Firstly - thanks to Phil Price for the first set of information on how to categorise climbs - see link to his blog below.
http://www.triathlonphil.com/category-climbs-in-cycling-explained/
I haven't made any attempt up till now to categorise the climbs on the list - it hadn't occurred to me that they might count in those terms. It would appear they do though so, from now on, I'll be having a go at categorising them as I do them. For what it's worth, using Phil Price's rules, I offer the following categories for the routes I've done so far...
Category 5
Winscombe Hill
Brockley Combe
A38 over Shute Shelve
Category 4
A38 Cowslip Green to Bristol Airport
Shipham Road, Cheddar (tough end of 4)
Cleeve Hill Road, Cleeve
Dundry Lane, Winford to Dundry
Wrington Hill (!)
From Wrington via Long Lane and Redhill to Bristol Airport Perimeter Road (Cat 3 on height gain and surface although the average angle is too low so given 4 over all).
Shipham Lane, Winscombe to Trotts Corner (though the numbers on this say cat 3 - see my comments).
Category 3
Blagdon Hill (from Rickford to Swymmer's Farm)
Cheston Combe from Backwell
Bristol Hill, Wells
Old Bristol Hill, Wells
Burrington Combe - numerically yes, but really?
Highfield Lane, Compton Martin
On the other hand, you could decide to use what are, apparently, the Tour de France criteria for grading the climbs. There still has to be allowance for where in a ride the climb comes, but the rules are as follows: -
Category 1: Anything between an 8km hill @ 8% and a 20km hill at 5%
Category 2: 5km at 8% to 15km at 4%
Category 3: 1km @ 10% to 6km @ 5%
Category 4: 2km @ 5% to 5km @ 2% - this fits neatly with my rule of not allowing any hill with less than 100m of climbing into the 'list'.
Using these Tour de France criteria, the categories would be as follows...
Category 3
Cheston Combe, Backwell
Bleadon Hill from Elborough
Blagdon (Two Trees)
Highfield Lane, Compton Martin
Harptree Hill, Compton Martin
Smitham Hill, East Harptree
Bristol Hill, Wells
Ebbor Lane and Deerleap, Easton
Stancombe Lane, Westbury-sub-Mendip
Westfield Lane, Rodney Stoke
West Mendip Way, Draycott
Old Bristol Road, Wells
Cheddar Gorge
Shipham Road, Cheddar
Cleeve Hill Road, Cleeve
Wrington Hill
Limeburn Hill
Winford - Dundry (Dundry Lane)
Category 4
Brockley Combe
Winscombe to Trotts Corner
A38 Cowslip Green to Bristol Airport
Bleadon Hill from Bleadon Bridge
Burrington Combe
Wrington - Long Lane, Redhill - Bristol Airport
No Category awarded
A38 Shute Shelve
Winscombe Hill
Interesting - nothing I've chosen to include on the actual list is less than category 4.
It would appear that the TdF categories bring far more into category 3. I would suggest that this is a function of the distances and exertion involved in completing the TdF and so, on the whole, I think Phil price's system is probably better for grading our Mendip hills.
Comments gladly accepted - please let me know what you think.
DP
http://www.triathlonphil.com/category-climbs-in-cycling-explained/
I haven't made any attempt up till now to categorise the climbs on the list - it hadn't occurred to me that they might count in those terms. It would appear they do though so, from now on, I'll be having a go at categorising them as I do them. For what it's worth, using Phil Price's rules, I offer the following categories for the routes I've done so far...
Category 5
Winscombe Hill
Brockley Combe
A38 over Shute Shelve
Category 4
A38 Cowslip Green to Bristol Airport
Bleadon Hill from Bleadon Post Office
Bleadon Hill from Elborough
Cheddar Gorge (it may be a 3 but I don't see it as having a sufficient average gradient and if you take the steep enough bit it isn't long enough - was given 3 in the Tour of Britain because it was placed at the end of a stage).Shipham Road, Cheddar (tough end of 4)
Cleeve Hill Road, Cleeve
Dundry Lane, Winford to Dundry
Wrington Hill (!)
From Wrington via Long Lane and Redhill to Bristol Airport Perimeter Road (Cat 3 on height gain and surface although the average angle is too low so given 4 over all).
Shipham Lane, Winscombe to Trotts Corner (though the numbers on this say cat 3 - see my comments).
Category 3
Blagdon Hill (from Rickford to Swymmer's Farm)
Cheston Combe from Backwell
Bristol Hill, Wells
Old Bristol Hill, Wells
Burrington Combe - numerically yes, but really?
Highfield Lane, Compton Martin
On the other hand, you could decide to use what are, apparently, the Tour de France criteria for grading the climbs. There still has to be allowance for where in a ride the climb comes, but the rules are as follows: -
Category 1: Anything between an 8km hill @ 8% and a 20km hill at 5%
Category 2: 5km at 8% to 15km at 4%
Category 3: 1km @ 10% to 6km @ 5%
Category 4: 2km @ 5% to 5km @ 2% - this fits neatly with my rule of not allowing any hill with less than 100m of climbing into the 'list'.
Using these Tour de France criteria, the categories would be as follows...
Category 3
Cheston Combe, Backwell
Bleadon Hill from Elborough
Blagdon (Two Trees)
Highfield Lane, Compton Martin
Harptree Hill, Compton Martin
Smitham Hill, East Harptree
Bristol Hill, Wells
Ebbor Lane and Deerleap, Easton
Stancombe Lane, Westbury-sub-Mendip
Westfield Lane, Rodney Stoke
West Mendip Way, Draycott
Old Bristol Road, Wells
Cheddar Gorge
Shipham Road, Cheddar
Cleeve Hill Road, Cleeve
Wrington Hill
Limeburn Hill
Winford - Dundry (Dundry Lane)
Category 4
Brockley Combe
Winscombe to Trotts Corner
A38 Cowslip Green to Bristol Airport
Bleadon Hill from Bleadon Bridge
Burrington Combe
Wrington - Long Lane, Redhill - Bristol Airport
No Category awarded
A38 Shute Shelve
Winscombe Hill
Interesting - nothing I've chosen to include on the actual list is less than category 4.
It would appear that the TdF categories bring far more into category 3. I would suggest that this is a function of the distances and exertion involved in completing the TdF and so, on the whole, I think Phil price's system is probably better for grading our Mendip hills.
Comments gladly accepted - please let me know what you think.
DP
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