Britain's Top 10 Cycling Climbs

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I think I may have done the Chipping Camden one...

I'm useless at knowing where I am! I did a sportive in May that included a Cat 4 Climb around Chipping Camden, so I assume it may have been that one?
 

rualexander

Legendary Member
No mention of the Bealach na Ba!
 

Berties

Fast and careful!
I looked at he list hopeing there might be one in my area,as they sometimes feel like they should be on that list:laugh:
 

broomwagon

Active Member
Location
Cheshire
I had a ride into Derbyshire this morning and climbed up....Snake Pass....Mam Tor from Edale....Just two worthy of any list. There was a family with three youngsters on mt bikes climbing Mam Tor, and they were doing well when I bumped into them
 

TwoPosts

Senior Member
From that list, Tan Hill straight after a fat-boy fry-up ... I like a handicap.
Must go and do Streatley hill, it's close enough for an out and back blast.



To others, yes I know a 1km 130m ascent doesn't seem much but it really does have an OMG factor when you turn off the A329, it is similar to the start of the Struggle when you turn off the mini roundabout in Ambleside at its start.

I haven't tried to cycle up it yet from that route, I am sure it is beyond my capabilities and there is a longer flatter route to reach the Bell Inn at Aldworth (and that is a pub any real ale drinker should visit) from where I live.

Also if you are travelling all the way from Abingdon, might I suggest a taking nice back country lane route through Ashamstead and Stanford Dingley to this hill at Rotten Row out the back of Bucklebury and approximately due south of Streatly. I think it is worse (or better depending on your point of view) and definitely quieter.

Again I've not cycled up it, only walked it, on a walk I emerged halfway up it and thought, blimey, this is the steepest I have seen in the area, even worse than Watership Down. It is a genuine 20% gradient and still has a 1:5 sign at the top of it. I don't know of any other two chevron marked hills in the vicinity.
hope the information is of use
Peter
 
there's a cracker of a climb near me which rises 900ft in 4 miles and another one further down the road which rises 900ft in 2.7 miles - never seen either of them in any of these so-called guide books though...
 

Eddie

Well-Known Member
It's all about gradient to be a tough hill climb. There is a road near me that reaches 25%. Doing that for 100m is much harder than doing a 10% gradient for 1km.
 
It's all about gradient to be a tough hill climb. There is a road near me that reaches 25%. Doing that for 100m is much harder than doing a 10% gradient for 1km.

A tough hill cimb is defined by the speed you want to maintain whilst riding up it, not by its gradient or its length. They can all be either easy, or hard, from that perspective.

Pick an 'easy' hill that's local to you - then try to ride up it 3mph quicker than you normally would. Then it becomes tough....
 

Eddie

Well-Known Member
A tough hill cimb is defined by the speed you want to maintain whilst riding up it, not by its gradient or its length. They can all be either easy, or hard, from that perspective.

Half true - a 25% gradient is never easy! Well, unless you've got a granny ring.
 
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