Whats your favourite climb?

itboffin

I just watched part of this years LBL whilst churning out a turbo session, watching the pros hit La Redoute brought every inch of tarmac flashing back, it might be a short climb but bloody hell it was tough, I'll not forget that one.

defride

marcusjb wrote:

I think the climb that gives me goosebumps when I look at photos and have ridden it is actually pretty small (as big mountain climbs go - it's a mere pimple this way of certainly less than 200m):

Col du Soulour from the Col d'Aubisque approach - when you look back over your shoulder onto the Cirque du Litor - stunning.

Would also agree, rode it in the summer and was lucky with the weather, the line across the rock face is the road and the sign seemed appropriate



and this from the top looking back from the Aubisque toward Soulor

IanRCarter

Mam Nick was the first real climb I did, Wiggle sportive last year, I'd only been riding 6 weeks. I remember breathing out my arse for most of it, my legs didn't have the strength and in the end I was shifting my weight from one pedal to the other. I refused to get off and walk, something to do with pride? I went up Winnats this year, which was even worse despite the fact I'm a lot stronger than I was last year, hated that climb but again, persevered and it's now ticked off the list (and hopefully never have to drag myself up it again!). I went down Mam Nick after that, I now know my brakes work.

Neither of those are my favourite, that honour (granted, I haven't done many) would go to The Tumble. Did it in September when the road was closed for ToB, so that made it safer. I was on my heavy steel bike though, so it was still tough. Quite lengthy and the gradient is tough but not out of the saddle stuff and fairly consistent with a few flatter sections to help alleviate the pain, then towards the summit it flattens out and you can gain some speed for the last push up to the summit.

Calpol

stueyboy wrote:

CiB wrote:

Locally the fight up the hill into Brickhill Woods at Bow Brickhill. 24% at its peak if we believe the numbers, and it runs into a nice part of the world.

Oh I know that hill well. Also not helped by the fact that I usually approach it from the headwind direction coming in from Woburn Sands. It's best to practice your "going very slow without falling off" skills before attempting.

Its local to me too. I don't mind it now having been up a few times. Bedfordshire has a few nice bumps but nothing thats too long. I do my hill reps on Sundon Hill, Ivinghoe Beacon or Sharpenhoe Clappers. Further afield, I loved the Kenmore (glen quaich) climb I did in the summer. I plan on getting around the country a bit more next year to do some more of these climbs.

iron_duke

bernithebiker wrote:

Col de la Joux Plane - a bit tough to be relaxing, but superb views of Mont Blanc.

Sa Calobra, Majorca, simply stunning road up and down.

(This video of Sa Calobra is mental - I can't stop watching it!)

http://vimeo.com/110609619

Agree great views of Mont Blanc going up the Joux Plane from the Samoens side.

Fortunate to have family in Morzine and on clear summer days really enjoy the alpine roads and climbs.

pinarellokid

Best thing about living near the Pennines, lots of ace climbs, U.S. northerners are spoilt rotten
Isle of sky road. Holme moss, blackstone, cragg vale. The climb out of ripponden towards the m62. Want to tick winnets off next year, liked the brickworks, and Blaze hill too.

lakesluddite

peddlingmadness wrote:

Cross of Greet in the forest of Bowland. Great climb and view form each side, on a clear day you can see three peaks of Yorkshire. The other real beauty is the lack of any traffic. Going back a few years ago I was pedaling in the mist and I could hear a steady rumbling coming up behind me. I moved over as far as a could thinking it was a tractor and was stunned when a group of wild horses sprinted past. Never seen them before or since. Its not my local climb but, love the area..

Yes, that's one of my regular climbs. I usually preceed it with a brew and cake at the cafe by the river in Slaidburn, which is an idylic spot in that neck of the woods. The last time I was on there I had to dodge the 'Sportsmen' blowing the local wildlife to bits. A-holes.

The new issue of Cyclist has a nice piece about the Forest of Bowland in - which has this and the climbs of Jubilee Tower and Trough of Bowland, which along with The Cross are a favourite loop of mine.

il_principe

itboffin wrote:

In this country all four of my routes home over the same hill, the best is a measly avg 2% peaking for a few hundred yards at 10% ish its not the climbing I love its the views and idilic peace due to the twisting narrow back roads.

Elsewhere I'd say the tourmalet or the cap de long truly an amazing climb hard as fark but so worth the suffering.

I'll second Cap de lac de long. It's a dead end climb so very little traffic, and there's a great restaurant at the top. http://www.climbbybike.com/climb.asp?Col=Lac-de-Cap-de-Long&qryMountainID=6890

Tourmalet is a favourite as well, and the view from the top of the Col de Joux Plan is something else.

andcp

Supermurph09 wrote:

Fortunate enough to live 10 minutes from Matlock which has a number of great climbs..
Bank road is a superb climb,...

No it's not, I hate it - I live at the top of the Bank and I avoid it all costs! (old and unfit)

On a positive note, any of the climbs that lead to Fox House from the Derwent valley - Surprise View, Grindleford and Froggatt Edge. Also a mention for Abney from either direction - beautiful views and relatively quiet

john1967

ugo.santalucia wrote:

peddlingmadness wrote:

Cross of Greet in the forest of Bowland.

How can they call that one "forest" I can't see a bleeding tree for miles...

funny that cos there aint no cross either

sheffsimon

Andcp wrote:

Supermurph09 wrote:

Fortunate enough to live 10 minutes from Matlock which has a number of great climbs..
Bank road is a superb climb,...

No it's not, I hate it - I live at the top of the Bank and I avoid it all costs! (old and unfit)

On a positive note, any of the climbs that lead to Fox House from the Derwent valley - Surprise View, Grindleford and Froggatt Edge. Also a mention for Abney from either direction - beautiful views and relatively quiet

+1 for Abney, especially from Hathersage, and Mam Nick too.

My favourite would be the stretch after turning off the Surprise up to Burbage.

gimpl

Calpol wrote:

stueyboy wrote:

CiB wrote:

Locally the fight up the hill into Brickhill Woods at Bow Brickhill. 24% at its peak if we believe the numbers, and it runs into a nice part of the world.

Oh I know that hill well. Also not helped by the fact that I usually approach it from the headwind direction coming in from Woburn Sands. It's best to practice your "going very slow without falling off" skills before attempting.

Its local to me too. I don't mind it now having been up a few times. Bedfordshire has a few nice bumps but nothing thats too long. I do my hill reps on Sundon Hill, Ivinghoe Beacon or Sharpenhoe Clappers. Further afield, I loved the Kenmore (glen quaich) climb I did in the summer. I plan on getting around the country a bit more next year to do some more of these climbs.

Let's be honest - this one and the other side up from Three Locks are really the only 'hills' we have so let's be grateful

It is horrible though - not helped by the fact that the 24% bit is at the beginning so you're breathing out of your 'arris for the rest of the climb.

andyrooroo

Cat and fiddle from macclesfield - good distance and steady gradient. Second favorite is Cragg Vale - Similar qualities

a4ndyp

wavefront wrote:

Wish I could name something local, but the Surrey Hills are just bumps really.

My fav is close to where I grew up - Carin O'Mount (north side), a beautiful beautiful road that runs from Banchory to Fettercairn just west of Aberdeen. It has everything, a lovely meandering road through constantly changing forests, which then passes a burn with a ruin next to it, and climbs up rapidly above the tree line, to a summit which is often closed in the winter due to snow, and I've also known it closed due to snow in June. Descending it once was also the scene of my fastest crash, luckily I came away with only torn skin and saddle.

I am lucky enough to live on this road - at Glendye - right by the snowgates on the North side. A regular wee training run for me is a half hour cycle to the top followed by 5-6 minutes belting back down to the house. managed 55mph on my mountain bike coming down there and im yet to try for a top speed on the road bike but I have also hit 55mph coming down on it too.

Great fun

I grew up in nearby Auchenblae

Speckled

Supermurph09 wrote:

Fortunate enough to live 10 minutes from Matlock which has a number of great climbs..

Bank road is a superb climb, tough in terms of gradient, it's just unrelenting but one of my favourites. Then when you've done that have a breather and roll down to the start of another cracker, Riber. Riber is tough, very tough IMO, you attack the bottom half which is deceptively leg sapping then you hit the zig zags. 20-30% on the hairpins makes it a test for any rider.

Im about 10 miles away from matlock and do most of my riding around there, its amazing how many good climbs there are and the surrounding area.

Ive been thinking for a while what my favourite one is, and i guess it would have to be one of the hard ones becasue of the sense of satisfaction once you've done it.

I quite enjoy bank road and cromford hill, riber is very tough once you get to the hairpins, but for me the climb in rowsley (rowsley bar) is the hardest, that hurts me more than any other climb and gives me the best buzz at the top.

wavefront

a4ndyp wrote:

I am lucky enough to live on this road - at Glendye - right by the snowgates on the North side. A regular wee training run for me is a half hour cycle to the top followed by 5-6 minutes belting back down to the house. managed 55mph on my mountain bike coming down there and im yet to try for a top speed on the road bike but I have also hit 55mph coming down on it too.

Great fun

I grew up in nearby Auchenblae

Glendye is nae a bad place tae bide !!

I'm sooo jealous now! I grew up in Banchory, and sadly had to move away with work. I always said when I grew up, I'd buy that ruined house on the small bridge just before you start the big climb. Love how that's your training run - don't think I've been that fast on the descent in a car!

The whole area is just wonderful, and I usually come back every year for Xmas to see my folks - sadly I can't this year, and I'm gutted as I've got 2 whole weeks off and had already planned a return loop to Glenshee, a loop to Lecht as a couple of big days on the bike. Maybe I'll just have to come up in the summer instead.

One day I'm move back 'home'.

matt-h

Iron_Duke wrote:

bernithebiker wrote:

Col de la Joux Plane - a bit tough to be relaxing, but superb views of Mont Blanc.

Agree great views of Mont Blanc going up the Joux Plane from the Samoens side.

Fortunate to have family in Morzine and on clear summer days really enjoy the alpine roads and climbs.

Its a cracker! Did this in the summer. Although, 35 deg after 100km made it brutally tough.
Nice little descent into Morzine as well.

Matt

bobmcstuff

a4ndyp wrote:

wavefront wrote:

Wish I could name something local, but the Surrey Hills are just bumps really.

My fav is close to where I grew up - Carin O'Mount (north side), a beautiful beautiful road that runs from Banchory to Fettercairn just west of Aberdeen. It has everything, a lovely meandering road through constantly changing forests, which then passes a burn with a ruin next to it, and climbs up rapidly above the tree line, to a summit which is often closed in the winter due to snow, and I've also known it closed due to snow in June. Descending it once was also the scene of my fastest crash, luckily I came away with only torn skin and saddle.

I am lucky enough to live on this road - at Glendye - right by the snowgates on the North side. A regular wee training run for me is a half hour cycle to the top followed by 5-6 minutes belting back down to the house. managed 55mph on my mountain bike coming down there and im yet to try for a top speed on the road bike but I have also hit 55mph coming down on it too.

Great fun

I grew up in nearby Auchenblae

Jealous - for me it's at least a 60 mile round trip from Aberdeen, I've done it a few times (including once the day after a 90 miler over the Lecht!).

You've probably seen my boss cycling it, in the summer he regularly drove out after work and went over the North side then down to Clatterin Brig and back over to Glendye (there's that little car park before the bridge).

wavefront wrote:

The whole area is just wonderful, and I usually come back every year for Xmas to see my folks - sadly I can't this year, and I'm gutted as I've got 2 whole weeks off and had already planned a return loop to Glenshee, a loop to Lecht as a couple of big days on the bike. Maybe I'll just have to come up in the summer instead.

One day I'm move back 'home'.

It really is, I moved up to Aberdeen from Manchester last year and the cycling is great. Short 10 mins through town and you're out in brilliant countryside, in Manchester it was dead flat for 15 miles in any direction. Also enjoying 2 hours to skiing

cc78

Locally, the Col de la Croix-Fry and the back road to the Col des Saisies, via Mont Bisanne.

http://www.strava.com/segments/635742
http://www.strava.com/segments/847370

The Bealach Na Ba is by far the best climb I have ridden in the UK.

FJS

- Fiddler's Elbow, or Burbage Edge, North East from Hathersage. A great, consistently steep climb, ca8% over several kms but never crazy steep, wth some of the greatest views of the Peaks

- Passo delle Erbe, imho the most beautiful pass in the Dolomites, and Alps. Long, hard, very quiet, amazing scenery

- Kopje van Bloemendaal, for sentimental reasons. A little nothing of a climb, but the only thng available locally. Just short enough to sprint up full out, but just long enough to hurt quite a bit. Where I spent many weekend days as a lad.

Wardster00

FJS wrote:

- Fiddler's Elbow, or Burbage Edge, North East from Hathersage. A great, consistently steep climb, ca8% over several kms but never crazy steep, wth some of the greatest views of the Peaks

- Passo delle Erbe, imho the most beautiful pass in the Dolomites, and Alps. Long, hard, very quiet, amazing scenery

- Kopje van Bloemendaal, for sentimental reasons. A little nothing of a climb, but the only thng available locally. Just short enough to sprint up full out, but just long enough to hurt quite a bit. Where I spent many weekend days as a lad.

Is Fiddlers Elbow also called The Dale and starts at the Scotsmans Pack pub or is it the left off Sheffield Road after the Millstone pub?

If it's the first, I completely agree, if it's the second, I have only ever come down it.

FJS

It's not the Dale, which is pretty but just too steep and hard to be a favourite for me, but the other one, like you say left just after The Millstone. It joins with Scotman's Pack at the top.

sbbefc

Home - Bwlch y Groes from Llanuwchllyn (not Dinas Mawddwy)

Abroad - Aubisque

d_o_g

Speckled wrote:

I quite enjoy bank road and cromford hill, riber is very tough once you get to the hairpins, but for me the climb in rowsley (rowsley bar) is the hardest, that hurts me more than any other climb and gives me the best buzz at the top.

I did a ride in the peaks a few weeks ago - first time I'd ever been there, took in Rowsley, Riber, Bank Road, Curbar Edge, Winnatts and Monsal Head, all out of the top 100 book. Rowsley was brutal, only Winnatts was worse, but I did have a fair bit in the legs by then.

Riber was steep at the hairpins, but that part was fairly short. Rowsley felt like a much longer hill. Plus, when it has 'finished' the road still climbs onto that exposed moor.

robbo2011

FJS wrote:

- Passo delle Erbe, imho the most beautiful pass in the Dolomites, and Alps. Long, hard, very quiet, amazing scenery

I'm not sure I have a favourite (too many to choose from), but I would agree with you about Passo delle Erbe. A lovely climb, and mercifully free from motor bikes.

phreak

The bit as you turn off at Funes is a brutish. The rest is all doable, but that's a steep bit for sure. Fantastic scenery though, and as a Pantani fan boy, certainly one to tick off the list.

pottssteve

I like the ride from Limbourg to Mont Rigi via Jalhay in the Belgian Ardennes. It features in the queen stage of Ster ZLM Toer. Nice views, smooth roads, and not too steep so I can get up it.

supermurph09

D O G wrote:

Speckled wrote:

I quite enjoy bank road and cromford hill, riber is very tough once you get to the hairpins, but for me the climb in rowsley (rowsley bar) is the hardest, that hurts me more than any other climb and gives me the best buzz at the top.

I did a ride in the peaks a few weeks ago - first time I'd ever been there, took in Rowsley, Riber, Bank Road, Curbar Edge, Winnatts and Monsal Head, all out of the top 100 book. Rowsley was brutal, only Winnatts was worse, but I did have a fair bit in the legs by then.

Riber was steep at the hairpins, but that part was fairly short. Rowsley felt like a much longer hill. Plus, when it has 'finished' the road still climbs onto that exposed moor.

Yes Rowsley is another great climb, very tough. The road up to the hairpins is deceptively steep, but as you say, you get through those and it's still another mile or so uphill after that.

Speckled

D O G wrote:

Speckled wrote:

I quite enjoy bank road and cromford hill, riber is very tough once you get to the hairpins, but for me the climb in rowsley (rowsley bar) is the hardest, that hurts me more than any other climb and gives me the best buzz at the top.

I did a ride in the peaks a few weeks ago - first time I'd ever been there, took in Rowsley, Riber, Bank Road, Curbar Edge, Winnatts and Monsal Head, all out of the top 100 book. Rowsley was brutal, only Winnatts was worse, but I did have a fair bit in the legs by then.

Riber was steep at the hairpins, but that part was fairly short. Rowsley felt like a much longer hill. Plus, when it has 'finished' the road still climbs onto that exposed moor.

Yeah deffo, the last bit at the top really tests you when your legs are already stinging. I just tend to target one or 2 of the big climbs in a ride, dont think i could manage too many in one go.

Im much better at going down them, with the exception of riber, think you'd be faster on a mtb down there

Trisross

Galilea is my favourite in Mallorca. But Sa Calobra is an amazing climb.

A little gem in the French alpes is Col Du Chaussey which is being used by the Tour next year. Very quiet and narrow with great views. You can get over to the Madeleine from it too.


Thanks for all those amazing pics