Biggest or toughest climb or ride ???

I’ve done Col de Tourmalet, a regular on the TdF. That was a beast.
Naive navigation led us to some that took even more effort, but weren’t rideable. On one, we pretty much ended up using our bikes as Mountaineers’ axes, lifting the bikes ahead of us, stabbing the hillside pedal into the slope as a climbing aid.

dabac said:

I’ve done Col de Tourmalet, a regular on the TdF. That was a beast.
Naive navigation led us to some that took even more effort, but weren’t rideable. On one, we pretty much ended up using our bikes as Mountaineers’ axes, lifting the bikes ahead of us, stabbing the hillside pedal into the slope as a climbing aid.

Nice, never had a chance to ride there but I owned a Lemond Tourmalet at one time. 😄

Speaking of using the bike, a buddy and I (he's in the pic) rode up the local ski lifts. We did a 5 mile clime with 2,000 ft of gain on a dirt trail that parallels the ski lift chairs.

I didn't have a Garmin at the time but he said I would laugh if he told me the grade reading on his Garmin. OK tell me, he said it was 84%. I don't know about that but on the final stretch to the top, in the pic, was impossible to ride up. I took 2 pedal strokes and just about fell off my bike twisting my ankle. I tried 5 times and it was not happening.

So we both walked our bikes up but it was tough. I would walk up about 10 yards and have to stop. Took me about 5 times stopping on this slope. He was behind and having a hard time. We were at the 8500 ft level at this point. It overlooks GMR (Glendora Mt Rd) shown in the background where plenty of cyclists ride up the mtn roads. Not many where we were ha ha!

I doubt it was 84% and probably corrected when he plugged it in. Now that I think of it, I'll have to contact him and ask if it changed when he plugged in.

But that was one ride I had to use my bike to get up the slope. 😄

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Some years ago, I think in 79, my team went for a little 3 day trip to Owens Valley California for a ride up the Onion Valley road on the first day, I can't recall the details except it was around a 22,000-foot climb; we stayed 4 nights and the 3rd day did the Horseshow Meadows ride, I don't recall that foot climb...or maybe Horseshoe Meadows was 22,000 feet and I can't recall the Onion one? I don't know but it was a lot of steep climbing. Both of those were the steepest climbs in California and that is why my team leader wanted us to go for the experience. We were in the area for 3 days, the second day was a rest day so we all went fly fishing at Taboose Creek up the road from Lone Pine.

We stayed at some motel in Lone Pine, Dow, or Low Villa I think was what is it was called.

My toughest were:

* Col de l'Iseran, which at 2770 meters is quite a climb
* Colle San Carlo in Italy, not too high, but between 10-15% for an hour
* The crest on road 7 between Argentina and Chile, which at 3200 is my highest point as a biker
* San Pellegrino in Alpe in Italy, at 18% for 2 km regarded as one of the 10 toughest climbs in Europe. I gave up...
* Col du Ouano at 2910 meters in Morocco. Very desolate, gravel.

Mats Henricson said:

My toughest were:

* Col de l'Iseran, which at 2770 meters is quite a climb
* Colle San Carlo in Italy, not too high, but between 10-15% for an hour
* The crest on road 7 between Argentina and Chile, which at 3200 is my highest point as a biker
* San Pellegrino in Alpe in Italy, at 18% for 2 km regarded as one of the 10 toughest climbs in Europe. I gave up...
* Col du Ouano at 2910 meters in Morocco. Very desolate, gravel.

Good stuff! 😎

I did the Death Ride several times and did the circumnavigation of Lake Tahoe. While the climbs don't seem terribly steep they are all from 2,000 to 3,000 meters high so there is a considerable lack of oxygen. This is a bit hard for me since one of my engineering projects was to provide a poison gas detector for the military and in the process of entering and leaving the gas chamber, I didn't allow it sufficient time to pump out and the gas scarred my lungs pretty bad. But I still try to climb.

Mont Ventoux. Mont Ventoux is an iconic climb in cycling.

Loren Burton said:

Mont Ventoux. Mont Ventoux is an iconic climb in cycling.

So you climbed this Mont Ventoux on your bicycle? How long did it take you?

Froze said:

So you climbed this Mont Ventoux on your bicycle? How long did it take you?

The ascent of Mont-Ventoux. A distance of 21 km with a 1,610 m elevation gain. You'll encounter an average gradient of 7.5% with a maximum gradient of 12%. The most athletic will finish the climb in 1.5 hours but it can take up to 4 hours.

Loren Burton said:

The ascent of Mont-Ventoux. A distance of 21 km with a 1,610 m elevation gain. You'll encounter an average gradient of 7.5% with a maximum gradient of 12%. The most athletic will finish the climb in 1.5 hours but it can take up to 4 hours.

So how long did it take you?

That's about twice the length of one of my local rides And about half the climbing. The climbing is similar otherwise and I do it fairly regular. n the last 12 months I've done 76,000 meters of climbing and I'm 77. Slow but steady gets you there.

cyclintom said:

That's about twice the length of one of my local rides And about half the climbing. The climbing is similar otherwise and I do it fairly regular. n the last 12 months I've done 76,000 meters of climbing and I'm 77. Slow but steady gets you there.

Very strange! Claiming you did 250,000 ft of climbing in the last 12 months. Roughly 76,000 meters of climbing.

On Aug 4th, you posted that you did 2,000 miles this year with 50,000 ft of climbing since the lockdown which was 1 1/2 years already.

So far this year means "8 months" with 50,000 ft.

So you are saying you did 200,000 ft of climbing before the months before January , during the lockdown? 😄:p😄

How did you ever get 250,000 ft of gain in the last 12 months as claimed?

Something doesn't add up! 😉 When you said you were slow, did you mean in math skills? 😄

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Mr. Beanz said:

Very strange! Claiming you did 250,000 ft of climbing in the last 12 months. Roughly 76,000 meters of climbing.

On Aug 4th, you posted that you did 2,000 miles this year with 50,000 ft of climbing since the lockdown which was 1 1/2 years already.

So far this year means "8 months" with 50,000 ft.

So you are saying you did 200,000 ft of climbing before the months before January , during the lockdown? 😄:p😄

How did you ever get 250,000 ft of gain in the last 12 months as claimed?

Something doesn't add up! 😉 When you said you were slow, did you mean in math skills? 😄

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Well, here's the Garmin readout for the last 12 months:

• Activities 234
  
• Distance 4,758.22 mi
  
• Time 613:11:03 hrs
  
• Calories 338,169 C
  
• Elev Gain 248,556 ft
  

Actually this says "lifetime totals" but I got this particular Garmin about a year ago. I have two other Garmins but I don't use them since I can't get the displays on the older models to show what is going on (like rate of climb or cadence)

cyclintom said:

Well, here's the Garmin readout for the last 12 months:

• Activities 234
  
• Distance 4,758.22 mi
  
• Time 613:11:03 hrs
  
• Calories 338,169 C
  
• Elev Gain 248,556 ft
  

Actually this says "lifetime totals" but I got this particular Garmin about a year ago. I have two other Garmins but I don't use them since I can't get the displays on the older models to show what is going on (like rate of climb or cadence)

I'm just going by what "you said", 2,000 miles and 50,000 ft. I guess you did 200,000 ft in the previous 4 months. 😄

Well, so far this year I have a hair over 3,000 miles and 119,000 ft of climbing. 😎

Not bad for not trying to rack up gain. When I do, I get about 30,000 per month. 😄

In 2019 I turned in 6,000 miles and 250,000 feet. I missed climbing rides for the last almost 3 weeks because of a flat causing a fall. So on Sunday I did a 16 mile 1854 feet and I thought it would kill me. Hope it is better today.

We live at the base of Mt. Baldy, San Gabriel Mountains. So we have a warm up climb that people call GMR (Glendora Mtn Rd). The beginner part of the climb is the first 8 miles with 2,300 ft of gain.

My wife Gina has done it about 100 times. Then a bit further to Peacock Saddle which is 3500 ft gain in 16 miles. Then she has gone all the way to Baldy Village which is 5,000 ft in 21 miles.

That would be her best and she has done it twice to the village. We have lots of good climbing out here. 😄

Oh yeah, she's almost 59 and has one kidney after donating back in 2000. 😎

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Locally we have the Moraga Ride that goes over Redwood Rd and Pinehurst which has a steep part of maybe 9% in a couple of places but is mostly 8% of less. There is the North Side of Palomares Rd which is a 1000 foot climb in one mile and goes from 8% to 9% to 10% to 11% and then just at the last 20 feet or so it does a 12%. If you do this from the south side there are several short 12% turns and 2 miles of steep 9% or so. But then it flattens out until the top. There is also Norris Canyon Rd. that is a pretty steady 9% for a couple of miles. We do have Shafer-Ranch Rd. which is only 1/3rd of a mile but it is mostly 16%. Right at the top it eases off to 13%. That eastern side of Norris Canyon is 12% for a quarter of a mile and mo-fos in cars passing you on blind turns. A couple of miles from my house is Fairmont hill which is three miles of 8%. You can use this as a "shortcut" to the Moraga ride. A mile before you get to Moraga you turn on Valley Road and that is 11% for a half mile. Over on the San Francisco peninsula there are some hard stuff but long and not so steep. The Top of Mt. Diablo is a 100 yards of 23% and in Novato in a couple of places it exceeds 25% but only for perhaps one long block. In San Francisco proper there are some steep roads that have steps instead of a sidewalks. 37th St. is 17% and I have never managed that three blocks without taking the steps. I have done all of the other stuff. May Rd. in the Altamonte Pass next to Livermore is 10% for a half mile. If you come up the other way there are some short sections of 12%. There are some places that if you have to get off the bike for any reason you can't remount and the wind can be blowing so hard that it almost rips the bike out of your hands. At one point the bike was perfectly horizontal and whipping around like a flag.

The Garmin isn't real accurate for finding rate of ascent. So I got all of these off of a VDO German speedo-altimeter.

Hey there! Sounds like you have some challenging climbs on your local rides. When tackling steep gradients like 9% to 12%, it's crucial to have the right gear ratio. Opting for a smaller chainring and a larger cassette can help maintain a comfortable cadence. Additionally, focus on maintaining smooth pedal strokes and keeping your upper body relaxed to maximize power transfer. Climbing drills, such as hill repeats and standing sprints, can improve your strength and climbing technique. When riding on flatter terrain, remember to recover and refuel to optimize your performance. Keep up the great work and stay committed to your training. If you have any specific questions or need further advice, feel free to ask!