Question 1:

Can a Climber change his/her Climb Team?

Answer 1:

Climber can Climb for one Climb Team only at a time.

If a Climber wishes to change to a different Climb Team, the Climber merely re-registers as a Climber on a different Climb Team, whereupon the Climber can then log Climb Times for its new Climb Team.

The Climber’s prior Climb Times remain the property of the Climb Team that the Climber was a member of when its Climbs were logged. Climb Team rankings are calculated on the fastest Climb Time of the top 5 Climbers in each Climb Team. Hence, if a Climber changes its Climb Team, its former Climbs will still be accredited to the former Climb Team. However, its Climb Times logged to its former Climb Team will still be counted in calculating the “Top 10” Climbers within each of 18 age divisions [10 male and 8 female] which are invited to the Annual KOM Challenge weekend. So a Climber’s opportunity to qualify in the Top 10 for its age division is unaffected by changing its Climb Team.

To determine the annual age division King of the Mountain Climbers, the Top 10 Climbers for each of 18 age divisions [10 male and 8 female] are invited to an annual KOM Weekend Challenge with -
* 5 Climbs on Sat from amongst the Northern Region Climbs; and
* 4 Climbs on Sunday from the Southern Region Climbs.
The lowest aggregate Climb Times over the nine Climbs are awarded King of the Mountain for that year, and receive a $500 cash prize donated by the Developer of this site, Phil Johnston.

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Question 2:

Why is the steepness of each Climb listed in both % gradient and degrees?

Answer 2:

Most countries road/traffic regulatory authorities list the -
* angle of an elevation of an uphill; or
* angle of a decline over a downhill,
in degrees between zero and 90 degrees - because a right angle triangle has 90 degrees.

Conversely, the vast majority of hill steepness measurements in cycling parlance are equated in gradient where the metres escalated are dividend by the metres cycled. So if a cyclist elevates 100m more above sea level over a 1,000m Climb, the gradient is 10%.

The 13.8km L' Alpe d'Heuz elevates 1,090m from an altitude of 760m above sea level to the KOM at 1,850m, with a Climb Gradient of 7.9%.

Below are the associated formulae:

Climb Degrees:
Climb degree is value of angle in rectangular triangle with sides as A and B. The angle is D:
D = arcsin (A / B) * 180 / PI
where arcsin is a specific trigonometric function, while PI is special number.
PI is approx equal to 3.14
arcsin(x) is approx equal to x + (x ^ 3) / 6.
Ipso facto: D = (G + (G ^ 3) / 6) * 180 / 3.14

Climb Gradient:
G = Climb gradient
D = Climb distance
E = Climb elevation
Ipso facto: G = E / D (or G = (E / D * 100) %)

Question 3:

What is the ranking system which the UCI rank the climbs in races?

Answer 3:

A brief explanation of UCI Rated climbs appears at Georgia's UCI Rated Climbs http://www.sadlebred.com/maps/garatedclimbs.html

Climbs in Road Races are rated by Category which is a function of –
Length
Steepness;
Placement of the climb in the Stage:
4th Category - the lowest category, climbs of 200-500 feet (70-150m)
3rd Category - climbs of 500-1600 feet (150-500m)
2nd Category - climbs of 1600-2700 feet. (500-800m)
1st Category - climbs of 2700-5000feet (800-1500m)
Hors Category - the hardest, climbs of 5000 feet+ (1500m+)