False Hills or Climbs

[Red Light]

a tailwind!

Systems Error......Does not compute.

 

[Svendo]

That sounds about right. It feels like the brakes are dragging - enough to make it feel harder than it should, but not enough to be an obvious climb. Streetview of it.

There's another short 100 yards or so about a mile further along after the railway bridge where the road starts descending but this section is ever so slightly up hill, 1% or so. Riding it it feels still downhill but you wonder why you're slowing down.

 

[PaulSB]

No these are real climbs. I can go up at 16-17 and down the other side, roughly the same gradient, at 24-25mph.

One is called Brindle Hill, near Chorley. The clue has to be in the name!!!

I'll get a map and check though.

 

[PK99]

No these are real climbs. I can go up at 16-17 and down the other side, roughly the same gradient, at 24-25mph.

One is called Brindle Hill, near Chorley. The clue has to be in the name!!!

.

That must be near the village of TOP O' TH' LANE, the clue thare is in the name too!

 

[amaferanga]

No these are real climbs. I can go up at 16-17 and down the other side, roughly the same gradient, at 24-25mph.

One is called Brindle Hill, near Chorley. The clue has to be in the name!!!

I'll get a map and check though.

Simple fact is that if it is a hill and your speed doesn't drop then your effort is increasing. I guess it could be that there's a very gradual entry to the hill so you increase your effort level so gradually that you just don't notice. But if you were riding it with a power meter you would undoubtedly see your wattage increase if you maintained the same speed.

 

[subaqua]

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H4ghr2hkws&feature=related


is the best one I know of .

theres one heading from treuddyn to llandegla. it looks flat bit its climbing all the way. the other way is great

 

[Chris S]

There is a similar effect when you go along part of the Harborne Walkway in Birmingham. It's an old railway line and the embankments on either side of you give you the impression that you are going downhill when you're actually on a slight incline.

 

[Albert]

If you are ever cycling towards or away from Aberystwyth or Devils Bridge in Wales, you'll find that the A44 near Eisteddfa Gurig appears to be going downhill in both directions over the half mile on the Powys side. Optical illusion.

 

[02GF74]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ames_room

ames room

 

[ColinJ]

Here's a photo that I took on a local walk. I was standing at the high point and the track I was standing on is going downhill into the distance. The stonework to my right is a water conduit which drains towards the horizon. To me, that looks like it is going uphill!

 

[rich p]

These are optical illusions.

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The most dramatic example that I can remember was in Snowdonia. My g/f and I had gone for a ride on hire bikes and came to what looked like a 4-5% climb but our speed kept going up. It wasn't long before we were doing close to 30 mph. It was the most bizarre thing I have ever experienced on a bike. My brain was telling me that we were climbing but we were clearly on a significant descent. I'm sure it was just misleading visual cues from the slopes of the surrounding hillsides, treelines etc.

I had a similarly bizarre one in N Spain this summer. We almost didn't take the road to the campsite because it was so steeply down that we didn't fancy retracing our steps the next morningto get back on route. It was only because the alternative B&B looked so grotty that we did it. Couldn't understand why we were struggling down a decent slope but concluded it was a mixture of wind and tiredness until the next morning when we actually sailed downhill back to the junction. It was about a 6km stretch and it baffles me still.