Just spent a great weekend in the lakes , some walking and some driving
Stayed in Ambleside ,visited Keswick
Drove back via Ulswater then up the Kirkstone pass and down The Struggle
Ive never Road biked in the lakes … So to the Questions
They both seemed very demanding climbs is there anything worse than these ?
They also seemed narrow and twisty do you getmuch stick from motorists when climbing in the lakes ?

Thanks

Have a look at the Fred Whitton Route if you want tough Lakeland road climbs.. As for grief? Most are ok, but like anywhere, you get your fair share of idiots..

I rode up the Struggle on Saturday, saw three cars, no issues. The descent off the top you’re held up by the cars, so no hassle either. You do hold people up when you get into the bottom though, but what can you do?

Hardknott and Wrynose passes are harder I think, but the Struggle is probably in third place.

Struggle is pretty easy, not tried Hardknott but it looks harder when I’ve been in the car.

The Struggle is a reasonably hard in places. Hardknott is much worse though. Found Wrynose pretty straightforward.

Just Looked up all mentioned , They seem reasonably close to Ambleside
May be planning a guys weekend road biking soon so
What would be the most sadistic course imaginable in one day ?

thanks

The struggle is tough but eminently do-able. Wrynose is easier (at least from the West) but Hard Knot is much harder both up and down. I ran out of brakes near the bottom and had both wheels locked up but skidding and not stopping me. Had to let the brakes off and just let it fly, but got away with it:-). Have fun

So take a change of brake pads and pants then ?

Yep, pretty much:-)

Tough to beat the Fred Whitton route for a sadistic day ride. Add the Struggle out of Ambleside, head up borrowdale to Honister via the west (Catbells) side of the lake to add a little climb, a tough day out. Lots of climbing between Loweswater and Eskdale that people forget about when concentrating on the passes. Could add in Red Bank between Langdale and Grasmere to extend it?
Hardest climbs in order of sadism, in my opinion: Hardknott from Eskdale, Honister from Buttermere, Honister from Borrowdale, The Struggle.

Hardknott
Honister
Struggle – Kirkstone*
Wrynose
Whinlatter
Newlands
Plus the stuff linking Duddon back to Coniston (forgot name, but a hidden brute from memory)

In approx order but open to plenty of debate. Or as above, just do the F Whitton

* in Helvellyn tri, I find the first half of the climbe harder than the struggle! Perhaps it is the lack of crowds at the bottom and the cheering mob (!) at the top of the struggle?

What would be the most sadistic course imaginable in one day ?

Variations on a theme of the Fred Whitton route.
http://www.fredwhittonchallenge.org.uk/route.php

The Struggle isn’t that bad actually. There’s a few steep little short climbs around the place as well, the one up the back of Grasmere (Red Bank) springs to mind as an easy-to-access 25%er.

This road (Strawberry Bank) is a pig of a climb too if you go for it.

Personally I’ve never had any bother road riding in the Lakes, partly cos I know the quiet roads and partly cos the locals are so used to dealing with tourist traffic that the odd cyclist here and there doesn’t really make much difference.

If you like climbs, you need this book: (Amazon)

Toughest is probably Hardknott from Eskdale or Wrynose from Little Langdale. Worst descent is probably Wrynose to Little Langdale as its steep, straight, shite road surfaces, usually traffic.

If you’ve got a compact chainset then all the climbs are fairly straight forward (unless you’re trying to race up them!) The steep bits dont last for too long so you can just do them all out of the saddle.

Fred Whitton covers most of the main passes and is a good route. If you’re riding it with a group of friends then I’d guess it’d take you between 6 and 8 hours. You could add on some other bits to make it a full day.

Other steep hills off the top of my head are Strawberry Bank (as above) from either side (worse from Windermere side I reckon), Kirkby Moor, Climb from Hall Dunnerdale to Broughton Mills, Corney Fell, Birker Fell, Red Bank, The little pass at the End of the Langdale valley road.

Hardknott
Honister
Struggle – Kirkstone*
Wrynose
Whinlatter
Newlands

I’d go along with that but I’d swap the last two around. Wrynose east-to-west is quite hard though. The ‘Fred’ way isn’t too bad though.