Hey all, I’ve entered the Grand Raid Cristalp in August (been wanting to do it for years, and have finally got the “OK”), and there’s 5000m of climbing involved. Living in leafy (but flattish) Warwickshire, I need some days away doing some big hills.
I am after hills with climbs (on road or off road but rideable) of at least 300m, within a couple of hours drive.

What is there in Wales, Peak or Lakes that could satisfy my needs?
(I am thinking of the Bwlch in S Wales, Skiddaw and Walna Scar – any other ideas?)
Not fussed about making big loops, as it is not the mileage I need, but rides where I can do reps of big hills. Anyone got any day rides with 3000m+ of climbing?

thanks all

I’ll be heading out this way later this morning: Tavistock – Princetown

How about around Ambergate and Matlock? No, you wont be going uphill for an hour, but there are some pretty steep climbs in the area, Cromford on its own could take you a morning if you did a few variations, up the road hill, down the incline, up the incline, down the road, then take a longer trip off up up the hill via Blackrocks etc.
There are roads aroud there that I have to get off to push as they are so long.

Alan.

Pont Sechin (sp) above Talybont goes from about 20m to 570m then does it again in about 13miles.

I can put you a road loop together based from church stretton, maybe not 300m + climbs, but steep! 17%+.

strines moor, west of sheffield. where the roads are never flat.

I know it is a bit far from you, but a weekend spent cycling around the Drumlanrigg area would certainly be good training! Also drove from Alston to Hexham last week and was thinking if you commuted(20+miles with a couple of switchback climbs) that daily you would be fit as the proverbial!

Good luck

Speshpaul,
did a few round Church Stretton last weekend – the main climb out of Church Stretton over the tops, then turned right and up and over the east side of the Mynd – that was 600m of climbing in 25km – what got me thinking was that the race will be 8 times the climbing in 5 times the distance, so a tough ask!

Tavistock is a good one, but nearly 200 miles from me, and have done the Pont Scethin loop before, but the grassy climb to the top was more of a push than a ride. There’s a few ideas around there though

Thanks, keep them coming

Fred Whitton Challenge route up in The Lakes

http://www.fredwhittonchallenge.org.uk/

Climb the Bwlch-y-Groes from the Southern end

Snowdon before the ban comes in?

Oh and offroad, you can ride from almost sea level to the top of Drum Mt 770m near Conwy, here’s a route >>
http://www.theedgecycleworks.com/mtbroutes/conwy-drum-mountain

Oh and the Rowen YHA climb will make you sweat.

Having done the CA a couple of times, you’d be better served doing climbs up through Whinlatter, than Skiddaw/Walna Scar etc.
If you start in Braithwaite, you can be climbing mainly off road for 30+ mins, 5 mins down, then another 30 mins up.
Wrynose/Hardknott passes – from Little Langdale over Wrynose/HK, turn around in Eskdale and ride back.
I got my best time after regular swimming.

the bwlch would be a good idea, there are three climbs you can do to the same finish by the icecream van and just across the valley is the rhigos mountain which is another very long drag.

I believe The Wild Walesroute has some pretty steep and long climbs that should get your legs burning, you have plenty of climbs around North wales to choose from.

up mam tor from edale down the old road up winnats repeat did as road training for alps ……also for me from home i can ride the strines rd to get there
Nearer home how about cotswolds not my area but been out with a mate from evesham up round snowshill way seemed hilly

Derbyshire is the best bet, and not too far from you. A lot of short steep climbs and also some longer less steep hills as well. Wish I was there right now as I am happiest when going up hills!

If Penrith isn’t too far, you could try the road climb up to the radar station on Great Dun Fell.

thread with pics

Its about 2000ft of relentless climbing. If you’re on a road bike you can come back down the same way or there’s some nice downhills off cross fell if you’re on a MTB.

What about around Hayfield? Some big climbs towards Kinder and the reservoir.

Large, i can put together a route for you that’s a lot more climbing than that, drop me a line and i’ll plot ot for you.

Snowdon

I’d just ride big road routes with hills, eg Etape Du Dales course(108 miles, over 10,000 feet of ascent), Fred Whitton etc – these will get you used to hills. Or if you want some proper hills, nip over to the Alpes and do a few laps of La Marmotte course (185km 5100m ascent) 🙂

Etape Du Dales course profile by brf, on Flickr

La Marmotte Sportif by brf, on Flickr

For the Cristalp, I would suggest regular reps on your local hills instead of travelling. Nothing in the UK is like Switzerland, so just do lots of regular local hill work. If you are in Warwickshire, you can string together some serious climbing by heading into the Cotswolds.

winnats pass?

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=355492&y=205517&z=115&sv=355492,205517&st=4&ar=y&mapp=map.srf&searchp=ids.srf&dn=781&ax=355492&ay=205517&lm=0

you don’t want steep climbs, although there are a few steep bits, most of the climbs are long and mind destroying. You could try doing some TT’s?

Other ideas, Do you know Bredon hill?, do reps of the Beckford climb, just do lots of routes along the face of the cotswold scarp including as many climbs as you can. If you need some route ideas let me know and i will suggest.

Next year hopefully i will do it again 🙂

nothing in the alps like winnats.

not that i’ve ever found anyways. general gradient tops out at 15% ish for most climbs (some exceptions naturally)

chasing short 1:3 and 1:4s on the UK probs wont help.

i might be contradicting my own strines advice here…

ah well

to give some idea, the first climb upto the croix de coeur, starts on tarmac, then turns to gravel/hardore for the last bit, not particularly steep just last 7-8km, will mention that you see the sunrise about half way up the climb and then it starts to get warm, and it can get very very warm!

There is one steep section after a river, go round a corner and it kicks up a bit on tarmac, doesn’t last that long before normal service is resumed.

Final climb/walk doesn’t count. make sure your back is upto a bit of pushing your bike up hill.

Whatever you do, don’t forget about the Basset de Lona after the Col de Lona. There’s nothing more soul destroying than thinking you’ve finished the climbing only to be confronted by one more….

Outwith your geographical limits but from Glenmore to the Ptarmigan on Cairngorm gives you 790m of vertical gain. Choose from road to the carpark or off road all the way. 100% rideable but tough to do clean due to loose surface.

Mennock to the summit of Lowther Hill gives you 610m of vertical gain mainly on road.

Both can be turned into longer loops with other large climbs.

Thanks for the ideas. Mrmo – was up Bredon hill the other weds night ( is the local farmer having a Purge on cheeky trails?).
Speshpaul, will drop you a line.

Am thinking that a couple of lakes and peaks big days out are called for, and a weekly hill reps session

Good to hear from a few that have done the cristalp. – first hand experience isalways helpful.

Mmm. Looks like you have a 1100 metre climb at the end of it. That’s going to take you about 1.5 hrs to get up. Only thing that comes close in the UK is Snowdon. Yes find some big climbs in the UK and do them but you can also train for big hills closer to home. Basically you need to ride as close to your aerobic threshold as you can for 1- 1.5 hours. Find a reasonably flat local road route you know well that will take you that long to get round then after getting well warmed up cycle round it as hard as you can. It will take concentration because as you can’t rely on a gradient to provide resistance you’ll be continually changing gear to keep the level of suffering up but if you do it properly it will feel like you’re putting in the same effort as climbing. Alternatively find a local club and do some 25 mile TTs.

good little book on big climbs around the UK:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/100-Greatest-Cycling-Climbs-Cyclists/dp/0711231206/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333305548&sr=1-1

Only thing that comes close in the UK is Snowdon

Ever been to Scotland? 😉

Admittedly nothing (that I can think of) with 1100m of rideable ascent but plenty in the Snowdon ballpark.

Thanks for pointing that out Spin. As I’m Scottish I wouldn’t know there are hills in Scotland higher than Snowdon 🙄

No offence intended. It just seemed like a slightly blinkered comment like what someone from the south who’d never been to Scotland might make.

I did mean hills you can ride up.

just to go back to my earlier point about the nature of the climbs, what you need is 1100m of climb at a nice easy gradient, tarmac or gravel, the climbs are not technically hard.

The details to consider, i have done it and had the cycle computer tell me the temperature in Grimentz was 30 Celcius, i have also seen ice on the Croix de Coeur, it was the same year by the way. I have seen the race cancelled due to snow on the Pas de Lona.

The route is from 1500m up, depending on who you are altitude does matter, you might be able to find a climb but you won’t have the base altitude to work from.

You can not recreate the climbs in the UK, so don’t bother trying too hard.

Just ride, ride lots.

I’m now officially hijacking this thread to turn it into ‘biggest rideable climb in the UK’

I think that if you skirt round from the Ptarmigan via Marquis Well it should be possible to ride all the way to the top of Cairngorm. As I’ve only come down this path I can’t confirm that.

If you did this from Glenmore it would give you about 950m of climbing and prob take the best part of 2 hrs.

Bit of a project to do it clean I reckon!

The two biggest climbs that I’ve done in the UK are the Bealach Na Ba climb from Tornapress up and over to Applecross (which is way too far for you to travel, but gives 6 miles and 630m), again too far for you, but Aviemore to the top of Cairngorm is 9 miles and 420m of ascent, and the climb from Sanquhar up to Wanlockhead which is about 8 miles long and 500m of ascent.

I found doing hill reps of smaller hills was about as close as I could get to the suffering of being in the Alps. A hill that takes 5 or 6 minutes to get up and then free wheel down and repeat. As many times as possible.

I read about someone who trained for the Marmotte whilst living in London with turbo sessions and a big ride once every 2 weeks.

Apparently he was fine.