How do you know the % rating of hills?

[MontyVeda]

This from Wikipedea is interesting...

...but it doesn't explain why 10% feels more like 40%, and why 20% feels like 75%

 

[Dogtrousers]

We have one of those too, in a place called Cudham.
25%, on a camber, on a dog leg, with a road a joining from the right on the way up.
Nasty...most I have have done is 3 reps, after that... I was done...and I have walked it before now.

Last time I went up there I fell off the back of my bike. A quick glance around ... phew ... nobody saw.

I'm finding the idea of deliberately doing "reps" rather frightening

 

[Hacienda71]

Fortunately oop north we have lots of steep hills. So you do one go down the other side, do another and so on until you can't do any more. None of this we have a steep hill.

 

[ColinJ]

Oh dear!
So 25% = 1 in 4 yeah? Like Sutton Bank if I remember correctly?

Yes ...

(Photograph by Colin Grice, from Wikipedia)

So steep, that they have a scoreboard for broken down HGVs!

 

[morrisman]

Plot the hill on RideWithGPS and the elevation/grade appears at the bottom of the screen.

 

[JasonHolder]

Strava tells me so

 

[NorvernRob]

Pah, 25% this and 20% that. Barely worth getting out of the saddle for

This is a mans hill. 50%. And it's in Yorkshire of course.

http://www.whitbyonline.co.uk/whitby/whitby-leisure/donkeyroad/

 

[Geoff Crowther]

Brilliant Rob. Thanks for that. After all that technical waffle it took a Yorkshireman to explain things properly.
I'm hugely indebted.
Geoff
(expat Yorkshireman)
PS Know that hill well but wouldn't contemplate tryin' to ride up it. Fair play Wayne!

 

[Peteaud]

 

[cyberknight]

Percentages are for soft southern shandy swilling jessies.
Real Men know how to rate a hill:
Big ring small cog
Still in the big ring: decent slope
Legs burning: steep slope
No more gears left spinning like crazy :Steep slope
No more gears, standing up, thinking sweary words: Very Steep slope
Sounds like fun : Too Steep Slope
Sliding backwards on wet cobbles when brakes are on: Hebden Bridge

 

[Crackle]

10-14mph - 6 to 8%
6mph >10%
Below 6 @15-20%
wobbling all over the road swearing 25%
above 25% - walking

 

[Nigelnaturist]

10-14mph - 6 to 8%
6mph >10%
Below 6 @15-20%
wobbling all over the road swearing 25%
above 25% - walking

Like that one, though I think I would be walking above 20%, I did Storrs Hill near Wakefield last year, not very long, but had me wondering if I could do it, it peaks about 18% I think.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

I'm jealous, all those great hills, I really want to try them.

 

[Donger]

Climbbybike.com is a site I quite like to visit to see profiles of big hills that I plan to take on, as well as the big climbs that feature on the major tours. One of my local hills, Haresfield Beacon near Stroud, features on the site, and it states that the maximum gradient is 25%. That stat alone doesn't tell you what a beast it is though. It's one of those nasty so-and-sos that keeps getting steeper every time you come round a bend. Eventually, when you come round the last right hander, you see a concave road surface stretching out above you, seemingly getting exponentially steeper the further you go. The last time I attempted it, I got to within 200m of the top and finally had to stop around where the Cotswold Way crosses the road. When I tried to start going again, I repeatedly pulled a wheelie, and just couldn't keep my front wheel on the ground. I gave up, disconsolately, and turned the bike around to go back down with my tail between my legs. Believe it or not, I actually had to walk the bike down a few metres to a spot where I could physically remount the bike, it was so steep. Personally i reckon it is quite a bit more than 25%, and I don't think I'll ever be able to beat it.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

There's a 25% between Grasmere and Langdale - I was driving up it a couple of months back and there was this old grizzled looking fella grinding up it with 4 big panniers on the bike and wearing a big yellow cape and a yellow sou'wester hat. It was lashing down - I was dead impressed as I couldn't do it in a million years.