[Closed] toughest climb??

I was going to suggest the tram road out of Talybont on Usk, over the canal and up past the reservoir.
This is STW though, so like you say, that won't do, it's not a trail centre.

thats a bastard too lol

Only ridden Scottish trail centres, and there's hardly any baw-busting climbs on the waymarked routes. Understandably, they don't tend to be popular features. There's plenty of unpleasant, hard-working grinds, mind - but few of the 'I'm only getting up this 6 times out of ten' real bastids. I've heard Golspie has a nasty one, but haven't ridden up there myself.

Glentress and Innerleethen are both built on steepish hills, so there's plenty of punishing climbs off the beaten track. As far as the waymarked routes go, at GT, slightly off the black route, if you go down to the white house in Shieldgreen there's a track that climbs up to meet the black climb to the radiomast. Doing this in a oner straight up the hiking trail to the mast would be brutal.

Climbing up to the DH start at Innerliethen is tough at the end - series of steep switchbacks that would have most people walking.

Getting the tandem up the climb to spooky woods - its a series of hairpins and although we have got round every one we have never made the whole thing without a dab somewhere in a dozen or so attempts

Not the toughest climb out there but the Syfydrin trail at Nant-yr-Arian left me disgusted. A massive fire road slog that pretty much ends with the trail centre car park.
What should be standard procedure is to start at the bottom to warm up your legs with a climb, finish at the bottom with a grin from the last decent.

old leg burn and nant is a nice too

[url= http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=213072149218834957427.0004907035cec83546dd6&z=6 ]Here's the top 100 toughest road climbs in the UK[/url]

from this book
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I did No2 on the sunday club run last week and it nearly killed me.. 1 in 4 in places

Doh! i obviously can't read.. Missed the 'trail centre' bit

bowderdale up to the calf

I'll second the Brinore Tramway up out of Usk if your doing the Gap.It just goes on for ever and ever.

The climb that nearly broke my spirit was out of kinlochleven heading for Loch Eilde Mor. Tandem fully laden with comfy campy kit and a few day s food. Just hours of grinding away in granny gears then near the top it gets steeper and rougher . I was buckled

Brechfa Black route has a steep climb which is fairly hard. Harder than Cwmcarn anyway. I seem to remember Coed y Brenin having a few hard climbs as well?

I think the whole point of trail centres is that they are rideable, so I don't think you will find anything that is too extreme.

GT black has a tough granny ring section, Dumyat from Blairlogie has a very tough section in the road bit and on the way up later. Golspie has a very tough section 'lactic ladder' which is not too steep but you have to lift the front wheel up steps.

GT Black has the longest/steepest climbs of the 7 Stanes. Not really technically challenging and they're all doable on a middle ring; but crikey do they feel like they go on forever.

I've heard Golspie has a nasty one, but haven't ridden up there myself.

Aye, that'll be the "Lactic Ladder" I've not managed to "clean" it yet, even with a rest prior to starting it. 😥 Anyone else managed it without dabbing or stopping ❓

D.

Inners push up track bottom to top is a nasty piece of work. As is the road that goes straight up from the hairpin bend on the way up to buzzards nest, up past the right hand side of the freeride area to the quarry then takes a left and a right and ends up at the top of spooky wood.

Heartbreak hill at Kirroughtree is the worst I can remember from the 7Stanes - not technical, just steep and it comes just after you've cooled down from playing about at McMoab so you have to get back in the right mindset. The descent afterwards more than makes up for it though.

The tarmac climb after the café at Coed y Brenin is also a killer, more so if you've had a long and hefty lunch stop. It *is* a shortcut though, and at least it's relatively short.

There's a really steep climb at CyB just before (I think) [I]False Teeth[/I] which gets me coughing up a lung.

Heading North out of Abergavenny, at 50m, through Mynydd Ddu to the end of the dead end lane at 400m (via the bridleway if you want a bit more off road), then up past Grwyne Vawr reservoir to nearly 700m is a bit of a challenge. 😉

Where does the road climb up to Hartside out of the Eden valley come in that book? That's a fun climb, seemed to go on forever as well. My support drivers were watching from the cafe and claimed i 'flew' up it. Certainly didn't feel that way to me!

Good steep road climb up towards longridge fell as well in Lancs, was a bit that had me standing on the pedals with the bars nearly in my chest..

Not cleaned Lactic Ladder - you need to try harder.

Tried twice, cleaned twice. Just to show it was not a fluke. Was the only one out of ten though

Smith's Combe climb-out. Snaps did it on Sunday. Chapeau!

Lactic ladder. End of thread. I have yet to clean it but have gotten v close with just the slightest of dabs. I'll have it ticked off this year. NyA and CyB have nothing in its class. If you ended up at the carpark after the Leg Burner you went the wrong way! I think NyA has the climb/descent positioning just about right, there's lots of both but not all in one go.

Cleaned lactic ladder quite a few times but the legburner at Nant y was the closest I've come to bonking, for those that haven't done it, it's not the least bit technical, just a fireroad slog but I think it's because it was towards the end of quite long ride. To this day I don't remember getting back to the car.

can only talk from an SS point of view as i dont tend to take gears to trail centres but lactic ladder was a huge let down when it came to toughness.

the inners push up trail smee mentions is a toughy though !

as is the full Lazy K at fort bill

Ae from the bridge after Grannie Green Luvs loose & Steep with a nasty rock section to finish when you legs are burning

Lactic Ladder is probably my favorite trail centre climb as it's loads of fun. Did it first time without stopping but I did dab a couple of times here and there 😛 It is challenging though.

Always find the climb out of Deliverance on the GT black trail a proper grinder.

Not that tough in fitness terms, but needed a bit of technique for the stone steps at Balblair..
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Going up "Dreghorn Drop" in the Pentlands is quite brutal. It is right on the edge of being ridable, but eroded gulleys in the middle of the road, plus steep incline and loose surface, conspire to break your will. Don't think I'd have a chance now I have gone 1x9, but I did not too badly when I had my granny, still lost it at the bend / steepest bit.

the road that goes straight up from the hairpin bend on the way up to buzzards nest, up past the right hand side of the freeride area to the quarry then takes a left and a right and ends up at the top of spooky wood.

A mate cleared that on a single speed in 2:1... I was breathing out my ass in granny gear :-/

The right hand side of the freeride area ^ is no more (The steeper one) trashed to make way for new trail 🙁 so i guess you'll get a breather now 😀

Lactic ladder at Golspie is fairly easy if you're fit.

On the road Hardknott pass, 1 in 3, horrible.
On the mtb, a rocky climb in the lakes from Ambleside.

I'm going to get that greatest climbs book, love climbing 🙂

I've never found the leg burner @ nanty arian that tough, long but not that tough. There's a short switch backed climb at penmachno where, in the wet, i was sliding back down faster than i was peddling up.

also i find the start of whites always gives me rotten cramp, which makes the rest of the climb most unpleasant.

Funny isn't it how we're all different. I think the legburner is a piece of cake. I've ridden the whole Syfindrin trail a couple of times without stopping at all save maybe a couple of gates. To me it's a non issue but the LL requires fitness and technique. My lungs are bursting when I've finished it. I'd forgotten about the Balblair staircase thing as well. That is quite tough.

Tal y Maes aka Hermitage in the Black Mountains is fun. For trail centres, hardest I've done is definitely Cwmcarn. Difficult to do without a dab nowadays since it's eroding a lot.

I'm going to get that greatest climbs book, love climbing

[url= http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/100-greatest-cycling-climbs-google-map ]take a look here...[/url]

The climb that nearly broke my spirit was out of kinlochleven heading for Loch Eilde Mor. Tandem fully laden with comfy campy kit and a few day s food. Just hours of grinding away in granny gears then near the top it gets steeper and rougher . I was buckled

Good call. It's all rideable but sections of very loose rock keep you on your toes. The descent back down (singletrack) is the one of the best. Singletrack with 3/4 variants all the way down, good for racing your mates as the trails all cross over each other! Rocky , rooty ya beauty!

At a trail centre the only climb I have ever had an issue with is the short concrete ramp at Cwm Carn. I know it can be ridden just never seem to get it right.

For trail centres, hardest I've done is definitely Cwmcarn.

Agree with Matt that the climb on Brechfa black is harder. Also agree that by their nature trail centres are designed to be rideable by most, so tend not to have any particularly crazy climbs.

The concrete ramp is far easier than the last section before the fire road at the top, once you know it's there.

Anyone got any pics of this Brechfa one? Going by the Red it all seemed very smooth.

tram road out of Talybont on Usk

Really? Crossing the bridge from the pub car park can catch people out but after that it's not too bad. There's one or two short steep sections but hardly challenging.

Trail centre climbs are becoming stupidly sanitised and I don't understand why. We accept that there are sections that inexperienced riders might walk on the way down so why trailbuilders are removing anything even vaguely challenging from the ascents is beyond me. No-ones going to hurt themselves. One of only two vaguely tricky bits of the CwmCarn climb has been removed and the only step-up on out of Glyncorrwg had gone the last time I rode at Afan. The CwmCarn concret ramp doesn't need skill, just strength (and the right gear early enough)

Properly challenging, but achievable by mortals? The climb out of Watendlath on the Borrowdale Bash. Getting round the first corner in one go is a major achievement but doable. That's on big rocks and needs a fair bit of skill

On the North Downs there's a super steep Bridleway up from BKB that's doable. A lot less skill - just a lungburner really, but a group of riders seemed mighty surprised when I passed them on it as they pushed up a while back. Probably not one for winter.

One of only two vaguely tricky bits of the CwmCarn climb has been removed

Which are the tricky bits? And what did they remove and when?

Last time I did it 6 months or so ago it was tougher than ever, but then I am trying to do it in a sub 30 min lactate fest.

Is that list in any sort of order because the first 20 odd are all in the south? No. 30 was the first one in The Peaks and the Lake District hasn't had a mention yet either.

I would have thought that Hardknott and Wrynose would be up there as they are a struggle to drive over!

Mol, the trickiest bit I find is the gurt log across the trail near the bottom of the climb down by the stream. I can't see a line through it and as such never seem to approach it correctly. I've tried a few different ways and nothing seems to work! A slightly tricky bit were some roots to get over near the top before the fire road starts which have now been smoothed over /removed.. the rest of it is alright though always a good challenge for climbing skills, not steepness, just technically. My lap time for the whole trail seems to have slowed a bit recently, I used to do it in an hour or just over, now it's about an hour and ten. As for other trail centres in Wales I don't think the climbs match at all, there is one on the Raven at Brechfa which I remember being pretty steep and rocky but it's not like Cwmcarn. For steepness I find the climbs around Rhayader are the most challenging, like Bonk Hill. Forced to use the lowest gears at the bottom and at about two thirds of the way up it gets steep enough to pop the front wheel if you're not careful. Black Cottage Climb is another one and there's a couple more I can't remember the names of.

Kev

HTS - It's in that order in the book, where it is done by region.

I didn't put the ratings on the map as I thorght this would be a bit cheeky, it was more to help find them quickly as there is no overview map in the actual book.

(the hardest one is in Scotland)

but then I am trying to do it in a sub 30 min lactate fest.

Can't be done 🙂

Course record is 35mins i think

Rode Brechfa for the first time last weekend and think I might have to agree. It didn't necessarily help having ridden a very short version of Skyline and all of W2 at Afan the two days before but the first proper climb and then the big one half way round on the Raven nearly did me in!

I rode Gorlech and Raven back to back and although I was a bit ****ed at the end I don't recall the Raven climbs to be particularly hard. The one halfway round had me in granny ring but if I remember correctly it's not that long. There are harder climbs than that.

Kev

Course record is 35mins i think

I thought it was 38 mins by that Mojo lad who lives nearby, whatsisname... However I'd like to know when that was set because imo the course is getting slower and slower with time.

Oh and for a climb to be hard on steepness alone it has to be either stupidly steep for a while or massively long - imo 🙂

oi, oi 😉

1) ludicrous car to be attempting to tow that van with, as I am sure they knew, and
2) why the f was someone videoing his mate fixing a puncture?

cymcarn is not an easy climb. Just got back from there. Struggled, wriggles, hopped and grunted a single speed 29er up it this morning. But would rather ride a ss than have to push one of those full on DH bikes up there.
Whites level is another toughy.

I would far rather push a DH bike up there and do the DH course than mince around on a SS 29er 🙂