THE toughest climb you ever rode and how did you fare ?

Secteur

Got lost in deepest, darkest suburban Blackburn a few weeks ago (of all places!!) - ended up on a street only about 200-300 feet long but at about 27% or more (looked like a wall from the bottom!!).

Anyway, I was at 100% of my limit, weaving and teetering at the top of that short street - another 10 feet and I'd have had to stop!!

chiark

Blimey, and this is the beginner's forum?

pottssteve

This:

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/13264642#climbs

Shortly after I moved to the Netherlands

Steve

owenlars

tkp wrote:

Got plans to ride Manali -- Leh as fast as I can next year; I'll let you know how that goes!

I've walked Manali to Leh. Good luck

nochekmate

Another one to fail the Wrynose & then on to Hardknott combination on 34x25 - think Wrynose is harder riding towards Hardknott than other way.

Once you've stopped it's difficult to clip in again as the terrain is so steep.

SFT

Climbing the Cime De Bonnett 2800M highest road in Europe... rained so hard on the way up I had a bow wave off my front wheel!

Was then freezing on the way down too...

blackpoolkev

Soon after redicovering my love of cycling,I rode to the top of Beacon Fell through Crombleholme Fold.It's not a big hill but I wasn't very fit.

I was panting so hard, I remember thinking"I wonder if this is what it feels like just before you have a heart attack".The next day my ribcage was sore due to the hammering I had given my lungs.I made it to the top without stopping though.

geebee2

Maybe the Hardknott pass, it's tough ( especially near the end of the Fred Whitton route ).

Locally though, this one

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=stroud& ... 3,,0,11.97

This is the start, after a short while the road ( or path, it's barely wide enough for a car ) turns right very steeply up hill. I have not managed to get up it. To have any chance you need a very dry spell, or your rear wheel will spin.

Ezy Rider

anyone ever go up mow cop ?

dennisn

Independence Pass from the Aspen side. Aspen at 7900 feet and the top of the pass at 12095 feet. It was late June. Cold and raining near the top. About 3/4 of the way up my stomach decided that it had had enough of an energy bar I had just chowed down on(perhaps a bit to quickly) and up it came. The rain, the cold, the altitude, the barf, and an unrelentingly long climb all added up to one hell of a day. At least I think it was a day.
I leave it to your imagination as to how I "fared" that day.

Wheelspinner

Out on a lovely summer day some years back riding old hack MTB with road slicks on, headed down through a nearby National Park. I vaguely recalled a map showing this road went down to the river, then along the water's edge for about 10 km and back out.

Rocketed down a scary steep hill to the river to find.... a dead end. Only way out was back up that hill. I had to zig-zag back up it in first gear on an MTB fer crissakes, for about 1.5km before the gradient eased off, in about 30 degree heat and baking sunshine.

Made it, but it was a near-death experience.

There's another road out here in Tasmania called "Bust-Me-Gall Hill" officially! For good reason.. on my old steel 80's race bike with a 6 speed block and 42/52 chainrings... the swearing could be heard for miles climbing that.

tkp

owenlars wrote:

tkp wrote:

Got plans to ride Manali -- Leh as fast as I can next year; I'll let you know how that goes!

I've walked Manali to Leh. Good luck

Haha, well I'm saving up for some lightish wheels and I live in a good spot for altitude training. Did you walk highway 21?
I've spent quite a bit of time up in the Kullu skiing and walking so having recently started cycling the idea to do manali-leh stuck.

eddiebart

Ezy Rider wrote:

anyone ever go up mow cop ?

Have done this three times. I found it a fairly easy grind to the pub and then a bit of a sprint up the steep part.

The last time I rode it a runner said it was easier to cycle than run.

Asterton Bank is muuuuch harder IMO.

The sportif central website is a good read. He's ridden most of the famous UK climbs.

Linds

A lot of hills finish me off, but my absolute nadir was in Wales on day 2 of a 4 day tour.

About 100km into a very hilly 120km day through central Wales I left Llandiloes and went up a right bugger of a hill, but then had an option - stick to the main road or hit the quiet road round a reservoir. I choose the quiet route, as I had for my entire journey (word of advise - don't plan a ride through Wales based entirly on a road atlas).

So i turned off and went down a big steep long(ish) hill just like the one I had just ridden up, with a sinking heart I realised I was going to have to ride uphill again.

This time the road was even steeper, and by that stage I was a beaten man both physically and mentally and ended up collapsing a couple of times. I have no idea how steep, long of what the gradient of the hill is but it did for me in spectacular style.

The next 15km of that ride were uphill and the hardest I have even done, and the last 5kn or so downhill into Machynlleth were scant consulation.

The beastie in question can be found here http://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.h ... &oz=8&gt=1

Happy days - I've just noticed it's got a chevron!

rolf_f

dennisn wrote:

Independence Pass from the Aspen side. Aspen at 7900 feet and the top of the pass at 12095 feet. It was late June. Cold and raining near the top. About 3/4 of the way up my stomach decided that it had had enough of an energy bar I had just chowed down on(perhaps a bit to quickly) and up it came. The rain, the cold, the altitude, the barf, and an unrelentingly long climb all added up to one hell of a day. At least I think it was a day.
I leave it to your imagination as to how I "fared" that day.

I was up that way in early June - 15 foot snowdrifts! Mind you, we drove over but I can imagine how much fun it was! I did ride up Mount Evans which, despite the 14000 feet summit elevation, felt pretty straightforward!

Aside from walking up Hardknott in the Fred, my toughest climb was probably Blakey Bank on my tourer. I was on my low geared, but heavy old tourer riding a Sportive with a friend. He is a runner so, despite being a pretty good climber considering, I tend to whup him on the climbs. This time, he beat me and it hurt. I still don't know if I'd had a higher geared, but lighter bike whether that would have made the difference but I did turn the tables properly at the next climb so not too bad.

I find the North Yorkshire Moors climbs the toughest - always shaped like an upturned pudding bowl with the steepest early on and extremely slow to ease. On long rides though, the big climbs often don't seem to bother me as much as the little no namers that you aren't expecting and prepared for!

Feltup

As a young lad I did Wrynose East on my Peugeot Tourmalet which had a bottom gear of 42x21. I puked when I got to the top after having to zig zag the last few yards. Think it might have put the family off the picnic who were sat there.

More recently Hardknott and Wrynose on the Fred took me to very dark places; only just made it up them.

I had to stop on the Passo Pordoi to stretch my knee out. 3 months off the bike followed by cycling 6 alpine passes in a row is not condusive to having good knees. The descent took my mind off it though, overtook 21 cars, campervans and a motorbike

mroli

I'd just like to plug my blog

www.100hillsforgeorge.blogspot.com

Has over 50 of the 100 greatest climbs in there so far - more to come soon.

Cheers

M (Hardest for me was Bealach Na Ba with the wind whistling down in my face. Almost had a foot down...)

Ezy Rider

thats a cool blog mate, im gonna enjoy reading it

Peddle Up!

mroli wrote:

I'd just like to plug my blog

www.100hillsforgeorge.blogspot.com

Has over 50 of the 100 greatest climbs in there so far - more to come soon.

Cheers

M (Hardest for me was Bealach Na Ba with the wind whistling down in my face. Almost had a foot down...)

Cracking blog, cracking work, cracking cause. I've just dropped a coin in the pot.

the_spooks

Not been cycling long, first ever bike in Feb this year, so no doubt there are far harder than these but Crawleyside and winlatter on the C2C had me off my MTB when I did it this year. Legs were sore and lungs were worse.
Wanna do this with my road bike to see if it gets any easier or is as evil as I remember.

MrChuck

The Devil's Satircase in Wales had me almost wobbling to a stop, it's very short though. The hills immediately on the other side made me want to stop as much as I ever have. Didn't though, I actually can't remember the last time I got off and walked up a (surfaced) hill.

dennisn

Another real charmer is Wolf Creek Pass(Colorado). From west to east it's a nice(even using that word is a misnomer) not overly steep climb until you get towards the top. Of course. Then it just gets mean steep. I remember looking at the guardrail and deciding that the posts were 12 foot apart and my mind went into a kind of trance in which I just kept repeating to myself "just make it to the next post, just make it to the next post, just.....". There are lots of things I want to do again in life, but Wolf Creek Pass isn't one of them.

briantrumpet

the_Spooks wrote:

Not been cycling long, first ever bike in Feb this year, so no doubt there are far harder than these but Crawleyside and winlatter on the C2C had me off my MTB when I did it this year. Legs were sore and lungs were worse.
Wanna do this with my road bike to see if it gets any easier or is as evil as I remember.

Yes, you're right - in the Lake District Whinlatter is one of the easier ones (especially as it's not unrelenting) - I've not yet tried Hardknott, but I had to walk a bit of Wrynose (eastwards) in May. Last week Honister going west didn't seem too bad - I think the other way might be a bit of a beast.

Rolf F wrote:

On long rides though, the big climbs often don't seem to bother me as much as the little no namers that you aren't expecting and prepared for!

Absolutely. The one that most annoyed me is this hill out of Awliscombe in Devon. It shouldn't be that hard, but it caught me, whereas Peak Hill in Sidmouth doesn't strike me as too bad at all.

blackpoolkev

mroli wrote:

I'd just like to plug my blog

www.100hillsforgeorge.blogspot.com

Has over 50 of the 100 greatest climbs in there so far - more to come soon.

Cheers

M (Hardest for me was Bealach Na Ba with the wind whistling down in my face. Almost had a foot down...)

I have enjoyed following your blog for a couple of months since seeing a link here on bikeradar.I saw the youtube video of your ascent of Wrynose Pass,I felt tired just watching.

Good luck with the rest of your tour.

jimwin

For me, it's Bishops Wood hill near Wadebridge. You know what's coming from the long. descent from Burlawn - cross the small stream then immediately up, initially at 33% then easing off to 30% and finally 25%. It's not long - just vicious and technical (the battle of front wheel lift v rear wheel slip). It was in the North Cornwall sportive the first year it ran, but was dumped after so many riders ended up walking.

But I have to admit that Wrynose and Hardnott look truly awesome - not just the 25% but the length. Been there and seen them but not had the bike with me to try them out yet.

Ezy Rider

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh2VCFS7c5U&feature=related

I watched blackpoolkev`s ascent of hardknott and think im going to have to take a lie down and rest for the rest of the day :shock:

rick_chasey

Hardest for me, or statistically?

The Tourmalet (the tougher side...) obviously rates highly for me - the highest climb and toughest climb.

However, the Col Bagargui (Esterençuby side) is the only climb to this day that has defeated me.

It was the first mountain I'd ever ridden up, and, unknown to me, when I got my bike serviced the week before, the mechanic had fitted a much tighter rear cassette. I was wildly over-geared.




I stepped off at around 8.5km in and got back on at the top of the col d'arthaburu, a mentally broken man. Took me over a day to get my head over it.

sparkins1972

Winnats Pass for me - I got about half way up when I got caught in a traffic jam - sheep lying across the road so I had the benefit of a breather as someone chased the sheep off. I then really really struggled to get started again - managed to get up in my lowest gear but immediately went into cramp in my right thigh and left calf simultaneously, couldn't unclip and very gracefully fell sideways onto a handily placed grass bank and lay there with both legs in spasm. Happy memories...

Kolraz

Bollihope common out of Stanhope. Probably nothing compared to some of the climbs mentioned but the first part is very steep, up to 24% in places. After the steep section it goes on for quite some time at an average of about 6-7%, seeming to go on forever!

Hoping to try the Fred Whitton next year and see if I can cope with Hardknott

nickel

Rolf F wrote:

On long rides though, the big climbs often don't seem to bother me as much as the little no namers that you aren't expecting and prepared for!

Absolutely. The one that most annoyed me is this hill out of Awliscombe in Devon. It shouldn't be that hard, but it caught me, whereas Peak Hill in Sidmouth doesn't strike me as too bad at all.[/quote]

I'd definately agree with that, I find it much easier to deal with a hill if I'm mentally prepared and know how long it is so I can pace myself properly, case in point there's a hill which goes up onto Exmoor from the village of Elworthy in Somerset, first time I did it I didnt really know how long it was and it killed me, I basically collapsed at the side of the road on a bend not knowing I was almost at the top. Second time I did the hill I paced myself properly using a mixture of standing and seated climbing and made it to the top quite easily, no problems at all!