HYCC - Hill You Can't Climb?
Discussion
So, where's your HYCC? I've discounted from Hardknott, Wrynose and Muro di Guardiagrele, just because they are off my scale and miles away. My local toughest hill is an MTB trail up the west side of Chanctonbury Ring. The pic with my bike lying down is significant because it is the highest I have got (yet!) before having to abandon pedalling.
Whoever named the segments in this area obviously had a way with words; this is "Am I fookin mad" but there is also "Hard as fook" (which is hard but not give-up-and-walk-hard) and "Muddy as fook" which is a flat area at the bottom of a bowl shape where cows often park up, and can be as muddy as the name suggests.
Where's your personal bete noire? https://www.strava.com/segments/5154762
Whoever named the segments in this area obviously had a way with words; this is "Am I fookin mad" but there is also "Hard as fook" (which is hard but not give-up-and-walk-hard) and "Muddy as fook" which is a flat area at the bottom of a bowl shape where cows often park up, and can be as muddy as the name suggests.
Where's your personal bete noire? https://www.strava.com/segments/5154762
haha im the opposite to most, I love steep hills, the more brutal the better I get, 25% + bring it on!!!! 33% is the steepest i've done, only because I cant find any steeper! Nothing beats a good thrash out the saddle
However im only really good at steep climbs any long steady (flatish) climbs and I am rubbish.
There is a long climb in Aldbourne WIlts called Snap hill, one side is a brutal 18% of 1/2 a mile, the other side is a long 3 mile drag that is quite shallow and not steep....I hate it......Try as I can after 5 minutes climbing it I blow up...I just cant sustain a steady speed, as its quite a flat hill power to weight means nothing. Every year our club hillclimb uses it and every year i burn out.
However im only really good at steep climbs any long steady (flatish) climbs and I am rubbish.
There is a long climb in Aldbourne WIlts called Snap hill, one side is a brutal 18% of 1/2 a mile, the other side is a long 3 mile drag that is quite shallow and not steep....I hate it......Try as I can after 5 minutes climbing it I blow up...I just cant sustain a steady speed, as its quite a flat hill power to weight means nothing. Every year our club hillclimb uses it and every year i burn out.
This one:
https://www.strava.com/segments/4269143
It's obviously doable but its so loose I either lose rear traction then can't get started again or run out of puff through attempting it when I've not been very fit. Will have to go give it another go.
It's fun going down it though
https://www.strava.com/segments/4269143
It's obviously doable but its so loose I either lose rear traction then can't get started again or run out of puff through attempting it when I've not been very fit. Will have to go give it another go.
It's fun going down it though
https://www.strava.com/segments/2319117
Perhaps if I had a mountain bike I'd get up but it is so brutal and steep.
Perhaps if I had a mountain bike I'd get up but it is so brutal and steep.
Bushcombe lane for me - https://www.strava.com/segments/2151377
On it's own I'd have been ok. As part of the Uber200, it did for me and ended up walking the the last bit before it flattens out.
On it's own I'd have been ok. As part of the Uber200, it did for me and ended up walking the the last bit before it flattens out.
Asterton bank in Shropshire. Only short but nearly 17% average. Tried it once and realised it was beyond me!
https://www.climbbybike.com/climb.asp?Col=Asterton...
https://www.climbbybike.com/climb.asp?Col=Asterton...
Daveyraveygravey said:
So, where's your HYCC? I've discounted from Hardknott, Wrynose and Muro di Guardiagrele, just because they are off my scale and miles away. My local toughest hill is an MTB trail up the west side of Chanctonbury Ring. The pic with my bike lying down is significant because it is the highest I have got (yet!) before having to abandon pedalling.
Whoever named the segments in this area obviously had a way with words; this is "Am I fookin mad" but there is also "Hard as fook" (which is hard but not give-up-and-walk-hard) and "Muddy as fook" which is a flat area at the bottom of a bowl shape where cows often park up, and can be as muddy as the name suggests.
Where's your personal bete noire? https://www.strava.com/segments/5154762
No hill is too steep, just change your cassette ;-). I'm an average at best cyclist and have managed to pedal up Hardknott twice. Once on a 12-30T (brutal, almost walked it) and then swapped to a 11-34T (still awful) as part of a longer cycle. Whoever named the segments in this area obviously had a way with words; this is "Am I fookin mad" but there is also "Hard as fook" (which is hard but not give-up-and-walk-hard) and "Muddy as fook" which is a flat area at the bottom of a bowl shape where cows often park up, and can be as muddy as the name suggests.
Where's your personal bete noire? https://www.strava.com/segments/5154762
Broke my shoe strap during my one and only attempt at this, max gradient 26.7%:
https://www.strava.com/segments/7971116
https://www.strava.com/segments/7971116
z4RRSchris said:
Respect mate....... i haven't..... and i've tried...... it's relentless !!!!!! Not quite HYCC
https://www.strava.com/segments/702630
Rode it a few times as a kid, that was on a 'gas pipe' Raleigh with a 3 speed sturmey hub as the only gearing and steel rims, I couldn't ride straight up the steepest bits (circa 30%), I simply couldn't generate enough torque to actually move so it meant a lot of zig-zagging, I rode it probably about 5 times but to be honest it was faster to walk. We lived at the top so it was a common route home!
https://www.strava.com/segments/702630
Rode it a few times as a kid, that was on a 'gas pipe' Raleigh with a 3 speed sturmey hub as the only gearing and steel rims, I couldn't ride straight up the steepest bits (circa 30%), I simply couldn't generate enough torque to actually move so it meant a lot of zig-zagging, I rode it probably about 5 times but to be honest it was faster to walk. We lived at the top so it was a common route home!
Here is a local leg stretcher
https://www.strava.com/segments/6690945
I have managed to make it up, but not very elegantly or at all quickly
Going down is quite hair raising too
https://www.strava.com/segments/6690945
I have managed to make it up, but not very elegantly or at all quickly
Going down is quite hair raising too
I've not (yet, at least) come across a road climb I can't get up (50/34 x 11-28t) but being darn sarf I'm not surprised by that.
But I'm not what you'd call "a natural climber" so even the local lumps and bumps are never "easy".
There are two local MTB climbs that are possible once in a while, but usually defeat me due to lack of traction caused by loose surfaces more than sheer steepness. After certain weather conditions, they are do-able, but mostly the gravel doesn't let the tyres grip after a while, and the front of the bike starts to lift too.
One is Brick Hill on the climb up to Caesar's Camp, near Farnham...
https://www.strava.com/segments/1776072 - short segment, just the actual climb. I've set 6 Strava times up this, but two of them were pushing the bike.
https://www.strava.com/segments/5687758 - extended segment taking in the plateau at the top as well. 4 Strava times up this one.
My PR on both the segments came on a ride called 'Is "Death-By-Leffe" an actual thing?'... https://www.strava.com/activities/764965752/segmen...
The second one is a no-name hill on an army training area. Once a "confidence test" for driving Land Rovers cross-country (diff lock, low range) it's not used by vehicles anymore. The Strava segment name is 'Silp Slidin Away' and it's well named. Lots of larger pebbles, flints and gravel, exposed tree roots, and the rainwater cuts deep gulleys when it rains heavily...
https://www.strava.com/segments/6109567
My PR on this one was when there was a hard frost, so the gravel wasn't loose and grip was easier to come by. In previous years my times up there (74 attempts in all) have tended to get faster between December and January, fall to their slowest around March/April, then gradually climb Between May and July. Then it falls for the remainder of the year. But this year, instead of a fairly steady, predictable rising/falling graph, my efforts (when plotted on the Strava graph) have looked like a shotgun blast, up and down like a tart's knickers. This one is the steepest of five climbs along the same hillside, each gradually getting steeper until the army training area stops at the perimeter fence of a private school.
The ride on which I got my PR... https://www.strava.com/activities/841797286 ...which was also quick (for me at least) because I put a shift in trying to out-do a friend on a 5.2 mile race lap segment... https://www.strava.com/segments/8455630?filter=ove...
Sometimes, careful selection of trails or Strava segments that you want to target for a time relies a lot on recent weather conditions. Some are faster in the depths of winter, some work better in the dry sunny summer weather. These loose gravelly hills are certainly easier to get up after there's been a bit of rain to compact the sand and gravel and bind it together. Better still if there's rain and then a hard frost to hold it firmly together.
I'd like to find some more difficult road climbs to test myself though. I reckon the closer you get to climbing off, the more thoroughly you've tested yourself, both mentally and physically.
There are also some "climbs" locally that a couple of us have tried to "see how far up we can get", but they're not really bike routes, so I'm not counting them as "Hills You Can't Climb" for the purposes of cycling.
But I'm not what you'd call "a natural climber" so even the local lumps and bumps are never "easy".
There are two local MTB climbs that are possible once in a while, but usually defeat me due to lack of traction caused by loose surfaces more than sheer steepness. After certain weather conditions, they are do-able, but mostly the gravel doesn't let the tyres grip after a while, and the front of the bike starts to lift too.
One is Brick Hill on the climb up to Caesar's Camp, near Farnham...
https://www.strava.com/segments/1776072 - short segment, just the actual climb. I've set 6 Strava times up this, but two of them were pushing the bike.
https://www.strava.com/segments/5687758 - extended segment taking in the plateau at the top as well. 4 Strava times up this one.
My PR on both the segments came on a ride called 'Is "Death-By-Leffe" an actual thing?'... https://www.strava.com/activities/764965752/segmen...
The second one is a no-name hill on an army training area. Once a "confidence test" for driving Land Rovers cross-country (diff lock, low range) it's not used by vehicles anymore. The Strava segment name is 'Silp Slidin Away' and it's well named. Lots of larger pebbles, flints and gravel, exposed tree roots, and the rainwater cuts deep gulleys when it rains heavily...
https://www.strava.com/segments/6109567
My PR on this one was when there was a hard frost, so the gravel wasn't loose and grip was easier to come by. In previous years my times up there (74 attempts in all) have tended to get faster between December and January, fall to their slowest around March/April, then gradually climb Between May and July. Then it falls for the remainder of the year. But this year, instead of a fairly steady, predictable rising/falling graph, my efforts (when plotted on the Strava graph) have looked like a shotgun blast, up and down like a tart's knickers. This one is the steepest of five climbs along the same hillside, each gradually getting steeper until the army training area stops at the perimeter fence of a private school.
The ride on which I got my PR... https://www.strava.com/activities/841797286 ...which was also quick (for me at least) because I put a shift in trying to out-do a friend on a 5.2 mile race lap segment... https://www.strava.com/segments/8455630?filter=ove...
Sometimes, careful selection of trails or Strava segments that you want to target for a time relies a lot on recent weather conditions. Some are faster in the depths of winter, some work better in the dry sunny summer weather. These loose gravelly hills are certainly easier to get up after there's been a bit of rain to compact the sand and gravel and bind it together. Better still if there's rain and then a hard frost to hold it firmly together.
I'd like to find some more difficult road climbs to test myself though. I reckon the closer you get to climbing off, the more thoroughly you've tested yourself, both mentally and physically.
There are also some "climbs" locally that a couple of us have tried to "see how far up we can get", but they're not really bike routes, so I'm not counting them as "Hills You Can't Climb" for the purposes of cycling.
I've never got off, and doubt I'd ever need to assuming normal gearing, but I was pretty tempted to call it a day on this one - https://www.strava.com/segments/1535894?filter=ove... - 300w avg I did to go 6mph, and many parts of that was over 400 just to move. I thought there was no way it could go on much longer, but it did. The first bit was very difficult.
Bearing in mind I had the female national champion hill climber with me who was finding it just as hard, I chalk that up as a tough day. 5 miles at 11% and the first 1km at 17% given you then have another 10 miles of climbing to reach the summit or something stupid. GRIM
Bearing in mind I had the female national champion hill climber with me who was finding it just as hard, I chalk that up as a tough day. 5 miles at 11% and the first 1km at 17% given you then have another 10 miles of climbing to reach the summit or something stupid. GRIM
Edited by okgo on Wednesday 10th January 10:33
In a way I'm relieved my parents have sold the house they had near this Snowdonian monster hill. The segment is just the 33% bit but the run up to it isn't easy to ride either.
https://www.strava.com/segments/9229478
I've tried it on a carbon racer with 34/28 and a reynolds 531 mtb with a triple but couldn't keep up enough speed to balance even when honking and zigzagging.
https://www.strava.com/segments/9229478
I've tried it on a carbon racer with 34/28 and a reynolds 531 mtb with a triple but couldn't keep up enough speed to balance even when honking and zigzagging.
G321 said:
Asterton bank in Shropshire. Only short but nearly 17% average. Tried it once and realised it was beyond me!
https://www.climbbybike.com/climb.asp?Col=Asterton...
That is possible, sheap poo and moss in the road makes it tricky as do cars coming down from the gliding club.https://www.climbbybike.com/climb.asp?Col=Asterton...
I have managed just under 11 minutes.
I rate this fractionally harder in Tenerife. https://www.strava.com/segments/14251107 this is the worst bit, but the road up to and past it is a pig.
ALawson said:
G321 said:
Asterton bank in Shropshire. Only short but nearly 17% average. Tried it once and realised it was beyond me!
https://www.climbbybike.com/climb.asp?Col=Asterton...
That is possible, sheap poo and moss in the road makes it tricky as do cars coming down from the gliding club.https://www.climbbybike.com/climb.asp?Col=Asterton...
I have managed just under 11 minutes.
I rate this fractionally harder in Tenerife. https://www.strava.com/segments/14251107 this is the worst bit, but the road up to and past it is a pig.
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