What's the steepest/longest/biggest hill you've climbed (on a bike?)

[ComedyPilot]

Oh alright then:
Ak Baital Pass, Pamir Highway, Tajikistan, 4,644m
Khunjerab Pass, Karakoram Highway, 4,690m
Both fully loaded touring.

You always get one......




Respect though...

 

[Hip Priest]

The Ryals are probably the steepest.

Rothbury to Forestburn gate is probably the biggest, or the road coming out of Shotley Bridge.

 

[Hip Priest]

Oh alright then:
Ak Baital Pass, Pamir Highway, Tajikistan, 4,644m
Khunjerab Pass, Karakoram Highway, 4,690m
Both fully loaded touring.

Wow! Your username becomes clear

 

[User169]

This is the trickiest one i've ridden up.

Not especially long or steep, but the cobbles seem to make it that much harder. The bloke riding next to me, somehow managed to pull a wheely and ended up on his back.

 

[thom]

The nastiest would be Marin Avenue in Berkeley :

The longest & highest would be the Col de l'Iseran from Bourg St Maurice, 48 km at 4.1 % is not steep but you rise 1955 m to 2770 m, the highest paved pass in europe.

 

[Svendo]

Longest and biggest: Tourmalet on 2008 Etape
Steepest: One of various round here all around 20-25%; Church Lane/Rawtenstall Bank/Mytholm Steeps (see Colin J's post above); Doghouse Lane in Todmorden; Marsden Lane nr. Meltham (part of West Yorkshire Cycle Route)

 

[albion]

The Ryals are probably the steepest.
Rothbury to Forestburn gate is probably the biggest, or the road coming out of Shotley Bridge.

Head down to St Johns Chapel, Westgate or Stanhope .

North and south routes via those might rate higher with Crawleyside bank being maybe the easiest of the 6.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

There are plenty of 25% climbs round here and I have suitably low gears for them, but the balance question is not as easy as you make out. It can be a very fine line between the front of the bike lifting and the back wheel slipping

I can think of the road from Luddenden Foot up through the hairpins of Stocks Lane(??) towards Mount Tabor & Wainstalls??

Lee Lane (aka 'Shibden Wall'), from Shibden Dam pub, up to the dry ski-slope

If the road is dry, and dust- and gravel-free then it easier to maintain traction, but it can be nightmare in the rain!

Trooper Lane in Halifax would certainly fall into that regard, I think it'd be nightmare going down it in the wet, let alone with a slight frost!!!

 

[Davidc]

Mine are all time-expired at over 30 years ago!

Back in those far off days I did Porlock and Countisbury (A39 along the North Somerset coast and a mile or two of North Devon, >30%) with full touring kit and no walking, some less steep but very long climbs in the French Alps and Pyrenees, and a few more.

Getting older isn't good for you - I now have difficulty getting up steeper than 10% without getting off and walking, and I have difficulty pushing a lightly loaded bike up 30%.

Sad isn't it?

 

[Hip Priest]

Head down to St Johns Chapel, Westgate or Stanhope .

North and south routes via those might rate higher with Crawleyside bank being maybe the easiest of the 6.

I've driven up Crawleyside. If that's the easiest, I think I'll give the others a miss

 

[albion]

Yep, it feels a 'short and sweet' and a relief after doing some of the others.
I've not done Bollihope yet from there though.

 

[albion]

Well, I just completed another one of those maybe possible 6 and as it was more than expected I did comparisons for contrast.

http://www.climbbybike.com/climb.asp?Col=Harthope Head&qryMountainID=7383
http://www.climbbybike.com/climb.asp?Col=Crawleyside Bank&qryMountainID=13518
http://www.climbbybike.com/climb.asp?Col=Killhope&qryMountainID=7393
http://www.climbbybike.com/climb.asp?Col=Cragg Vale&qryMountainID=16776

Turns out an average of 8.3 % over 4 km hits the 'exception' mark for length and gradient.
I have only done an E to W Killhope so that W to E looks good for a 'close enough' Cragg Vale simulation.

 

[clid61]

this
http://www.marrakech-atlas-etape.com/

 

[Cubist]

I've done the HLifax ones that @Richard A Thackeray mentions, but on a mountain bike with 22/34 as lowest gear. Elland cricket club to Blackley off road is another bit of a tow, as is Copley to The trig point on Norland Moor.

The first 20 minutes of the Marin trail is a long, steep slog. Penmachno is similar, and The initial climb at Ae forest is disheartening in places.

On road, I have done Blubberhouses and all the long grinding bastards between there and Holme Moss. Don't underestimate the ones that were hardly mentioned during the TDF... Keighley to CrossRoad, the climb up to Cock hill from Hawarth, to name but two.

The A640 from Huddersfield Town centre to Buckstones is a 12 mile slog with only two downhill bits in the ride. Similar the A62 from Linthwaite to Stanage is a bit of a drag too.

Hardest for me was Wessenden fromMeltham. Unforgiving sort of climb with loads of false horizons and a nasty headwind.
I quite enjoy Cragg Vale, in a smug sort of way.

 

[glenn forger]

http://www.mapmyride.com/fr/tarbes-...ourdes-col-du-tourmalet-tarbes-route-51999756

Twice.