Steepest hills you've cycled up?

[Termite Man]

I've just got back from a short cycle and I'm feeling pleased with myself as I managed to cycle up Constitution Hill in Bristol without stopping for the first time. It's a fairly short 1:6 hill (190ft elevation gain in 0.33 miles) but I've never been good at hills (I weigh to much so my power/weight ratio isn't really built for hills) so I'm quite pleased with myself

 

[Geri]

I'm not very good with hills. Sometimes I get off and walk up the hill past Greenbank Cemetery (although usually only if I've cycled to Pill and back and I'm tired).

One hill I can never manage is Ham Green Hill, in Pill. I don't know what the gradient is but it is quite steep - I have recurring dreams about walking up it and not being able to make it. From my mum's house you usually have to start from a stationary position as it's the main road and I have to stop to check for traffic. If I had any sense I would go the long way round and cycle along the main road so I can get some speed up, but it never occurs to me until it's too late. I used to cycle to school that way and I'm pretty sure I could manage it then. But I was young and fit then!

I would not be able to do Constitution Hill.

 

[toblerone3]

Highgate West Hill is pretty steep (1 in 5 at one point) and there are two miles of climb. Must be one of the toughest in London. I went right down to the lowest gear on my bike (1 out of 24)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2007/mar/03/cyclingholidays.london4

 

[Termite Man]

I would not be able to do Constitution Hill.

First time was last week and I had to walk it, the killer is the fact that you have to turn off Jacobs wells road to get on it so you cant even build up a bit of speed to attack it.

 

[The Boy]

Clermiston Road North in Edinburgh. Somebody on another forum measured it's steepness and it apparently peaks at 19% (avg 10.9%). I take no responsibilty for those numbers, but it sounds about right. It's only about 400m long though, and it eases of after about 250. Still a killer though.*

I've also tried to ride Kaimes Road, which according to the same source, is around 800m at an avg 9.5% (max 16%). Not managed that in two attempts (although the first attempt was an old 80s road bike with gearing designed for people who (a) aren't fat, and (b) can ride uphill. Although I guess those two are closely related.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Ditchlings Beacon. Walked up once due to sheer weight of numbers making riding impossible, next time I waited until I could get a clear run and zipped up in one hit. You can then freewheel all the way in to Brighton

 

[nino_savatte]

Gipsy Hill (?%) and Dollis Hill (10%). Not Cat 1 climbs but pretty steep for London.

 

[bi0boy]

I did Rosemount lane in Bath and had to lie down at the top. It's very short but 1:4

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Ro...oid=7gevOTxIGI5NHBdXfq7G8A&cbp=12,106.72,,0,0

 

[dessiato]

I did Box Hill when I lived there, damn near killed me!

 

[editor]

Caerphilly Mountain, and loads of other bastard hills in Wales.

 

[DownwardDog]

Alpe d'Huez. 14km @ 8%. Fucking miserable.

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

The Koppenberg in Oudenarde, Flanders; about 600 metres, cobbled, average is about 12% but there is one bit thats 22% and another thats 27%.

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

Alpe d'Huez. 14km @ 8%. Fucking miserable.

The huge amount of traffic makes this an unpleasant climb. The first three ramps from Boug are very hard, well over 10%. The middle section is quite nice if it wasn't for the huge number of cars, trucks and motorhomes in peak summer using it too.

 

[DownwardDog]

The huge amount of traffic makes this an unpleasant climb. The first three ramps from Boug are very hard, well over 10%. The middle section is quite nice if it wasn't for the huge number of cars, trucks and motorhomes in peak summer using it too.

I did my ascent in April in the pissing rain so there wasn't much traffic. As bad as the climb was the descent was worse.

 

[Meltingpot]

I'm not very good with hills. Sometimes I get off and walk up the hill past Greenbank Cemetery (although usually only if I've cycled to Pill and back and I'm tired).

One hill I can never manage is Ham Green Hill, in Pill. I don't know what the gradient is but it is quite steep - I have recurring dreams about walking up it and not being able to make it. From my mum's house you usually have to start from a stationary position as it's the main road and I have to stop to check for traffic. If I had any sense I would go the long way round and cycle along the main road so I can get some speed up, but it never occurs to me until it's too late. I used to cycle to school that way and I'm pretty sure I could manage it then. But I was young and fit then!

I would not be able to do Constitution Hill.

I've just had a vision of what that must be like - horrible. I feel for you there.

 

[ringo]

Ditchling Beacon not as steep as some but the length of it really takes it out of you, especially as its location means its usually right at the end of a considerable ride.

Steepest I've done is probably some mountain biking tracks in the Peak District around Glossop. Jacob's Ladder nearly killed me. Good description here:

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/mtb/article/wtr_emids_mtb_jacobs_ladder_loop

 

[gentlegreen]

Sands hill that goes from Dyrham to the A46 is a bit of a swine for a fat 50 year old - steep enough to make my vertigo-induced nausea almost more of a problem than the 15 percent gradient.
It's the second of several hills in the 50 mile "Sunday loop" I'm working on.



I didn't quite make it on this occasion as I was somewhat under the weather ...

 

[TitanSound]

Highgate West Hill is pretty steep (1 in 5 at one point) and there are two miles of climb. Must be one of the toughest in London. I went right down to the lowest gear on my bike (1 out of 24)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2007/mar/03/cyclingholidays.london4

Same. I was able to do it in my younger days but the other week it nearly killed me

 

[a_chap]

There was a 600km Audax ride I used to do when I lived in Leeds that started with 180 miles up and down a heck of a lot of hills in North Yorkshire.

You always knew it was getting pretty steep when you couldn't keep the front wheel on the ground. When I started riding a recumbent I assumed the no hill could be steep enough to do that. I was wrong...

 

[gentlegreen]

It seems especially bad with a suspension fork.
Hopefully by the time I've lost enough weight to almost enjoy hills, I'll have replaced it ...

 

[lighterthief]

There was a 600km Audax ride I used to do when I lived in Leeds that started with 180 miles up and down a heck of a lot of hills in North Yorkshire.

You always knew it was getting pretty steep when you couldn't keep the front wheel on the ground. When I started riding a recumbent I assumed the no hill could be steep enough to do that. I was wrong...

Fondly (ha!) remember an 80 mile ride through, round and back through the Yorkshire Dales...memory is of long, long, drawn-out torture (some of the hills were miles long) with gradients around 20% or more in places. Even the downhills were nasty, with cramps from pulling on the brakes. But stunning countryside, that I remember most of all

 

[quimcunx]

Oh, look, lighterthief.

I have no idea how to find out the gradient but maybe you know it. Not that I think I'll be winning any prizes.

Leoch road probably. the road that goes straight down from the park. That or the one parallel to it on the other side of the school.

My gears seemed to be mostly stuck so I used to do them in 5th gear or something silly.