The Annual Lunacy Climbing Challenge Chatzone

[ColinJ]

I have now created a Lunacy Climbing Challenge thread and this has become the Chatzone, but I will leave the discussions in place for reference!

This chatzone thread is for discussion of your Lunacy Climbing Challenge rides and supporting other riders in theirs. There will be a new rides thread every year where you should post details of that year's qualifying rides. A full description of the challenge will be provided in the opening post of each year's challenge.

In case any of you are wondering why we calling this the 'Lunacy Climbing Challenge' but can't be bothered to read the original Lunacy Challenge discussion elsewhere... We settled on a target of 13 qualifying rides a year. That fits neatly with averaging approximately one every lunar month, although it is anticipated that qualifying rides in winter months will be fairly rare, but made up for by multiple such rides in the spring, summer and autumn months. A 'lunatic' was a person suffering from 'lunacy', mental health problems thought to be caused by the malign influence of the moon.

Maybe you have to be just a little bit mad to take on this challenge?


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As usual with climbing challenges, apologies to those in flat areas!

For those of us with access to significant hills and/or mountains, I just thought of a challenge which might be quite interesting. It is in 2 parts, both of which would be ongoing...

1. Devise a public road route which accumulates 1,000+ metres of ascent. If you prefer imperial units, you could choose 3,000', 3,250', 3,500' or a more accurate equivalent - 3,281' your target is 3,300 ft. So far, so simple. The catch is - you cannot ride the same stretch of road twice and you must end up back at the starting point, but that does not have to be home - you are free to make it anywhere. You are allowed to cross roads already ridden at crossroad junctions, but must not ride any section of any road twice even in opposite directions. That makes things much more complicated than just doing a mini-'Everesting'. Part one of the challenge is to do this climbing in the shortest possible total distance. Always be on the look out for shorter routes to replace your original choice.
2. Time yourself on your route. Try to (safely!) beat your fastest time. Improve your times by riding the uphill, flat and gently downhill sections quicker but don't take any stupid risks on steeper descents.

I will play with my mapping software later to see what I can come up with round here. The climbs won't be a problem but joining then together with different descents and minimising flat roads could be tricky.

I have done a few 100 km rides with 2,500 - 3,000 m of ascent so 25 - 30 metres of ascent per km, but some shorter ones at about 32 m/km. I think that I might just be able to find a route to accumulate 1,000 m in 30 km.

Anybody else fancy having a go?

 

[ColinJ]

And now I'm getting déjà vu... have we done this before?

 

[cyberknight]

sounds like the usual club run fodder
3 and a half hours normally for a metric with 3000 feet of climbing, maybe 3 and a quarter if im feeling chipper

 

[ColinJ]

sounds like the usual club run fodder
3 and a half hours normally for a metric with 3000 feet of climbing, maybe 3 and a quarter if im feeling chipper

That's quick but not hilly... The idea is to cram the hills in, not spread them out!

 

[Sharky]

As it happens, I did my climbing loop last Sunday. Nowhere near 1000 metres, but we'll over a 1000'.

Took in two climbs that I know have been used for club hill climbs and took me 1:43:22 to cover 18.18 miles, avg 10.55mph.

I could extend it, but would exceed my time limit for my Sunday ride.

I do like climbing, even at my age and Kent is a lot hillier than you might expect.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Not for me I'm afraid.

I tried something similar in the inter-lockdown period but instead of "can't use same road twice" I did "can't climb same hill twice". The former restriction would have been impossible as it would have meant missing out on many hills as they would become inaccessible as I'd used a bit of road needed to get to/from them or I'd already descended them.

I could possibly live with rule #1 but it doesn't grab me. I'm definitely out on rule #2. That's not my kind of thing at all.

I managed 1000m this morning in under 50km but I did use a couple of hills twice and one two and a bit times. I was just making up my route as I went.

 

[Venod]

I like the idea, but not the units, I record all my rides in miles and my climbing in feet, I know some people use km and metres, but we are in the UK.

 

[itboffin]

As it happens, I did my climbing loop last Sunday. Nowhere near 1000 metres, but we'll over a 1000'.

View attachment 561750

Took in two climbs that I know have been used for club hill climbs and took me 1:43:22 to cover 18.18 miles, avg 10.55mph.

I could extend it, but would exceed my time limit for my Sunday ride.

I do like climbing, even at my age and Kent is a lot hillier than you might expect.

Yeah I partly grew up in Kent as my nan lived there I remember as a kid when we used to drive down to Rye there were a few hills that the car struggled to get up, now as an adult and cyclist I totally get it, Kent is not flat, unless you ride along the coast then its actually lower than sea level in many parts

Mind you living in Windshire christ every road out of my village goes up and my house is 550 ft above sea level already, when I first started cycling in 2008 having lived here for a year and thought this is a lovely part of the world i'll get a bike (first bike) to see more of the area.

Its funny because now i still ride these roads and laugh at how hard it was to ride six miles on my BSO and the stupid few commutes i did on it before i realised i needed a proper bike.

 

[itboffin]

ahem...

Yeah so do i and it has nothing to do with stupid brexit its because i'm of a certain age and last time i checked all UK cars and road signs are in MPH

 

[Supersuperleeds]

I think this is a silly idea and I am out.

 

[ColinJ]

I think this is a silly idea and I am out.

Even as a map reading exercise it is quite challenging... I just tried a couple of candidates round here. There are loads of steep hills but not using the same road twice makes things much more difficult.

Obviously if you had a 1,000 m mountain with 2 roads to the summit then it would be easy just to go up one and down the other. There aren't any of them in the UK!

A steep-sided valley with 8 roads up and down the sides, all climbing/descending 250 metres would be the perfect solution.

 

[Sea of vapours]

A steep-sided valley with 8 roads up and down the sides, all climbing/descending 250 metres would be the perfect solution.

I take it your rule about not using the same stretch of road twice means 'irrespective of direction'; so up and back down the same thing is not allowed? If so, that combined with the 'return to start' thing makes this very tricky in either the Dales or the North Pennines. At least, the 30km / 1,000m is. All the loops are too big, so it's actually easier to construct 3,000m in 100km than 1,000m in 33km.

 

[Sharky]

Yeah I partly grew up in Kent

My loops are on the North Downs. You can zig zag along and be climbing for miles without repeating.

 

[ColinJ]

I take it your rule about not using the same stretch of road twice means 'irrespective of direction'; so up and back down the same thing is not allowed? If so, that combined with the 'return to start' thing makes this very tricky in either the Dales or the North Pennines. At least, the 30km / 1,000m is. All the loops are too big, so it's actually easier to construct 3,000m in 100km than 1,000m in 33km.

You've got it absolutely right. My first thoughts were just about the total ascent, but then I realised that a quick up the Calder Valley going up and down the steep sides a few times would do it but with the restriction I don't think there will be enough climbing.

My loops are on the North Downs. You can zig zag along and be climbing for miles without repeating.

That's the kind of thing I meant.

I'll have a look later and see what the Calder Valley does offer.

 

[Sea of vapours]

Aha! I have one at 33.2km with 1,075m ascent. I could knock about 1.5km off that and only lose 30m of ascent so that's comfortably in your target climb rate. Doing it quickly would be pretty foolish though, and I certainly won't be.