Criterion Summit

Overview

Criterion Summit is a Category 1 climb in the United States, running 9.8 km from base to top. Over that distance it delivers a net elevation gain of 702 m, lifting you from a start elevation of 317 m to a summit at 1019 m. At 7.19% average, it is a sustained, serious effort that belongs firmly in the upper end of a hard day's riding.

The number to watch is the gap between net gain and total ascent. You climb 702 m net, but the road actually forces 790 m of total ascent — an extra 88 m of climbing spread across dips and false flats. That undulation means the climb is not a single clean ramp: you give back roughly 88 m of descent along the way and have to re-earn it. Expect the effort to feel choppier than the average gradient alone suggests.

How the Gradient Unfolds

A 7.19% average is deceptive on a climb with this much undulation. Because 88 m of the total ascent is spent recovering ground lost to descents, the steep sections have to be steeper than 7.19% to compensate. The pitches that matter are sharper than the number on paper.

• Recovery and false-flat sections where the road eases or briefly tips downhill
• Repeated short climbs stacked back-to-back, each one resetting your rhythm
• A steepest ramp noticeably above the 7.19% average, where compensating for lost elevation bites hardest

Ride the average and you will be under-prepared for the ramps and over-working the flats. Read the road, not the summary figure.

Pacing Notes

On an undulating climb, even-effort beats even-speed. Chasing a constant speed forces you to spike hard over every roller and coast the descents, wasting energy. Instead, hold a steady sustainable power output and let your speed rise and fall with the terrain — faster on the eases, slower on the ramps, but the same power throughout.

If you do not know your ceiling, run the FTP estimator first and set a target you can hold for the full 9.8 km. Bank nothing on the descents; use them to recover, then re-apply the same effort on the next pitch.

Gearing

The steepest ramps on Criterion Summit demand real range. Run a compact or sub-compact chainset paired with a wide-range cassette — a 34×32 or 34×34 gives you a spinning gear for the sharp pitches without wrecking your legs early. On a climb this long, cadence preservation matters more than raw strength.

Check your setup before the ride. Confirm the cassette and chainset actually deliver the low gear you expect, and that the drivetrain shifts cleanly under load. Discovering you are over-geared halfway up is a costly mistake.

Summary

• Length: 9.8 km
• Average gradient: 7.19%
• Net elevation gain: 702 m
• Total ascent: 790 m
• Category: 1

Criterion Summit is a genuine Category 1 test: 9.8 km at 7.19% with 88 m of undulation folded into 790 m of total ascent. Pace it by effort, gear it for the steep ramps, and treat the average as a floor rather than the whole story.