Gradient blindness
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Reminds me of those spots where the locals will put eggs on the road and they will roll "uphill" due to the optical illusion. (Or mysterious electrical/magnetic effects, take your pick. )
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+1 First Cycle Oregon, day 1 we rode up the Wallawa river for 20 or 30 miles. Much of the 2000' difference between Elgin where we started and Enterprise, our camp that night. Weird. The riding was easy and my eyes kept telling me the water was running with us.
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#30
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Foreshortening
Stand at the base of something tall that doesn’t have clear lines to judge its height. Devil’s Tower and El Capitan are especially good examples of this.
They don’t look very tall.
The brain doesn’t seem to be able to decode it all, especially from close up.
I don’t think I can relate. When I’m riding up a mountain, it doesn’t look like it’ll ever end to me.
Stand at the base of something tall that doesn’t have clear lines to judge its height. Devil’s Tower and El Capitan are especially good examples of this.
They don’t look very tall.
The brain doesn’t seem to be able to decode it all, especially from close up.
I don’t think I can relate. When I’m riding up a mountain, it doesn’t look like it’ll ever end to me.
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I’ve had that happen before; a gradual increase from flat to a slight grade; particularly if you’re in the woods or otherwise don’t have clear sightlines for reference.
Riding along trying to figure out why you’re struggling to hold your pace, until a gap in the trees shows that you’re now a couple hundred feet higher than the river that you’d been running along with for the last few miles
Riding along trying to figure out why you’re struggling to hold your pace, until a gap in the trees shows that you’re now a couple hundred feet higher than the river that you’d been running along with for the last few miles
#32
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A modern bike computer that can display % grade will tell the truth. They display what you've just ridden over, so abrupt changes aren't displayed quickly. Pedaling effort doesn't lie either. If it gets tougher to pedal, you're going uphill or against a wind. Easier climbing with a tail wind can be difficult to detect.
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A modern bike computer that can display % grade will tell the truth. They display what you've just ridden over, so abrupt changes aren't displayed quickly. Pedaling effort doesn't lie either. If it gets tougher to pedal, you're going uphill or against a wind. Easier climbing with a tail wind can be difficult to detect.
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There are some local bike path stretches where I experience this. Sometimes it helps to look at trees, power poles or anything else that's supposed to be vertical. Trees are tricky, though, because a prevailing wind can put them all at a similar lean. Such things are there to amuse you while you ride.
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It's also been interesting seeing the upward creep of vegetation. I have some photographs from the early 90s of some points of the trail that show mangled trees that couldn't survive above 11,000 feet, and then 20 years later, there were some sprouting, healthy aspens.
It's such a beautiful place. Both sides.
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Edit: Aspirin helps with the altitude-sickness, but I had better results with lots of Alka-Seltzer. It really helps.
Last edited by calamarichris; 02-25-24 at 05:57 AM.
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Three of the hardest rides I've ever done. About 3 hours to climb up, about 40 minutes to ride back down to Manitou Springs. Even though I rode up in July and August, it still snowed all three times. When you get over 12,000 feet, your lips and fingernails turn blue from lack of oxygen, and you still have 2000 feet to climb. It's an experience.
Edit: Aspirin helps with the altitude-sickness, but I had better results with lots of Alka-Seltzer. It really helps.
Edit: Aspirin helps with the altitude-sickness, but I had better results with lots of Alka-Seltzer. It really helps.
The year I did Mt. Evans, I spent a week at Snowbird, Utah, a week at Aspen, and a final week at Breckenridge. No altitude sickness.
An in case anyone wants to attempt the Pike's Peak KOM, it currently is 1:36:31, 11.5 mph, average power 335 W, average climbing rate 3936 ft/h. Easy picking.
#40
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Have not experienced gradient blindness but have experienced the sensation that either my tire/s are low on air or my brakes are dragging. When I stop the bike and check, everything is fine and then it dawns on me, it’s me that’s dragging. The weird thing is that it is usually a temporary sensation, or else my brain kicks in and says, “Hey stupid, it’s you” and it goes away. Strange.
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The central Phoenix metro area north of the Salt River slopes from the northeast (uphill) to the southwest typically at a steady 0.5% gradient. When I was younger, I wondered why I was getting so tired riding north or east, but was so "strong" heading south or west, because in nearly all cases the gradient is effectively invisible. Once I had many riding miles on the odometer, I knew it wasn't me or the wind, but that the land that I knew was slightly off kilter. Felt it this morning on the fixie leading the group ride - "wheee" to the restaurant, a bit of grinding coming back.
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Once I did an AdventureCorps Century in Death Valley. The wind came up and I was in my smallest gear, chewing on my handlebars pedaling DOWNHILL (like 6% grade downhill.) It was so gnarly, I think only 5-7 guys out of several hundred finished. At one point I got blown off the road. It took me several tries to get back on my steel bike, because every time I lifted my leg, the wind would blow my bike sideways, even though I was holding it down by the handlebars. I was eventually able to get going again by pointing the bike into the wind (obtuse to the road).
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Gradient blindness???
The gradient is LYING!!
Why else would they call 'em FALSE flats?
The gradient is LYING!!
Why else would they call 'em FALSE flats?