A93 GRADIENTS

bygone era · Post by **bygone era** » 20 Jan 2011, 2:13pm

Hi does anyone know what the gradients are like on the a93 between perth and grantown on spey are like especially the big climbs i will be cycling
from north to south.
regards mick.

Tigerbiten · Post by **Tigerbiten** » 20 Jan 2011, 2:24pm

I use Bike Hike to plot my routes.
Put your route into it.
Tick show elevation data then pick gradients.

It looks it max's at ~10% between perth and grantown on spey.
So its going to be the length of the drag up thats the killer, not the steepness.

Luck ...........

irc · Post by **irc** » 20 Jan 2011, 2:31pm

You'll get a few like this one. On the A939 approaching the Lecht ski area from the north. The climb from Braemar south on the A93 past the Glenshee ski area is much longer and gradual. Only the last mile or so steepens much.

The Mechanic · Post by **The Mechanic** » 20 Jan 2011, 2:42pm

The A93 doesn't go from Grantown to Perth. It goes from Aberdeen to Perth. You have to take the A939 Tomintoul road over the Lecht (20%) and then you have a choice. Either via Dinnet onto the A93 (heavy undulations rather than hills) or turn right at Corgarff and over Tom Dubh (pretty steep but one heck of a downhill on hte other side)to Gainshiel Lodge. You can then take the road left to Ballater onto the A93 or right over The Strone (v.steep) to Crathie.

Once on hte A93 you have the Cairnwell to tackle over Glenshee. Again, long drag but not too steep from the north.

On the other hand, if you mean the A95 the A9 through Aviemore them it is a different story. I have not cycles that route but I believe Drumtocter is the biggy.

Check I am trying to find the link for Scotish hill gradients, bearing in mind that those given are average. 20% is common in places on all these hills.

Here it is http://www.salite.ch/struttura/salite.asp?stato=Scozia

rualexander · Post by **rualexander** » 20 Jan 2011, 3:17pm

Here are some height profiles for the route from Grantown on Spey to Blairgowrie via A939, B976 and A93. Taken from Fugawi 1:50,000 OS mapping. Ignore sharp spikes as they are caused by inaccuracies in tracing the road line with the mouse, which can also affect the stated total ascent and descent figures. I will try and do the same for the A9 route for comparison. I stopped at Blairgowrie because from there to Perth is mostly 'flat'.