20% hills and road bikes

Guyzie

Hi Feel,
Certain possible to get up those sort of inclines on a road bike with the right gearing:-)

Here are some clips from the North Cornwall Tor back in April and other hilly events.

http://www.cyclosport.org/video.aspx

As anyone who rode it will tell you every climb seemed to have a sign post at the start with 20-30%(!) on it.
Most folk rode compacts with a bottom gear of 34/26'ish, I was on a triple 30/25.
Like most I walked some of the steeper sections, but quite a few pedalled all the way with the exception of maybe Bishops Wood at 28% which came at 85 miles. Think we were all getting a little tired by then:-)

Gearing aside I think the best advice is just to keep practising on the hills, they do get "easier" as you get fitter.

Cheers,
Guy

blorg

ColinJ wrote:

Think i might investigate a lower rear cassette as at present i've got a 12 - 25.

I have a bike with 12-25 and another with 12-27 (both triples with a 30 at the front.) It's not a completely fair comparison as the one with 12-27 is a kilo or two lighter but it is certainly easier to spin up very steep gradients. A cassette change is quick and easy too so no harm trying it out.

ColinJ

blorg wrote:

ColinJ wrote:

Think i might investigate a lower rear cassette as at present i've got a 12 - 25.

I have a bike with 12-25 and another with 12-27 (both triples with a 30 at the front.) It's not a completely fair comparison as the one with 12-27 is a kilo or two lighter but it is certainly easier to spin up very steep gradients. A cassette change is quick and easy too so no harm trying it out.

Actually it was feel that wrote that - I already have a 14-28 cassette (campag). I decided that I was happy to give up 12 and 13 sprockets for everyday riding on the steep hills round these parts. I can pedal up to about 36 mph on my 52/14 and If I want to go faster than that (downhill!) I just get my head down and let my weight do the work.

I climbed Park Rash in 2006. I'd heard about it and worked out a nice 200km ride specifically to take it in. I was lighter and fitter then. I've a feeling that I had a 13-26 cassette on, so I would have used 30/26 on the climb. It's probably the toughest one that I've done so far. It's the only time that I've actually been applauded when out on my bike. There were crowds of sightseers in the car park higher up and they ran to the side of the road and clapped as I grovelled up past them!

Anonymous

Yes Park Rash is very steep to start with...33% for the 1st very small section then onto a 25% section for a fair ole time before it relents.

Boltby Bank is another trauma..just getting consistently steeper the higher you climb...upto 30% IMO...

Rosedale Chimney - Steepest piece of Road in the UK (if not the world)...400 meters of tarmac which averages 33%!...

Honister Pass has very steep sections aswell.

But theres steep, and then theres steep with length...

Wrynose Pass from the East....just gets steeper all the way until 30%...absolute brutal with the sheer length of the beast aswell....

But the top 2...Hardknott Pass from the West...utterly disgraceful in terms of brutal steepness mixed with huge height gain and length....and my other 'experience'...Bwlch Y Groes from Dinas Mawddwy...Maybe not as steep (20-25% max) but goes on so unlrelenting for such a distance it staggers beleif....these 2 make things like Park Rash seem very reasonable....

I manage all these climbs on a Triple 30x27...its never let me down so far...but on the likes of these afore mentioned horrors I feel I need every tooth!...but yes...a 20% gradient is a blessing on the likes of Rosedale and Hardknott and is where you would 'get a rest'!

feel

Term1te wrote:

I used to live in Cudham and know that hill well, from Downe, down through Hangrove past the Girl Guide camp and up to Cudham Church. The last bit of the hill is know as test hill, my father tells me that as children they would wait by the last bend and for a small fee help to push cars up the last bit. My mother's Morris traveller used to struggle with 6 children in the back up that hill! Very nice pub near the top, the Blacksmith's Arms, about 200 m from the top of the hill on the right.

And i turned left well there's always next time

All the girl guides were there camping, but what was more scary was the house halfway up the hill with a rottweiler, alsation and bull terrier? all loose in the garden and they went berserk as i passed them. There was no way i could have speeded up to get away mind i suppose i could have turned around


Thanks for the link to the video clips Guy

Pokerface

Yes - 25% over 1 mile. Tough, but doable. Used a 34-27 to do it and just kept pounding away at it.


Tried to get up Mytholm Steeps today in the Pain in the Pennines. Got ALMOST to the top of the steepest bit before the bike just stopped moving. Had to walk up the last 20 feet or so.

azzerb wrote:

I think Winnats pass is apparently 25% over 1 mile. So yes it should be possible

nickwill

Hardknott in the Lake District is 33% at it's steepest and is met at 100 miles in the Fred Whitton Sportive. Low gears help, and loads of practice.

Anonymous

I was in the north york moors the other week and there was this long drag, 20-25% gradients, I managed to get up it at about 4-6mph but I only had a compact and my large ring on my cassette was huge compared to most road bikes, like 30+!

deal

constition hill in swansea is pretty steep and cobblestoned just for extra pain.

According to some tram geek site maximum gradient is 28.6%

pic
http://www.flickr.com/photos/90563919@N00/358415306/

ps. i know some guys who work for the construction company who got the job to completely re-cobble the entire hill a few years ago, apparently workers were walking off the job on a daily basis

giant_man

ColinJ wrote:

feel wrote:

Is it possible to cycle up a 20% hill (the ones with two little arrows on ordnance survey maps) on a road bike? At the weekend was in south london and cycled round Biggin hill, and from a tiny village called Down towards cudham? there was a super serious hill which killed me to get up, but i was on an old Raleigh bike whose lowest gear was F24-R28 on a 26" wheel. My road bike has a triple but it is still way taller than that and TBH 10% hills are a major struggle let alone steeper ones.
Just to put things in perspective i'm 51 and probs 2 stone over weight at thirteen and a half stone.
Any comments appreciated.

Well I was 51 last year and 2 stone overweight at 14 and a bit stone and I got up a local climb called Mytholm Steeps which has a maximum gradient of 25%, so yes, it is possible. Pretty hard work though! I used a bottom gear of 30(F) 28(R). If you ride steep hills often enough, they do start to get easier after a while.



You can see a slideshow of the climb here. Note - I loaded the pictures in the wrong order so go to the last one and play it backwards.

PS I know riders in their 70s who do these climbs so you can't use being 51 as an excuse !

Wow looks a great ride Colin. I wanna do that!

ColinJ

giant mancp wrote:

Wow looks a great ride Colin. I wanna do that!

You ought to bring a bike up for a holiday some time . You can see what it is like round here in those photographs (obviously that is a particularly severe example!) Lot of nice hilly routes here in the South Pennines. The Yorkshire Dales are within riding distance to the north, the Peak District to the south, and some great bits of Lancashire (The Forest of Bowland) to the north west. Leeds and Manchester are both less than an hour away if you (or your 'other half') wanted to do 'city stuff' while you were up.

Here's a photograph taken from one of the hills looking down on my town (Mytholm Steeps is about a mile behind the camera).

Compton77

If it's the same hill that i think we're talking about (Cudham, is it the hill at the end of Cudham Lane, currently with the overhanging branch at the top?!) at some points (according to my computer) it ramps up to 33%. We do it every Saturday morning on our club run. Never gets any easier (i'm on a 34 x 25 for that climb)..

feel

Compton77 wrote:

If it's the same hill that i think we're talking about (Cudham, is it the hill at the end of Cudham Lane, currently with the overhanging branch at the top?!) at some points (according to my computer) it ramps up to 33%. We do it every Saturday morning on our club run. Never gets any easier (i'm on a 34 x 25 for that climb)..

Interesting to see this thread resurrected, especially as i will be down in London first weekend in december. If the weather is halfway decent i will have my roadbike with me and see if i can get up it on that. I will have a generous 30 x 27 but i know it will still be a struggle for me, mind being able to say i've got up a 33% hill will be just the motivation i need.

stabilised

I'll put in a word for the Weardale area in the North Pennines, too, for those wanting to test themselves out against some fairly serious gradients and/or long duration. Softley Bank (the B6278) heading south from Stanhope towards Teesdale warrants a couple of arrows on the OS map for its first pitch, with another steep section just past the double hairpins, as does the unclassified road heading north from Westgate, also in Weardale. Another unclassified road heading north from Ireshopeburn a little further west in Weardale only has one arrow (although with three separate pitches marked that way), but my computer has the first of those at 20%. Over the top of that you go down a bit of road marked at 20%+, too, which is where I have gone as fast as I ever hope to go on a bike (56.5mph). Heading south from St Johns Chapel will take you over to Langdon Beck in Teesdale via the highest road pass in England (over 2000feet) with a total vertical gain for the climb of over 1000feet. From the hamlet of Hunstanworth near the Derwent reservoir heading towards Weardale there is another brute - 800feet vertical gain and four arrow marked sections on the OS map witha maximum of 18%. Plenty of other long (up to four miles) and testing climbs around here, and unlike the Lakes or Peaks there is usually very little traffic - I have ridden for an hour on summer evenings on minor roads and seen no other traffic of any kind at all. I'm on a triple (and use all the rings on almost every ride) with a 30x23 bottom gear. When fit (by my standards - I gave up racing 20 years ago - no ability - and only have the time to ride for about three hours a week in a good week, so not that fit) I can justabout get up anything round here on that.

feel

stabilised wrote:

I'll put in a word for the Weardale area in the North Pennines, too, for those wanting to test themselves out against some fairly serious gradients and/or long duration. Softley Bank (the B6278) heading south from Stanhope towards Teesdale warrants a couple of arrows on the OS map for its first pitch, with another steep section just past the double hairpins, as does the unclassified road heading north from Westgate, also in Weardale. Another unclassified road heading north from Ireshopeburn a little further west in Weardale only has one arrow (although with three separate pitches marked that way), but my computer has the first of those at 20%. Over the top of that you go down a bit of road marked at 20%+, too, which is where I have gone as fast as I ever hope to go on a bike (56.5mph). Heading south from St Johns Chapel will take you over to Langdon Beck in Teesdale via the highest road pass in England (over 2000feet) with a total vertical gain for the climb of over 1000feet. From the hamlet of Hunstanworth near the Derwent reservoir heading towards Weardale there is another brute - 800feet vertical gain and four arrow marked sections on the OS map witha maximum of 18%. Plenty of other long (up to four miles) and testing climbs around here, and unlike the Lakes or Peaks there is usually very little traffic - I have ridden for an hour on summer evenings on minor roads and seen no other traffic of any kind at all. I'm on a triple (and use all the rings on almost every ride) with a 30x23 bottom gear. When fit (by my standards - I gave up racing 20 years ago - no ability - and only have the time to ride for about three hours a week in a good week, so not that fit) I can justabout get up anything round here on that.

That brings back a lot of memories - as a small boy we had a caravan at Westgate and later we used to have a holiday cottage (read shack, no electricity or water) at Eastgate
and until fairly recently my dad lived at St John's Chapel. I know much of that area really well and as stabilised says it is brilliant area to see and cycle in. Can't believe that you're not fit mind if you can ride that road from Stanhope to Teesdale

Headhuunter

I know that hill, isn't it the one the Dulwich Paragon Saturday ride goes down (not up)? However I have ridden up it a couple of times. Last time the tarmac was a bit wet an covered in slippery brown leaves which had fallen from the trees so my back wheel kept spinning as I tried to accelerate up it

Compton77

I know that hill, isn't it the one the Dulwich Paragon Saturday ride goes down (not up)?

Don't think so, the one we go down is Beddlestead Lane, the climb i'm thinking of is the top of Cudham Lane before the little villagey bit.

boybiker

Near to me there is a hill called Old Winchester Hill which gets upto 25% in places and its Loong as well Ive done it a few times, so it is possible to do these sort of climbs.
It is a bit of a bastard as you reach a point where it starts to go down a bit and you think you've done it, only to find that it starts going up again as you go round the corner

John C.

Confidence is what you need and if low gears give you confidence then go for low gears. Miles will bring you streangth and hills will become easier. The best I've done is 33% on a standard triple with a 12-25 rear, I will admit that my other bike has a 26 tooth granny and I can put a 32 on the back, I used to use this bike for the hills but as I got stronger I didn't need the lower gears.
Hills I love 'em, and I'm 50 in a couple of months time

feel

well this is the hill i think i am talking about - sorry it's on an estate agents map :oops:

If you follow the linkand click the + magnification 3 times and switch to hybrid view the cross should be on or near downe road and the hill is coming from downe in the NW towards cudham http://www.home.co.uk/search/by_map.htm ... t=51.32203

Are we all thinking of the same hill Is this the one compton77 that your gps shows as having a 33% bit?

synchronicity

There are a plethora of steep streets here in the North of Tenerife.
One of the steepest, Calle Monroy, has an average grade of 28.1% over 750m. It peaks at close to 40% in places!! :twisted: :shock:

I wouldn't even attempt it. Going down on my MTB was scary enough! :oops:

trig1

what gradiant is the bealach na ba?

schweiz

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bealach_na_Ba

trickeyja

There are several steep hills in the Cotswolds area; I regularly go up Aggs Hill which is just under 20%. It is a tough climb and usually takes me down to 5-6mph in the steepest section.

A real challenge is Bushcombe Lane near Woodmancote. This is marked as a 25% hill but it is quite probably closer to 30% at the steepest point. It is ridable but I find it a struggle on my compact Allez Elite. I took this video going down it, 21 months ago, on my mountain bike. The steep bit is just before the car: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PmDiFm5kPPc

flite

How do you determine the gradient of a hill?
The arrows on the OS maps aren't too precise. Is it from some computer programme such as tracklogs? I never use a lot of the info on my bike computer - average sped etc, but I've often wished it had a gradient detector! I don't have to go looking for hills as I live in the Durham Dales.

John C.

It peaks at close to 40% in places!! :twisted: :shock:

I wouldn't even attempt it. Going down on my MTB was scary enough! :oops:[/quote]

What type of surface is this ? Must have been a laugh watching it being black topped. ( I know , I'm sad :oops: )

a_n_t

Flite wrote:

How do you determine the gradient of a hill?
The arrows on the OS maps aren't too precise. .

Garmin edge 705 for me but you can bet anything with 2 arrows on an OS map will get you out of the saddle!

STEFANOS4784

feel wrote:

ColinJ wrote:

Well I was 51 last year and 2 stone overweight at 14 and a bit stone and I got up a local climb called Mytholm Steeps which has a maximum gradient of 25%, so yes, it is possible. Pretty hard work though! I used a bottom gear of 30(F) 28(R). If you ride steep hills often enough, they do start to get easier after a while.


PS I know riders in their 70s who do these climbs so you can't use being 51 as an excuse !

Thanks for that Colin, just what i needed to read - mind there is a couple of scary pics in your slide show
Think i might investigate a lower rear cassette as at present i've got a 12 - 25.

I'll swap ya, i've got um, hmmm, actually have to check, seems quite easy though and cant get decent speed downhill on my 'good' bike, i think it's 105 and has only had abot 150 miles n it, interested?

Anonymous

I think in the Uk that we push the limits of what is possible with a Road Bike....theres sections of Rosedale Chimney that I'd say were 40%....theres also sections on Hardknott Pass which are just insane aswell...the insides of the bends would be near 45%....a few ramps on the Devils Staircase were mental aswell....these are possible...just....usually out the saddle and getting the balance correct between keeping the front wheel down but also getting enough weight on rear wheel to avoid wheel slip.......now in the NY Moors and the lakes the place is littered with many 25%+ ers...most are smaller climbs...but its when you mix steep with length that the stakes get raised...more brute strength and determination more than anything else...keeping the bike going for more than 10mins on very steep gradients is just so tough!....and heres the toughest:-

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7PKbLIr-2Oo

Sheptastic

trickeyja wrote:

There are several steep hills in the Cotswolds area; I regularly go up Aggs Hill which is just under 20%. It is a tough climb and usually takes me down to 5-6mph in the steepest section.

A real challenge is Bushcombe Lane near Woodmancote. This is marked as a 25% hill but it is quite probably closer to 30% at the steepest point. It is ridable but I find it a struggle on my compact Allez Elite. I took this video going down it, 21 months ago, on my mountain bike. The steep bit is just before the car: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PmDiFm5kPPc

wow thats a cracker, though if you didnt know about the pothole by the farm then some damage could be done - to your face