Best road climbs - South Wales

jameses

oldwelshman wrote:

Ok hardest climb within reach of cardiff, up to Rhydfelyn, turn right to go up past crematorium, thats a nice start, then turn left and head past golf club over to eglwysilan and abertridwr.
Very very steep and just after you struggle over the steepest part you will hit a cattle grid on 17% then another bit of 25%.
There is a pic of me doing it in link in signature.

Went up this one yesterday, it's a bit of a beast :twisted: Here's the route I took, links together a few nice climbs:
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/hill-climbing-1
Not all that long (50 miles), but quite hard on the legs!

oldwelshman

JamesEs wrote:

oldwelshman wrote:

Ok hardest climb within reach of cardiff, up to Rhydfelyn, turn right to go up past crematorium, thats a nice start, then turn left and head past golf club over to eglwysilan and abertridwr.
Very very steep and just after you struggle over the steepest part you will hit a cattle grid on 17% then another bit of 25%.
There is a pic of me doing it in link in signature.

Went up this one yesterday, it's a bit of a beast :twisted: Here's the route I took, links together a few nice climbs:
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/hill-climbing-1
Not all that long (50 miles), but quite hard on the legs!

Nice little route as you went over Senghennydd which is also a nice climb with great views, you could have gone on to risca and gone over MAchen mountain, then hrough Rudry and over Caerphilly, thats a very hard 50
By the way what gear did you use? I use whichever is the lowest depending on bike lol but I did struggle on a 39 x 23 after a long ride !!! CAnt believe I used to get up it on a 42 21 when we only had 6 sprockets

jameses

oldwelshman wrote:

Nice little route as you went over Senghennydd which is also a nice climb with great views, you could have gone on to risca and gone over MAchen mountain, then hrough Rudry and over Caerphilly, thats a very hard 50
By the way what gear did you use? I use whichever is the lowest depending on bike lol but I did struggle on a 39 x 23 after a long ride !!! CAnt believe I used to get up it on a 42 21 when we only had 6 sprockets

:shock: After having been on a few sportives, I like to think of myself as a half decent climber, but I was struggling on a 30x23!

The Senghennydd climb is one of my favourites, challenging but not leg-destroying (unlike that one out of Pontypridd!) and the gentle undulations over the common as a reward (especially with the prevailing wind behind! ). I'll have to try your route next time, as I'm still exploring the area.

oldwelshman

Theres quite a few climbs around same area I used. Theres another past the volvo factory that gos from the a470 up to eglwys also so you end up in abertridwr again. You can always reverse the route and then when in ystrad go up tredomen then turn left over to senghenydd, just to change the scenary.