The Annual Lunacy Climbing Challenge Chatzone

[si_c]

Broadly impossible for me here - the minimum distance for me to get that sort of elevation climb I would put at about 100km. It might be possible sticking within the Wirral area, but is made difficult by the lack of elevation gain throughout and the inability to ride the same road in different directions.

The quickest way would be to head directly into NW and then head up and down around Pentre Halkyn and then come back up the other side of the Wirral - with minimum 30km flat each way to the start of the climbing. @Crackle might have a better idea.

 

[nickyboy]

I was right, Chapel en le Frith is a good place for this stupidity

Bike Route Planner - Ride with GPS

1000m climbing in 21.3 miles. All on normal roads. I suspect you may be able to squeeze a bit our of the distance with a bit of thought. This only took me a few minutes to plot.

 

[Tail End Charlie]

I'll have a go at this. I think I could cram that climbing into a 25 mile route near me. I'd have a 5 mile warm up to get to the start though.

 

[Julia9054]

Did a spectacular hilly, twisty - windey route in France this summer which I felt sure would meet the criteria. Disappointed to look back on my Garmin to find it was only 831 metres (48km).
Al is now playing with his map app. He loves route plotting but hates hills. I like hills but am no good at plotting routes!

 

[ColinJ]

This is my first attempt... I think it will come up slightly short of climbing and will need tweaking but it will be a nice tough ride to try on a sunny spring day. If I rode to and from Mytholmroyd along the A646 it would be around 50 kms in total, but I would be tempted to ride via Littleborough, Blackstone Edge and Cragg Vale which would add another 350 m of ascent and another 20 kms.

 

[I like Skol]

I was right, Chapel en le Frith is a good place for this stupidity

Bike Route Planner - Ride with GPS

1000m climbing in 21.3 miles. All on normal roads. I suspect you may be able to squeeze a bit our of the distance with a bit of thought. This only took me a few minutes to plot.

Guess I know what my ride plans will involve for my next trip out once I finish my current shifts.

 

[lazybloke]

No serious climbs in the Surrey Hills but i've found a route that does it in 29.6 miles.
Might give it a go at some point, but I reckon it's tougher than my knees are used to.

 

[ColinJ]

I modified my above route slightly. It adds just under a km but another 45 m of ascent so I would be more likely to hit my target.

I just used Streetview to check the 4 km stretch that I have (somehow!) never got round to riding before - it looks superb. Those roads have been used in the National Hillclimb Championships in the past. Very challenging, and very scenic.

The section that I am talking about is the big wedge shown on the profile between about the 16 km and 20 km points (Luddenden Foot to Luddenden). You wouldn't plan a route in that way if you were not aiming for maximum climbing - you would stay high and proceed round the contour of the hill rather than dropping steeply down and then immediately climbing steeply back up again.

 

[Ridgeway]

Here's one i could find locally 950m @ 24.5km although there's definitely better ones around here, just need to look a bit. If we're talking MTB then the distance could be quite a bit shorter, i stuck with road for that little search, i also focused on routes i know and use regularly.

The return descent on the last few KM is a bit strada bianca, but do able on 28mm tyres

 

[Ridgeway]

This is one i did a few times in August this Summer when we were camping at Lac du Bourget:

This is Mont du Chat, quite well known.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

You can do it in 10 miles, mtn biking up Snowdon. Makes the efforts so far, seem relatively flat.

 

[Milkfloat]

If I start off from home, then it is 58 miles to get 3380ft

The problem is getting to the hills in the first place as it is flat. I had a quick Strava scan and a circular with no crossings ride in the Canaries I did was more than 7800ft for the less distance. I think this challenge is for people local to hills.

 

[si_c]

If I start off from home, then it is 58 miles to get 3380ft
View attachment 562135

The problem is getting to the hills in the first place as it is flat. I had a quick Strava scan and a circular with no crossings ride in the Canaries I did was more than 7800ft for the less distance. I think this challenge is for people local to hills.

This is my problem, tried doing a local route last night - gave up after I'd done 70km and had only managed 400m of climbing. Really have to head into Wales to get any elevation gain.

 

[cosmicbike]

Not a chance round here, in July I was struggling to get 1000 feet over 20 miles, and that was using the same roads over and over.

 

[Sea of vapours]

Is there any logic behind the no reuse of roads rule,

Taken to it's logical, at least in a mathematical sense, conclusion: if you allow re-use of roads, especially if you can do the same section in the same direction, then the 'route' would be simply the steepest piece of tarmac you can find, up and back until you reach 1,000m. I have some one in three around here, so I could get 1,000m in 6km. Somewhat pointless (and much prone to falling over at the turnaround too!).

Also, Colin did say that there was no requirement for starting from home, so it's perfectly reasonable to not include the trip to the bottom of the hills.