Evans ride it Lake District - including Hardknott pass

[zizou]

Is that REALLY as steep as it looks???

Where is it, and does anyone have an elevation profile?

Yeah it is a pretty good representation of it. Seeing it snake up the hill in front as you approach is a bit scary ...so steep in sections that if you sit down you start to wheelie and if you stand up you have to be careful or your rear wheel will spin. There is also a really strong smell of burnt clutch from the cars struggling to get up!

It is near to Coniston in the Lake District

 

[Garz]

I like the way those pictures in the links show the beauty, the reality is when I have been up those climbs it has been raining and the most bleak haunting feeling ever making you sh*t yourself on the descents if your CV system hasn't already made you sick.

 

[spacecat]

Yeah it is a pretty good representation of it. Seeing it snake up the hill in front as you approach is a bit scary ...so steep in sections that if you sit down you start to wheelie and if you stand up you have to be careful or your rear wheel will spin. There is also a really strong smell of burnt clutch from the cars struggling to get up!

It is near to Coniston in the Lake District

It's quite near me, we took some friends from away over it in a car at the weekend. The surfacing is now a lot worse than I remember.

I did it a few years back on my mtb and yes you have to adopt a very unusual riding position, the low gearing was a godsend. I'm not sure I'd like to try and get over it non stop on a Roadie though!

 

[Fiona N]

I remember talking to an old(-style) tourist at a YH years ago when I was just back from Australia and doing a bit of touring in the UK. He mentioned this mythical road where he was on a laden touring bike, got out of the saddle for extra oomph and went straight over backwards, panniers and all. It took a few years before I got around to identifying and then riding Hardnott. I tend to view ascents as the necessary evil part of enjoying the downhills so I think it's one of those things you do for the tick but it's not so enjoyable (although I love walking and climbing in the area) that you'd want to repeat the experience very often.