Originally Posted by
johnny99
5% average grade for an entire ride is 260 feet per mile. Most people consider 100 feet per mile (average over a long ride) to be a hilly ride, so 200+ is very unusual.
However, the poster was talking rides that never exceed 5%. I think most regular cyclists that a ride that never exceeds 5% is very flat. I once did rode the Katy Trail in Missouri (200 miles from Kansas City to St. Louis) and that ride claims to have a maximum grade of 5%. That was the flattest 200 miles that I have ever done, and probably the flattest ride that I will ever do. The steepest part of the ride was on a bridge that went over one of the rivers. I did the whole ride in my big chainring.
I think it would be interesting to test cyclists' ability to estimate a percentage grade (by sight or effort needed to climb it, I guess). Many people have an awful time estimating distances and heights by sight. When two people on this forum talk about 5% grades, I don't think we can be certain they're talking about exactly the same thing. One or both might be way off.
It might be interesting if someone could post some good photographs of short climbs and see how many people can correctly judge the grade from the photo.