Is this elevation profile good for climb training?

[TribalBoy]

Had a ride with 5 of my friends last Sunday. From Thodupuzha to Kulamavu and back (About 70km from Cochin city, Kerala). The route is scenic with less traffic and road condition is 700X23C. It was my first ride on a continuous climb, and I enjoyed it. As there are no other climbs like this around Cochin, just curious whether this climb is good for training purpose.


kulamavu-elevation-profile by CrazyDin, on Flickr

[prabuddhadg]

That looks like 800m of ascent over 10 km. Approaching 8%. That is pretty long and tough. 10 km is pretty long for training. But if this is all you have, I would say, go ahead and ride. Find the ratio that does not force you to pant like a dog.

[bonigv]

wtf! are you making fun of us mortals din? that one, 8% over 10km is a killer climb. HC even on TDF I guess. Do us a favor and please map it in mapmyride.com

[harism]

Din, training climb? It's tougher than the climbs that lots of decent climbers do! It's a great benchmark, though.
I have driven up that climb. It's a seriously demanding climb, but with a mostly even (if challenging) gradient and nice roads, too; just waiting for a roadie attack. The bit after the climb, past the Idukki reservoir is also lovely riding terrain. Good roads, rolling country and forests. Like this:

Idukki.jpg

To this day I don't know why we didn't do the climb, since we had two bikes in the back of the car. At least we did the ride after the climb. But one day...

[cityofangels11]

I was supposed to ride idukki back in June but skipped, July no go again got busy with Brevets. Next month certainly gonna try Idukki. Here's a surprising fact. @ kulamavu there is a 20% gradient over 2-3kms

[deepakvrao]

wtf! are you making fun of us mortals din? that one, 8% over 10km is a killer climb. HC even on TDF I guess. Do us a favor and please map it in mapmyride.com

I think he is

[TribalBoy]

Oh no, was not making fun. Honestly, that was my first continuous climb, so just wanted an opinion. Though there are lot of ups/downs in Wayanad which I rode before and liked. But I am glad I didn't post this before the ride, else I could have gave up the idea lol. First few kms were really tough and I was wondering how I will reach on top, but then it became somewhat ok. We didn't rode non-stop. Stopped in between for tender concunut, banana etc.

@prabuddhadg - Yes, I think this is the only road-bikeable good climb near Cochin. But will try to find if there are any more.
@Boni - Sure, I will post the map and details.
@cityofangels11 - Let us know before you come, we can plan it along with other Cochin Bikers.
@Hari - The evil Doc (Louis) actually suggested that we drive on the climb and after Kulamavu ride to Idukki. But majority wanted to do the climb, so we opted for that.

[harism]

@prabuddhadg - Yes, I think this is the only road-bikeable good climb near Cochin. But will try to find if there are any more.

Have you checked out the Kakkanad area? No long climbs but plenty of places to train. A pal and I run there whenever I'm in Kochi and there are lots of short (< 1 km) but sharp (8-10% & more; up to 15%) climbs. My pal, who's a 3:05 marathoner, uses those climbs to train for hilly courses like Boston, etc. I've tried out those hills for repeats (Rakesh Nair also knows a few short steep ascents in the area) and they are great for training.

@Hari - The evil Doc (Louis) actually suggested that we drive on the climb and after Kulamavu ride to Idukki. But majority wanted to do the climb, so we opted for that.

You can just about see Doc Louis in the pic in my previous post, next to the car. There's 10+ kg less of him now

[TribalBoy]

Thank you Hari, yes I remember the climbs in Kakkanad area. Good ones there. What we miss here in Cochin is the continuous climb.

[baccilus]

That looks like 800m of ascent over 10 km. Approaching 8%. That is pretty long and tough. 10 km is pretty long for training. But if this is all you have, I would say, go ahead and ride. Find the ratio that does not force you to pant like a dog.

How did you calculate that 8% grade? Can you please do so for my route too:


The hard climb starts after about 18-20km. The total distance in this figure is about 75km which includes too and fro.

[baccilus]

OK guys, just check out http://www.mapmyride.com/. It seems to have a climb category calculator. But it says that my climb was a maximum of 4.3% at some point. It felt harder than that

[brijnair]

Hey Din,

How far is it from our place? Have you got it mapped on Map my ride yet? Please let me know.
Thanks,
Brijesh

[prabuddhadg]

...How did you calculate that 8% grade? Can you please do so for my route too:


The hard climb starts after about 18-20km. The total distance in this figure is about 75km which includes too and fro.

Calculating gradient is pretty simple. From the point were the altitude graph starts to rise, to the point where it levels out or again starts to drop, you measure the distance travelled horizontally. You also measure the height gained. In the earlier profile, the distance climbed from base to top of climb was 800 metres (in your case, it starts from about 250 m and ends at about 1100 m i.e. total ascent of 850 m). In your diagram if each horizontal block is 10 km, the climb is a crazy 38 km or so. In the earlier profile, distance travelled was 10 km. So, 800 m / 10000 m = 8%. Simple

With your distance of 38 km and ascent of 850 m, its 2.2%. Seems small, but considering the relentless climb for 38 km, this would have been a killer for mere mortals like me.

[TribalBoy]

@Brijesh

That is near Thodupuzha. Here is the map - http://goo.gl/maps/BTQ2
We ferried the bikes till Thodupuzha and rode from there.

[baccilus]

@ prabuddhadg: The real climb starts after about 22 km (>4.3% according to mapmyride) and then continues indefinitely for 100s of km. I just go as far as I can go then turn back for the fun downhill ride. This is the initial portion of Chandigarh- Shimla highway. If you ever come this side, this is the road to ride.

[deepakvrao]

^^Long 4-5% climb. Sounds like fun.

[baccilus]

^^Long 4-5% climb. Sounds like fun.

Yes but there are often regions which are comparatively plainer where you can recover a bit while climbing. And it is beautiful. Only bad thing is the traffic

[Grass Hopper]

@baccilus

Chandigarh-shimla, this is the same road which goes via kalka right???

I just rode from Kalka to Shimla, and quite honestly it was a piece of cake. And I am no expert either. Just been cycling for a couple of months. My first long distance ride this was, self supported that too. So go ahead and push to Shimla some day, its lots of fun. Though you might want to catch a bus on the way down. Downhill gets very boring on tarmac after a few kms. And all this I did on a stock MTB!!