VAM?
Does anyone pay attention to Strava's VAM measure? From the website:
VAM measures your Vertical Ascent in Meters/hour – it measures how quickly you are traveling upward. VAM is useful for comparing your effort on different hills and segments, and is used by both cyclists and runners. To get a high VAM score, grades between 6-10% generally present the best opportunity to ascend quickly, as they are steep enough to avoid wind, and gradual enough to allow unrestricted motion.
I'm new to climbing and my numbers for my first three hills are:
- McIntyre Rd - 97m @ 4.8% - 827
- Norton Summit - 277m @ 5% - 813 (the last 100m @ 4.8% - 902)
- Grove Way - 146m @ 4.8% - 837
Does anyone use this as a training tool to measure improvement across different ascents?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Third Man on -
I love VAM. I use it as a faux index of power on climbs with a reasonably cosistent gradient. As gradient increases your ability to generate higher VAM numbers increases. See the work of Lance personal Doctor *cough cough** Michele Ferrari.
http://www.53x12.com/do/show?page=article&id=48
For a humbilng lesson in why we aren't Pro's or even close have a look at the amazing figures here:
http://www.sportsscientists.com/2009/07/tour-2009-contador-climb.html
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Permalink Reply by Darren on -
I got up over 900 for the first time on Anstey today - 1000 for me is still a pipe dream at this point!
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Permalink Reply by Rob Wood on -
1000 min, really? Last time I broke 1000 I was pushing pretty hard, cant imagine this as a base!
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Permalink Reply by Darren on
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Just to follow up on this, I've noticed as my climbing is improved that my VAM is now consistently in the 900s and including a 995 on the Smith Hill KOM last week (nearly there RD6!). I haven't been able to re-climb the same hills to get a good gauge for my improvement but I feel I'm pushing harder and the VAM is reflecting that. Interesting...
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