When the Giro hits the mountains (the Alps and Pirenes) the one thing we all want to know is how hard are those climbs anyway?? As the only guy in the local onesource peleton who has a Garmin GPS computer, I'll relay to you what some of our own climbs throw at you with respect to % grade so that you can decide whether or not you are Giro worthy. Of course the real issue is that the pros are riding at race speed, riding 21 of 24 days in a row, and are riding those epic climbs after riding a paltry 100 miles or so... OK, so here's the first comparison...
Our very own Prefumo Canyon Rd has a 3 mile climb with an average gradient of 8-10% and a max. gradient of 17% -- formidable for sure. Last week the Tour of Georgia had an epic climb called Brasstown bald where the race was won by team High Roads Kanstantsin Suitsou. Brasstown bald is a 3.1 mile climb with an average gradient of 12% and a max grade of 25%!! Let's just say it broke Levi Leipheimer and Trent Lowe!
I'll be back reviewing more climbs with more stats, stay tuned.
5 comments:
Fantastic Doc! A fellow Euro Dog! Unusually few climbs this year and really limited to stages 14-16 with the latter being a brutal mountain TT. 15 and 16 will likely seal victory for the GC. Love these Dolomite climbs and really hope to participate in one of the "Gran Fando" rides in Italy someday.
Check out the stage details and profiles: http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/giro08/?id=stages
Keep them coming Doc. Gotta run.
Can someone explain % versus degrees when thinking about a climb's gradient? Thinking of vertical (90 degrees) as 100% ????? Is that accurate. Trying to find some perspective here.
% grade simply put is the number of meters of ascent over the distance of 100 meters, therefore if you ascend 10 meters over a 100 meter section you just rode a 10% grade. By this calculation a 100% grade would be riding up 100 meters over a 100 meter horizontal distance which in geometry terms gives you a 45 degree angle upward, so a 100% grade is equivalent to a 45 degree angle. The mathematic equation to convert between 'angle' and 'grade' is: angle=arctan(rise/run), when run=100 then rise=%grade. The arctan=arctangent or the inverse function of tangent (it really helps to have a calculus calculator here to simply plug in the inverse function of tangent and then the math is simple. A 17% grade run through the formula yields a 9.648 degree angle. A vertical line or a 90 degree angle cannot be expressed as grade because the "run" is zero. From geometry... the slope of a vertical line is "undefined"
Doctor of Math weighs in. Thank you.
Still a bit speechless at the detail here.....
Isn't it crazy guys when you think of a 45 degree angle is entirely different in thought. Much of the climbs feel like it but nowhere close!
Well detailed Doc!
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