gradients...how do you know?

sporteve

hi all,
back from a business trip and here again to bore you all with newbie questions!
here's the one for today: how on earth do you 'measure' gradients? there are all those training programs and drills in mags talking about gradients but i have no idea how to know what gradient i am on at any given time...
btw does anyone know what gradient is the pentonville road from king's cross to angel? that would at least give me an indication...
a mag also suggested getting a feel of different gradients on a gym bike but the ones at my gym are from the flintstones' years so they don't show gradient...
maybe there are bike computers that calculate your gradient as you ride?

Jack Hughes

How many along, how many up - how much you go up in a given distance.


If you go forward 4 metres and up 1, that is 1 in 4. Nowadays in is expressed as a percentage - 1/4 = 25%. That is a steep hill If you have to go forward 10 metres, before you go up 1, that is a lot less steep. 1/10 is 10%.

SOHCAHTOA baby!

shadowone1

Ah the old triganometry equations!!! numbers!!! I like numbers!!!


Or if you know a land surveyor get him to bring along his total station and gps. He can then tell you very quickly how big a gradient is!

Trisurfer

If you go 'map my run'

it tells you gradient on there. just mark the hill in question and go to tools I think.

ris

i usually refer to mapmytri (same place as mmrun), although i have noticed that it seems to aggregate the gradients or something like that that i don't know the words for. this means that if you map out a 30mile ride that takes in a 12% hill it comes up as shallower than mapping the same hill over 2miles.

my garmin allegedly picks up gradients and i can view them alongside the elevation graphs in sportstracks. i have no idea if it is correct or not, it looks like some sort of voodoo.