I’ve read quite a few different posts from people talking about their latest hill climbing accomplishments. Hill climbing didn’t really seem all that fun to me…until now. I was having a look through all the links I’ve collected over the months and came across Klaas’s inclinometer. I decided to make one for myself. Mine’s a really basic one but it does the job. I took it out for a test and so far my best hill climb is a 19°, 34.4% hill that goes for 38m. It’s a fun challenge to ride up steep hills.
Could someone please tell me the relationship between the °’s and %'s? It doesn’t seem linear to me. Are they both used to measure the gradient or is it only %?
An angle (like the one measured between a hill and the horizon) is measured in degrees. The grade of a hill is the ratio of the distance climbed to the distance traversed when going up the hill. The relationship between the two is not linear. The tangent of the angle is equal to the grade expressed as a fraction. The grade of a hill that forms an angle of 45 degrees with respect to the horizon is 100%. That is the angle at which the distance climbed is equal to the distance traversed.
I don’t like riding up a steep hill to say to myself, ‘Boy, I just rode up that steep hill, was it ever fun!’
I like to be able to get up a steep hill, if that’s what’s blocking my way at the time. I feel great being able to know I’ve tackled everything I’ve set out to do.
Also, the ability to get up something that takes thought when you no longer have any mometum really helps you in your other Uni skills, I believe.
As a rule I don’t either but I think it’s really cool that there are so many circles of discipline within the unicycling communinty.
Examples of our diversity:
Just plainrRiding
Communter Riding
Freestyle
Trails
Muni
Muni downhill
Muni uphill
Muni with obstacles ( teeter totters etc.)
others…
Having read rsu for almost a year now I observe that most of us move in and out of all these circles as our interests and skills change. Personally I would like to sample them all except perhaps teeter totters, I just keep seeing that horrible video of AccordNSX!
I didn’t have a ton of interest in steep hills, until getting to Moab and finding how much my poor technique limited my riding options. It was an eye-opener, because I have decent leg strength, and was surprised to find out how little that mattered vs. just having the right climbing technique and experience at doing it. So I’m now making climbing a religion, and my goal is that by next year I can increase my “ride vs. walk” ratio on the slickrock trail from under 50% up to over 75%. Any practice tips from the veterans are of course appreciated.
>so far my best
>hill climb is a 19°, 34.4% hill that goes for 38m. It’s a fun challenge
>to ride up steep hills.
That’s a really steep hill to ride up Andrew. Excellent.
I also like the challenge of riding up steep hills. I have been
measuring my progress for some time at the steepness of uprideable
hills but now I am more into developing hopping and jumping (which is
still very poor though).
That only happened because Accord made the mistake of riding a bicycle. If he were on a unicycle, it is highly unlikely he would have landed on his head.
I don’t only appreciate the challenge, I also actually enjoy riding up hills on a unicycle.
uniikki (sorry I don’t know your name),
“I was having a look through all the links I’ve collected over the months and came across Klaas’s inclinometer.”
Tom,
Before I read through your post, I saw the 50% and 75% and thought you were talking about a 27° to 37° incline.
jagur,
Surely those hulkish thighs of yours could cope going up and down.
Riding up hills gives the rider something to push against. When riding on the flats you eventually maximize you effort and lighten up on your pedals as you increase your speed. When you climb hills there is always resistence to push against to maintain good balance while you take those microburst rests while keeping your revolutions going.
