 2010 on the island of Huahine had a 1 km long hill with no bends and the following cars and motos could not ascend it. Most riders (international elite standard) either walked it or zig zagged up it. It was from memory, 20%.
I also did one last year where I had to stop my scooter half way up a hill because one of the riders crashed, I applied front and rear brakes and I slid backwards with both wheels locked up ..had to back the scooter into the cliff to stop the rearwards descent. That one was apparently 24%.

When people talk 20% in Australia I think they are having a lend of themselves. Yes Ive been up all the Alpine climbs and all the rest, Australian mountains are very tame, even the very steepest of them.

[softy]

I have managed teams to races overseas with hills so steep that cars and motorbikes cannot go up them. One particular one we did in 2010 on the island of Huahine had a 1 km long hill with no bends and the following cars and motos could not ascend it. Most riders (international elite standard) either walked it or zig zagged up it. It was from memory, 20%.
When people talk 20% in Australia I think they are having a lend of themselves. Yes Ive been up all the Alpine climbs and all the rest, Australian mountains are very tame, even the very steepest of them.

I have to agree, I have seen a few youtube vids with people doing everesting on +15% and they pretty much build Frankenstein bikes with MTB gearing to climb them. Your standard road bike is not designed to be geared for these hills.

[outnabike]

According to Strava: https://www.strava.com/segments/620567
The overall grade is about 8% but it goes up to 11.7% not far up from the bottom of the hill.

OB

Thanks mate I reckon Ron was pretty spot on with the thing being averaged over a given distance. It is a bit hard to give an exact datum for the program to work out correctly and a road junction is the best i could do. Still it might be useful on accurate datum's if it can be established with a correct start and stop point.
I don't have Strava so that is good info.

[Leaf T]

I have managed teams to races overseas with hills so steep that cars and motorbikes cannot go up them. One particular one we did in 2010 on the island of Huahine had a 1 km long hill with no bends and the following cars and motos could not ascend it. Most riders (international elite standard) either walked it or zig zagged up it. It was from memory, 20%.
I also did one last year where I had to stop my scooter half way up a hill because one of the riders crashed, I applied front and rear brakes and I slid backwards with both wheels locked up ..had to back the scooter into the cliff to stop the rearwards descent. That one was apparently 24%.

When people talk 20% in Australia I think they are having a lend of themselves. Yes Ive been up all the Alpine climbs and all the rest, Australian mountains are very tame, even the very steepest of them.

Of course it's not simply altitude that matters. Australia doesn't have the geography to accommodate those seeking maximum height. But the total amount gained over the course of a ride on the often roller coaster terrain we have here is similar to some big rides abroad I imagine.

[jasonc]

When people talk 20% in Australia I think they are having a lend of themselves. Yes Ive been up all the Alpine climbs and all the rest, Australian mountains are very tame, even the very steepest of them.

here's a couple of the steeper ones i've been up:
the sign for this one says 20%: https://www.strava.com/segments/1549243
i don't even want to talk about this one: https://www.strava.com/segments/4209446
the sign for this one says 25%:
https://www.strava.com/segments/833377?filter=overall
anything over 15% = not nice