8% Climb

Take a look at the Arlington GIS page at the topographic maps (on about the third page) http://gis.arlingtonva.us/gallery/

Look for hills where the contour lines are evenly spaced (steady climb). A quick look shows Walter Reed is about the right grade (7.9% from Arlington Mill to Pollard) but too short at 0.29 miles. Arlington Ridge Road from Glebe to 23d Street is the right length (0.56 mi) but too shallow at 4.7%. You might find something tempting in North Arlington as well.

Or one of the Catoctin climbs.

Around here, I like Anglers, or MD Great Falls up to Falls Rd or the Ross/Ridge/Military climb all the way up to nature center; they are not steep enough, but give a good feel for longer climbs, IMO.

@Tim Kelley 125947 wrote:

How far are you willing to travel?

I drove over this in August.

Honister Pass in Cumbria: 11% average grade, top grade of 28.9%

https://www.strava.com/segments/honister-pass-from-seatoller-652100

@creadinger 125946 wrote:

I’m looking for a sustained 8% climb that is long enough (at least a 1/2 mile) to get a feel for what a longer climb might feel like.

I don’t have an incline meter, and I really don’t trust mapmyride, or rwGPS so I just don’t have a good way to find anything.

Thanks for any recommendations!

Mar Lu Ridge. 8% for .8 miles.

https://www.strava.com/segments/624371

This is across the valley from Gathland so you can do both! (Mar Lu is harder than all four of the ways up to Gathland though)

@creadinger 125955 wrote:

Thanks for all of the links to strava segments, but how accurate is that elevation data? Is it more reliable than rwGPS?

I would be less trusting of the indicated grade at any given point, but the overall grade is just a matter of geometry, and I’d wager the start/end elevations are fairly accurate. I’d also think RWGPS would be fairly accurate unless you’re looking at an area with a bridge or something where the road elevation is different than the land elevation.

Illy is just evil; that 21-25% grade at the beginning just saps you for the second kickup. There is no good or easy way to ride that kind of grade.

Most of our hills around here are short, frequent, and sometimes steep, so it’s hard to train for sustained climbs. Of course, the same could be said about the Netherlands—so perhaps heading out to the BARC on a windy day and staying out of the drops might be your best option.

@creadinger 126135 wrote:

I’m really just looking for a 7-8% hill to get a feel for how that incline makes my legs feel, and what gear is most comfortable over a longer duration.

IME, having done Col du Telegraph + Galibier (7% for 7.5 miles, a short descent, then 7% for 11 miles) and Alpe d’Huez (8% for 8.6 miles) back-to-back, it’s less about the legs and more about managing your HR. I think I used 30×25 for the entire ride (occasionally upshifting a couple cogs to stand and climb), which is a much lower gear than I’d need for even much steeper hills, but it allowed me to to keep a steady (and incredibly slow) pace and maintain a steady HR that was well below my LTHR.