There are a few descents where you can easily exceed 100kph. Bologna is easy too. I think I went at 114kph last year. I don't remember though a badge. I will have to check
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
There are a few descents where you can easily exceed 100kph. Bologna is easy too. I think I went at 114kph last year. I don't remember though a badge. I will have to check
Not as a lighter rider on a free ride ,I've tried
Legs
usually riding on Zwift...
- Location
- Staffordshire
steverob
Guru
- Location
- Buckinghamshire
Well you've got until the 28th, so there's a good chance.
Very true!The very notion of riding down Hardknott at much more than 30km/h is laughable
On the ZwiftInsider page about the Climb Portal, they've posted estimated times to climb based on various w/kg outputs. One commenter has mentioned that it's all very well putting down times for sub 2 w/kg, but if you tried to ride up the real climb at that pace, you'd topple over within a few metres of starting!
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
And my Victory turbo (still 3+weeks from delivery!!
) will only be capable of simulating 16% so very steep climbs like that will only feel pretty steep! This afternoon here would have been an ideal time for a smart turbo session. It was overcast with a very cold wind blowing. Not the kind of conditions that I enjoy venturing out in, especially with the risk of having to fix punctures with fingers rapidly feeling frozen! I had that happen just before sunset a week or two back and it puts me off venturing too far from home. If my winter bike were back in action I would feel less worried about it because that has heavy duty puncture-resistant tyres (plus very effective mudguards to keep salty/gritty winter spray off me and the bike).
Mark my words - unlike the past couple of years where spring almost didn't happen and winter lasted almost to summer, spring 2025 will be glorious and will start about 10 minutes after my new trainer arrives and has been removed from its packaging! I will probably then not feel like using it until November or December!
The very notion of riding down Hardknott at much more than 30km/h is laughable
The notion of riding up Hardknott more than 3
steverob
Guru
- Location
- Buckinghamshire
I did drop as low as 3.5kph at one point on the climb!
As I mentioned on Strava, I got to 64.3mph (although Zwift displayed 65 on screen) without needing to change my bike, no powerups and I didn't pedal once I'd got up to about 30mph - just left it to coast down.
Even with my extra weight, I think if you select a heavy bike once you are on the loop at the top and pedal hard to get up to speed a bit sooner, you'll break the barrier with no problem. Note that you'll probably not hit it on the top steep section (I got it to 60.6 there) as it's over too quickly - the bottom section is far more likely a candidate.
If you have the trainer setting on 100% difficulty. 16% will be plenty.Victory turbo (still 3+weeks from delivery!!
There are very few inclines within Zwift that exceed 16% and if they do it's only for a few yards
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Obviously, you would break your neck if you tried descending the real thing at high speed, but if the road were straight down with no gravel, potholes or wandering sheep (!) to cause problems then I'm sure that you could actually exceed 105 kmph/65 mph!
I once hit 88 kmph/55 mph freewheeling down the A58 from Blackstone Edge towards Littleborough and that stretch of road only descends at about 7%.
Overall, I'm sure that I will be perfectly happy with 16%! I took a quick look at the Decathlon Van Rysel but dismissed that as an option when I saw that it could only simulate 6% - I have sprinted up local 8-10% ramps on a singlespeed bike so 6% is not much good for serious use!
I once hit 88 kmph/55 mph freewheeling down the A58 from Blackstone Edge towards Littleborough and that stretch of road only descends at about 7%.
I wouldn't be complaining about it not feeling hard enough, just that 16% is not a realistic simulation of Hardknott! I get by ok tackling my local 16% climbs (slowly!) but suffer badly on 25+%. 16% wouldn't feel especially challenging compared to the real monster, which I have thus far put off trying to tackle.
Overall, I'm sure that I will be perfectly happy with 16%! I took a quick look at the Decathlon Van Rysel but dismissed that as an option when I saw that it could only simulate 6% - I have sprinted up local 8-10% ramps on a singlespeed bike so 6% is not much good for serious use!
Same Shimano event as Andy's morning race for me tonight ,my 1st race since mid Jan and recovering from a cold at the weekend I was a bit apprehensive. I was right to be it went off from the gun ,hung on until the the top of the 1st climb where my heart rate hit 181 which is blow up time and sure enough a kamboom soon followed just as we crested spent the rest of the race mainly solo did catch a couple of fellows dropees for just quit the race . 20th of 21 on zp from 35 starters . At least I've got my ZRS under 400 now
Last edited:
Depend on your gearing, and balance control. I do agree there is a stall speed and having excellent slow speed balance is vital. I remember on tour de Yorkshire from Sheffield, there were some gradients in excess of 25% where many were falling off due to not maintaining forward motion. this was caused by lack of cadence and rear wheel grip. I managed to ascend all the climbs by staying seated and spinning. I had a 40t cassette and 28t chainring. I was going that slow people walked passed faster. For overall timings of the event, it would have been better to walk up some of the hills
alex_cycles
Veteran
- Location
- Oxfordshire
Depend on your gearing, and balance control. I do agree there is a stall speed and having excellent slow speed balance is vital. I remember on tour de Yorkshire from Sheffield, there were some gradients in excess of 25% where many were falling off due to not maintaining forward motion. this was caused by lack of cadence and rear wheel grip. I managed to ascend all the climbs by staying seated and spinning. I had a 40t cassette and 28t chainring. I was going that slow people walked passed faster. For overall timings of the event, it would have been better to walk up some of the hills
On some of the Surrey Hills I've had the Garmin stop recording because I went below 4 mph (switched that off now). And also on really steep parts you stand up to get more power and then you either pull a mini-wheelie or the back wheel starts to spin. It really does become a game of balance and bike handling skills.
A friend did the Fred Whitton and said that there were loads of people falling off on Hardknott at the 30% bit.
Some years ago, I lent a lad from our club my spare 50/34 Ultegra crank and fitted a 36t cassette for him, when he did a coast to coast club event. He was chuffed to bits saying he was one of the very few that managed to cycle up Hardknott.
