Hebden wrote:Slavo wrote:There is a difference between classified and unclassified roads. basically classified roads are highways, freeways, main roads, etc where every other public road is unclassified.
Sections of Pretoria Pde/Rosemead Rd in Hornsby are quite steep.
Ah, ok, that explains all the 20% hills people have been posting about. I thought maybe there were different ways of measuring gradiants...

I wouldn't give up on the idea that the problem could be the different ways of measuring gradients. My Edge 705 is very good at producing elevation's that rise by 5 m every lap of a circuit (like Dunc Gray crit track, or Landsdowne track) - possibly a flaw with its method of using barometric pressure when temperatures are not stable. So I'm highly suspicioius of its elevation and gradient data.
A more reliable Navman Pocket PC GPS I have gives consistent values on each lap, but a more sophisiticated differential GPS unit ought to give more accurate data. If you haven't got an accurate elevation figure, you're not likely to get an accurate gradient (assuming you don't have a more sophisticated accelerometer-based instrument that can work out inclination of objects, such as missiles being guided to their targets !).
People have trouble walking up gradients exceeding 15% (the max allowed in most council codes for a driveway slope) - pushing your bike up it would be even more difficult - let alone riding up it. So I'd take any claims of gradients this high with a grain of salt.
rob e wrote:Timhorn where do you start Rainbow heading west? There is bugger all climb there, unless you link it with Oberon and Dundas which is 40m in 270m. I dont think there is anything tougher in the east, even Arden heading north between Dolpin and Alison is 37m in 330m, and that sucks because of car traffic.
This is it fellas
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/301275Lets see if we can out do this, i am always looking for a challenge close to home.
Rob e I'm not sure how accurate your 15% reckoning is. I don't doubt the route you've found is one helluva climb - you've only got to look at streetview and see the steps on the footpath (a sign the slope is getting to the pedestrian-unfriendly territory).
But where are you getting your elevation data from ? The 90m grid data in google earth and used in bikely is hopelessly inadequate in areas where there are large slopes or discontinuity in slopes. So it's especially poor in the coastal area around Coogee. Are you using something more accurate ?
ni78ck wrote:i did hill repeats up those streets last night on foot! we did it 6

times, boy are my legs sore

How's it compare with the Coogee-Clovelly coast walk around Gordon's Bay to the north ? There's quite a few steps there - giving gradients around 50% for some sections. Coogee to Clovelly and back would be a really punishing walking/jogging repeat, and at least an out-and-back run seems popular enough with local joggers. My knees hurt just thinking about that
