La Barranca Road, Los Altos Hills map

Statistics:

Max. grade: 16%
Main climb:
Avg. grade: 6.5% (elev. gain/dist)
Length: 0.35 miles (0.56 km)
Elev. gain: 120 feet (37 m)
Entire profile:
Avg. grade: 7.0%
Length: 0.38 miles (0.61 km)
Climb: 130 feet (40 m)
Descent: 10 feet (3 m)

Description:

La Barranca connects Purissima Rd. and Elena. The climbing doesn't start until near the the 280 underpass. It rises briefly before the underpass, then drops briefly on the other side before beginning the short steep run up to Elena.

Altimeter altitude

(Altitude linearly interpolated from altimeter samples, and smoothed with a 0.04mi gaussian.)

Each horizontal line is 100 feet. Each vertical line is 0.2 miles.

Gradiometer grade

(Grade linearly interpolated from gradiometer samples, and smoothed with a 0.04mi gaussian.)

Each horizontal line is 2% grade. Each vertical line is 0.2 miles.

Altimeter grade

(Grade linearly interpolated from altimeter samples, and smoothed with a 0.20mi gaussian.)

Each horizontal line is 2% grade. Each vertical line is 0.2 miles.

Comparison of grades

(Green grade is from the gradiometer, magenta grade is from the altimeter, and white is where they overlap.)

Each horizontal line is 2% grade. Each vertical line is 0.2 miles.

Overall (averaging my first 20 hills), the gradiometer grade averages 0.63 (% grade) higher than the altimeter grade, with a standard deviation of 4.5 (% grade per road). This error may be due to:

In the end, though, I think that each individual sample is accurate to within about 2% for that instantaneous segment of road. My results may not always agree with my altimeter, but they are generally repeatable within 1%. I think that I just need to take more samples to generate more accurate graphs.

Raw Data:

Dist    Grade   Alti.   Location
----    -----   ------  --------
0.00    -3%     410	start - Purissima                        
0.12    11%     430	12903 - short rise up to underpass       
0.17     6%     450	under 280                                
0.21    -7%     450	short drop after underpass               
0.23     6%     440	climbing starts                          
0.27    14%     470	gentle left bend                         
0.31    16%     490	gentle right bend                        
0.35    13%     530	13119 La Barranca - flattens here        
0.38     2%     530	end - Elena Rd                           


Back to Lucas's cycling gradiometer page.