Steepest road routes

[lpjr]

I was just reading an entry about Toys Hill on this forum which started me thinking, what are the 5 steepest road routes in England, Scotland and Wales. I am guessing Hardknott Pass is the steepest for England. Hardknott Pass I am new to biking and I only just managed this one the other day. Moor Road to Rivington. If people could list what they think are the steepest with a Google map link that would be great. It can set me a challenge to complete over the next five years.

 

[moggsy100]

my local one is the horseshoe pass in llangollen....

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&s...1562,-3.175735&spn=0.104751,0.307274&t=h&z=12

 

[HLaB]

Very short is this one up to Castle Campbell in Dollar its only 1km, folk say its 30% max and average of 17% but my garmin says its only a max of 26% and average of 14%. There's a good list of Scottish climbs here. :-)

 

[Ticktockmy]

The road from Applecross to Tornapress via the Coire Na Ba ( The pass of cattle), Its steep, very steep, http://www.geograph....uk/photo/118574 the sign does not say anything about cycles... I have to say when I went down it I got off and walked, and even then my legs were trying to run away from me.

 

[Globalti]

Rosedale Chimney, 1 in 3. Read about this and others here: http://www.bikereader.com/contributors/Ainsley/hills.html

 

[theloafer]

we did applecross in 2006 a great climb

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

This is one of my local hills which I sometimes try - it rises over 500 feet in just over a mile. If you look at the gradient profile (Click on 'SHOW' at the top), the worst side is from Renton (and boy is it STEEP!), so if you try it from there, GOOD LUCK!!:

http://www.bikely.co...ath/Carman-Hill

The views are good from the top and what's more, it turns off from the road out to Loch Lomond at Renton and also is just a short hop from the Cycle Track at Renton.

At the other side in Cardross, with the River Clyde right in front of you, turn left and you'll go back to Dumbarton, from where you can go back to Renton (and the hill), (or continue on towards Glasgow following the Clyde), or turn right and end up in Helensburgh and the way up to Loch Long and the Highlands, et al (as you also will on the Loch Lomond side).

With all the surrrounding roads and routes, the hill can be used as part of a big circular route, and best of all, there is a train station on both sides (Renton and Cardross), so if you over exert yourself, don't worry!!

As a hill, I can see it's potential for training coming in quite handy for me!

 

[Banjo]

The "Devils Staircase" Abergwesyn Pass is the steepest road I have tried to ride.I think the steepest bits would be more than 30% with tight hairpins between them. You need iron legs to go up and a parachute on the way down. Devils Staircase

 

[Garz]

I was just reading an entry about Toys Hill on this forum which started me thinking, what are the 5 steepest road routes in England, Scotland and Wales. I am guessing Hardknott Pass is the steepest for England. Hardknott Pass I am new to biking and I only just managed this one the other day. Moor Road to Rivington. If people could list what they think are the steepest with a Google map link that would be great. It can set me a challenge to complete over the next five years.

That's not far from me I heard of a climb near Anglezarke must be that one (~750ft?). I go through Rivvy park to Belmont regularly, its a nice steady climb with a good descent afterwards.

Yesterday I climbed The Rake (bottom of carr street to top of chapel lane) which is about 25%, quite tough.

 

[Headgardener]

Just as an aside whats this with percentages for hill angle. Surely it should be degrees as percentage measures an amount of something. So 10% (for example) doesn't mean anything when applied to the steepness of a hill because it doesn't explain what the 10% is of?

 

[killiekosmos]

Just as an aside whats this with percentages for hill angle. Surely it should be degrees as percentage measures an amount of something. So 10% (for example) doesn't mean anything when applied to the steepness of a hill because it doesn't explain what the 10% is of?

I think it goes like this.

10% = 1/10. or "one in ten" so altitude increases by one unit for every 10 units of road. So, using Pythagoras' Theorem, there is a right-angled triangle whose Opposite side (O) is 1, the Hypotenuse (H) is 10 and the Aajacent side (A) is the square root of 99 (10 squared minus 1 squared).

The sine of the angle of slope of the road is O/H. In this case sin (slope) is 0.1, so the slope is 5.7 degrees

20% would be 11.5 degrees

30% 17.4 degrees

40% 23.6 degrees

50% 30 degrees

 

[HLaB]

Just as an aside whats this with percentages for hill angle. Surely it should be degrees as percentage measures an amount of something. So 10% (for example) doesn't mean anything when applied to the steepness of a hill because it doesn't explain what the 10% is of?

You probably know, its distance up over distance across that gives the % gradient, so your right it is useful to know over what distance, max% or average % etc. With max thats usually only over a few meters, I'm not sure what street sign use as a distance and I forget what distance chevrons on a map are over.

 

[zacklaws]

Just as an aside whats this with percentages for hill angle. Surely it should be degrees as percentage measures an amount of something. So 10% (for example) doesn't mean anything when applied to the steepness of a hill because it doesn't explain what the 10% is of?

Put even simpler:-

If you climb 1inch every 10 inch in distance, thats 10%
If you climb 10 inches every 100 inches, thats 10%
If you climb 10 meter in every 100 meters, thats 10%
If you climb 1 mile in every 10 miles thats 10%

And I'm drunk as a f**t at the moment

so a 25% sign indicates that you will climb, 25 meters in every 100 meters

I know meters is spelt wrong but I'm too drunk to work out how to spell it.

 

[jamesxyz]

Get this book, only a fiver - he measures toughest climbs by gradient, length, quality of surface and predominant weather conditions. It's a useful starting point for a discussion as he misses some obvios ones near me on the edge ofthe pennines and I'm sure everybody can think of ones near them that should be included but aren't (unless you live in the Fens )

http://www.amazon.co.uk/100-Greates...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1283710144&sr=1-1

 

[Ticktockmy]

wow all this tech stuff, fair makes my brain ache, I prefer to grade hills as:

1. ok
2. grrrrr
3. Bloody hell
4. where did that F**ker come from
5. FFS I am going to die if this goes on much longer