Query re: Observatory elevation

[rumon]

Wondering whether any of you dude(ttes) and your Garmins know the elevation gain of Observatory hill. Cheers!

[sylvan]

Wondering whether any of you dude(ttes) and your Garmins know the elevation gain of Observatory hill. Cheers!

Looks like about 170 metres, 52m to 222m. Maybe I'll go check now to be sure

[sylvan]

Oops, I think that included climbing from Red Barn. Just did it and the Gremlin Edge 500 with baro alt said 101m a couple of bike lengths past the bottom gate and 228m at the start of the parking lot at the base of the big dome. So 127m net gainage from gate to top, a few more if you start at West Saanich.

[rumon]

Cool, thanks, Sylvan. Appreciate the dedication to the cause!

[sylvan]

Thanks for the inspiration to get out there. I did Willis Point after the observatory. That is a grind right there. There's a nasty kick immediately past the Ross-Durrance turnoff, 600m @ 8.5% avg, including two sharp bits that SportTracks says are 14% and 22%. The climb back from the firehall is 1.4 km @ 8.5% with a bad bad stretch of 700m @ 11.5%. I was experimenting with the some of the Garmin's elevation settings and had the vertical speed showing. The mountain goats in the tour can do about 1800 metres per hour, after a refill at least. At the start of this climb I was seeing 1500, 1600, and I thought, I'm Contador, dammit, even though I'm the same height and 30 pounds heavier. That was when I blew up 20 seconds into the climb and it dropped to 1000 m/h. I thought, ok, I'm not Contador, I'm an idiot, and I was able to stabilize it at around 1200 m/h and get to the top, and rest, after about 4 minutes of that.

[rumon]

Super-cool intel - love it! Now even more motivated to get me a Garmin. Should be fun to have on board for TransRockies.