Climbing a hill isn’t just about mind over matter. It’s also about physical strength and learning to work the gears on your bike. This is why even the most adventurous and skilled cyclists take a quick glance at a route before venturing off, so they know the climbs they’re about to conquer.
More specifically, paying attention to where the hills are along a given route, as well as the gradient of a hill, can help you prepare both physically and mentally for the ride to come.
Here, we explain why it’s worth your time to scan your ride or race for hills, and share the best apps and websites to help you find hills in your area.
Why are knowing hill gradients important?
You want to know the grade or gradient of a hill—a.k.a. the steepness of a hill—because it can help you prepare for the demands of any event or ride. Most importantly, it can help you determine your climbing approach, based on your fitness level and the gears you have, says Hunter Allen, founder and owner of Peaks Coaching Group. Steeper hills require more muscular strength and cardiovascular fitness, he says.
“If you’re pushing really hard with a lot of force, but pedaling slow up a steep climb, that's very different in terms of the stress on your body, than if you’re pushing a very easy gear,” says Allen. Pedaling slower with greater force puts stress on your muscles and requires more energy, whereas pedaling at a faster cadence with less force places the stress on your cardiovascular system, Allen explains.
If you know how steep a hill is, then you can strategize your climb approach—whether you’ll rely on cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength, or both.
You may find certain hills more or less challenging, depending on your fitness level. But here’s a general guideline to help you gauge the difficulty level of a hill before you head out, according to Allen:
- 1-2 percent/a false flat: This is not a steep hill and you can complete it with most gearing on your bike.
- 3-4 percent/easy: This is a relatively gradual hill and is also not very steep.
- 5-8 percent/hard: This grade will require a degree of cardiovascular fitness or muscular strength to climb.
- 9-12 percent/very hard: Hills of 8 percent or more will require easier gears.
- 13 percent and more/extremely hard: Shift into your easiest gear and take it as slow as you need to.
Ultimately, knowing the inclines you’re up against, including when and where the steepest climbs are along your route, can help you pace out your ride and better your performance so you don’t burn out. If you take the extra time to review your route to see the grades and how long they last, you can develop a plan that will help you ride your best.
How can you find hills in your area?
The GPS map on your phone isn’t going to cut it when it comes to finding hills in your area, especially if you plan to venture off the grid. In this case, here are a few apps and websites you can use to scout the hills near you.
Ride With GPS
Ride with GPS is a very intuitive software you can use on your phone or computer to map out your upcoming ride. Whether you use the “explore” tab to search for routes, or create your own, this software easily indicates the minimum, maximum, and average hill grade along the route so you know exactly what’s to come.
To see the details of a route, select it, click “view full details,” and you’ll find all the information you need to know on the left hand side. There’s also an elevation, surface, and grade graph at the bottom of the screen, which can help you visualize the hills along your route.
If you’re training for a specific event, you may find the route you’re training for on this app through the “explore” tab.
Also, Ride with GPS is compatible with several different devices including Wahoo, Garmin, Apple, and Android, so you can follow along on these devices when you venture out.
For free, you can record rides, create routes using various maps such as Google Satellite, Hybrid, and Terrain, set goals, and build collections. For $10 a month, the premium subscription allows you to add custom cues to your route to call out specific checkpoints; take advantage of heatmaps, so you know where people ride the most near you; get turn-by-turn voice notifications as you ride; and a few other customizable features. Both memberships allow you to explore a library of different routes frequented by other users who share photos and write reviews about their experience, all of which can make preparing for a specific climb easier.
Trailforks
This software is great for mountain bike rides, plus you can use it for gravel, e-bike, and road rides, as well as other outdoor activities like hiking or running. Trailfork offers a ton of different features. For starters, you can filter through routes based on your area, discipline, and difficulty level. With the route finder feature—located in the “routes” tab—you can search for popular routes and customize them to meet your needs.
Once you’ve chosen or mapped out a route, you can find the elevation information by selecting the “load elevation” button on the right side of the screen. This allows you easy access to the elevation graph and indicates the highest point along the route, total length of climbs and descents, and a few other metrics. You can also refer to user comments, photos, and videos of pre-existing routes so you’re best prepared for the hills and other road conditions to come.
You’ll need a pro account ($5/month) to unlock every route recommendation, various map types including heatmaps, and other features that can make mapping out your route easier. The software is compatible with Garmin, so you can send routes directly to your device. However, if you’re using another device, you’ll need to download a GPX file and then upload the route to it.
Plotaroute.com
You can create your own route, or let this software make one for you, whether you have a free or premium account. Plus, you can explore routes created by other riders, runners, and walkers.
Plotaroute.com gives you an in-depth look at your route statistics, which includes the steepest uphill and downhill climbs, lowest and highest points, and length of the longest uphill and downhill sections along your route.
Free account holders get unlimited access to public routes; can map up to five private routes; can generate two routes a day using the make-me-a-route feature, which creates a route based on customizable parameters; and one heatmap credit per day. While premium users ($27/month) get access to a host of other features including satellite maps; 20 make-me-a-route credits per day; 30 heatmaps credits per day; 500 private routes, as well, as unlimited access to public routes; and more. You’ll have to upload your routes to your device using your smartphone if you’re not a premium member.
Strava
Strava segments take the hassle out of finding hills to ride in your area, but you’ll have to pay an $80 annual subscription or a $12 monthly subscription fee to do so. You can filter segments—portions of roads or trails created by other riders and used to compare times—by length, elevation, surface, and activity so it is super easy to navigate and find a route near you.
You can also map out your own route, or build one based on your destination, surface preference, and more. Either way, all route options allow you to access elevation data, which will make visualizing your approach to tackling hills much easier.
Also, depending on the event you want to train for, you may find the route on Strava as (just check the event website for the link).
Monique LeBrun joined the editorial staff in October 2021 as the associate health and fitness editor. She has a master’s degree in journalism and has previously worked for ABC news and Scholastic. She is an avid runner who loves spending time outside.
