Is the final climb of the day when your legs are tired, you are hungry, you are thinking of food and a warm shower. Doesn't matter which climb it is. It is always the hardest climb
Also the first climb of the day. Be that 20% or 2%. Always really hard and has be wondering what's happened since I was last out!
There are many very long climbs that are a feat of endurance but for sheer hard work I think a few of the hills in the North Yorkshire Moors take some beating. There are a few that are 1:3 and if you try them I think you will agree that some bend the rules on 1:3, being more like going up the house wall. They don't tend to be as long as the major climbs you can find in Scotland but its a bit like asking whether you think 10 punches from a lightweight boxer are as bad as one punch from Tyson. The single punch is over faster but your chances of still being conscious after it are not going to be worth betting on.
With the long climbs if you have a low enough gear you can sit there are windmill away for the duration without even getting out of the saddle but the really steep ones don't work that way. They tend to be much harder hitting.
TimP wrote:There are many very long climbs that are a feat of endurance but for sheer hard work I think a few of the hills in the North Yorkshire Moors take some beating. There are a few that are 1:3 and if you try them I think you will agree that some bend the rules on 1:3, being more like going up the house wall.
Agreed that there are some really hard climbs in that part of the world but I assure you that 1:3 is about as steep as any road anywhere in the world. You wouldn't be able to cycle up a hill that was anywhere near even 1:1 (100% or 45 degrees), never mind one which was nearly actually vertical (90 degrees). We perceive gradients to be greater than they are probably because relatively small variations make big differences to us.
Currently my vote is for The Struggle up from Ambleside on account of its length. The local passes get too much publicity anyway
Cycling back the last short hill home on Wednesday after helping out on someone's allotment all day in the sun and I was just absolutely shot, only a 6% gradient over less than a 1/6 mile but I was on 26/28 and about 9mph, my legs felt like I'd had a 10kg weight added to each ankle, It was most unpleasant even if short lived
I've got both the 'Greatest Climbs in the UK' books and of the 200 I've now done about 30, including Rosedale Chimney which is frequently cited as on of the hardest. So far, on reflection, I think the hardest was Shibden Wall in Halifax, partly because it was about 25⁰C but mainly because of the cobbles with big gaps between each one. As I was struggling up it I kept thinking the tyre would get jammed in the gaps so was trying to hop the front wheel onto the cobbles as I went.
Ahead of me were two parked cars, as I got closer I realised the second wasn't parked but the driver had waited a long time for me to approach and get past him!
Ben@Forest wrote:.................on reflection, I think the hardest was Shibden Wall in Halifax, partly because it was about 25⁰C but mainly because of the cobbles with big gaps between each one. As I was struggling up it I kept thinking the tyre would get jammed in the gaps so was trying to hop the front wheel onto the cobbles as I went.
Ahead of me were two parked cars, as I got closer I realised the second wasn't parked but the driver had waited a long time for me to approach and get past him!
I know that one well Ben - I once came up there with my daughter on the kiddieseat..........the bends don't help, either, do they?
The driver who waited for you was a decent individual - and very unusual!
Just come up Lucket Hill this morning. It rises from the village up to the B3257 for a mile and a quarter. If you're feeling strong, you can cross the main road and climb to the top of Kit Hill - distance 2.15 miles. https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/environment ... ntry-park/
Lucket is at 75ft and Kit Hill at 1050ft. Total ascent of 975ft, so that's 453ft per mile ............. or 86m per Km.
I stopped half way up to take this shot. I aligned the camera with the ridge of the roof imagining it was level, but the guttering lookes like it slopes the wrong way! The single drainpipe is on the left, so the hill is steeper than my photo suggests.
bikercolin wrote:Hardknot every time, however I found Porlock Hill horrendous in the rain with cars around me.
Well if you are too tight to pay for the toll road even in those circumstances...
a few years back(OK about 18) I took my old Panther 100 on the toll road that avoids Porlock hill largely because the clutch had started slipping.Stopping at the toll booth to extract the 20p toll . the gate keeper came out and got rather excited about the old motorcycle. Saying he hadn't seen one for years. He wanted to let me through for free. I virtually had to force him to take the 20p. saying look its out already
bikercolin wrote:Hardknot every time, however I found Porlock Hill horrendous in the rain with cars around me.
Well if you are too tight to pay for the toll road even in those circumstances...
a few years back(OK about 18) I took my old Panther 100 on the toll road that avoids Porlock hill largely because the clutch had started slipping.Stopping at the toll booth to extract the 20p toll . the gate keeper came out and got rather excited about the old motorcycle. Saying he hadn't seen one for years. He wanted to let me through for free. I virtually had to force him to take the 20p. saying look its out already
MikeF wrote:The hardest climbs are those on narrow roads with constant impatient traffic. Chalkpit Lane up the North Downs above Oxted is one example. I know OS marks it at 1 in 7, but the road sign says 20% (1 in 5) for about ¼ mile and that seems about right. I gave up and pushed. Maybe if I were younger ...
Mike out on my motorbike I met some cyclists at the top of the hill who had obviously just cycled it and stopped to have a chat with them. Chat over I began to descend it slowly and I noticed something over my right shoulder and it was one of the cyclists descending to cycle up it again. I would like some of the energy he had.
iandriver wrote:Hardknott still fills me with dread http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardknott_Pass it's not on its own either with I think it's wrynose pass not far along the same road. Going down was far made taxing than up. A nightmare on the forearms and hands while trying to stop the bike careering wildly out of control with 20% switchbacks (some of them ramps at 30% I hear). Thank god the delightful lal ratty is not too far on.
I did both 3 up plus hiking kit for a week in a 9 year old 900cc VW Polo when I was at Uni.
