UKC

I've just cycled from Hay on Wye to Abergavenny. Does this figure as the highest climb in Uk? It must have a claim as the longest descent otherwise?

I think the highest climb is generally accepted as being Ben Nevis.

In terms of road climbs:

I think Bealach na Ba - (Applecross, Scotland) has the most ascent on any climb

https://veloviewer.com/segment/6671117

Great Dun Fell (Cumbria) - is the highest road

https://veloviewer.com/segment/16406525

Chapel Fell (co Durham) - might be the highest pass in the UK

https://veloviewer.com/segment/6678141

On a MTB the Corrieyairack Pass is good - the off-road section of the Corrieyairack Pass runs from just south of Fort Augustus to Melgarve west of Laggan in Speyside. It climbs from 60 metres at the Fort Augustus end, to 775 metres at its highest point. And then there is the downhill - and what a downhill it is!

Each to their own, I wasn’t taken with the Corrieyairack. Too much pylon proximity. The descent is good though.

OP: another biggie and certainly one of the toughest is Polloch hill from Polloch to Strontian. 

In terms of height gain I think the biggest 100% rideable climb on an MTB would be from Glenmore to the summit of Cairngorm.

The biggest 100% rideable descent is almost certainly from the summit of Beinn Fhada (1032m) to Morvich pretty much at sea level.

Next question.

Assuming neutral wind, where's the longest* freewheelling segment in the uk?

I've no idea but I think it needs to be found.

* measured as the crow flies i.e. how far away can you get from your starting point just freewheeling?

Edit: Establishing the record could become a whole new sport if we allow wind assist...

Hmm, don't know. Trying to think of long, gentle valleys.

Cragg Vale in West Yorkshire is the longest continuous incline at 5.5 miles

https://veloviewer.com/segment/16336054

But I'm sure there are others where your momentum will take you over the odd rise. Best one for me was coming off Wrynose Pass all the way though the Duddon Valley - 8 miles of descent in stunning scenery.

This might get you nine miles...

https://www.strava.com/segments/2228957

yeah, I posted a bit quick en route. The biggest height gain on Tarmac. The descent must be u there as one of the longest, although I'd have to do it again to see how long you could freewheel down it, that is, I can't remember if there were any inclines on way down. Anyway, it was quite impressiv and a well graded ascent on the whole.

I was thinking about that having been there yesterday.

Not sure about in the UK, but I've cycled the Annapurna circuit - Besisahar (760m) to Thorong La pass (5416m) and down the other side to Beni (899m). We reckoned that was about as high as you can reasonably take a mountain bike anywhere on a ridable trail.

Heck of a climb and one hell of a downhill, too!

The "Yak Attack", which follows some of the route, claims to be the worlds highest mountain bike race.

I think you'd struggle to freewheel it all, there's some slight uphill on the Old Hereford Road section if you stay on the national cycle route.  I measure 1566' and 17.8 miles. More enjoyable to ride the other way to Hay-on-Wye. 

Not strictly relevant to UK cyclists, and rather the opposite of the original question, but this thread seems like too good an opportunity to miss posting this:

https://what-if.xkcd.com/154/

The top bit on the south side must be a candidate for the steepest stretch of main road in the UK. I don't much like driving down it in the car, and it could be a pretty fast bike ride for someone who was feeling brave (or had dodgy brakes)!

Penny Farthing I'd have thought.....

I think there’s a few higher passes in the Andes. The highest that I know of is Uturuncu in Bolivia at 5770m!

If you went over the Gospel Pass, which I am guessing you did, it is the highest paved road in Wales. It is a stonking climb from Hay and a cracking descent as you say - though not if you encounter a zillion VW campers with no ability to drive on single track roads as I did the other day!

I’ve done it - the climb was nice but the descent was horrible. Surfing a road bike on 2” deep mud and shit for about 5 miles at about 10mph average. Thought I did well to stay upright. 

I always thought that Killhope Moor on the A689 between Nenthead and Lanehead on the Cumbria / Co.Durham border was the highest through road in the UK - Google Earth gives it as 629m (old OS maps showed it at 2058 ft)- and challenging nearby Chapel Fell as the highest 'through' road (Google Earth shows it at 628m and old OS maps gave it as 2056 ft.)

The Bealach Na Ba tops out at 626 m on Google Earth ( 2054 ft on old OS maps) 

The OS map visible online (via http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php) seems to put Chapel Fell at 627 and Killhope (what a great name for a climb) at 623, although Wikipedia seems to put them both at 627.

As I've done Chapel Fell but not Killhope I'm inclined to believe the former !

(P.S. When I did Chapel Fell I forgot to restart my Garmin after a cafe stop, and only realised when I was halfway up. So of course I had to go back down and start again !)

I've done Killhope ( I thought I was going to die)

Climbed Great Dun Fell many years ago on a mtb that also hurt!

glenshee ski centre is at 650m according to the piste map, and the road goes over there, so surely that is the uks highest surfaced pass?

Google has glenshee ski centre at 2139ft, which is 651m

The high point of the Glenshee road is about half a mile to the south of the ski centre. It is marked on the OS map as 665m

Edit : Wiki gives it at 670m, and the Lecht ski centre road at 644m

Combining the long descents and overseas themes, a very accessible descent is of the so-called death road in Bolivia: an incredible road whose superb engineering is matched only by its dreadful surfacing. Easily done as a day trip from La Paz with transport at each end, it descends 11,800 feet from Andes to jungle over 40 miles. Great fun in 2006 when I did it, though admittedly a couple of the group ended up in hospital. Don't know what sort of state it's in now though.

Edit: I'm sure a few masochists cycle up it each year. In fact, come to think of it, this should probably be the world's next unnecessary (running) ultramarathon: start and finish at the bottom, run to the top in between. Could be a great cash cow for financially straitened Bolivia. 

I’m pretty sure the steepest stretch of main road in the UK is the road out of Porlock on the Exmoor coast, or Sutton Bank in the North York Moors. The steepest road is Ffordd Pen Llech in Harlech at a mere 40%. I’ve ridden up that, but I wouldn’t want to come down it - it was scary enough in a car.

This also looks pretty full-on - the steps at the end would be quite a challenge on a bike, assuming you'd be allowed to do it at all!

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/suvs/watch-range-rover-drive-999-steps-mou...

I'd give you Porlock but I don't think Sutton Bank is anything close. Countisbury Hill also on the North Devon coast is pretty steep too. Not sure where Berriedale fits in, but I know it was feared by those attempting the end to end record. Btw, with reference to the longest downhill, I recall that many decades ago the straight out 50 mile record was set my somebody starting at the highest point of whichever road it is that goes past Plynlimon and riding east with a westerly gale behind.

Not sure what is the distinction between the highest road and highest pass.

I was told at about the age of 10 by my father as we were cycling from Langdon Beck to St Johns Chapel through a violent rain storm that this was the highest road in UK or it might've been England. I see it reaches 627m, over 2,000 ft in old money.

A pass is a through road, whereas the highest road could well be a dead end - i.e a road to a ski station (e.g. Glenshee) or a radar station (e.g. Great Dun Fell). It's distinctly less satisfying when the climb ends in a car park.

The Glenshee ski station road, A93, is not a dead end, it's a through road from Blairgowrie to Braemar

I thought that might be it.

So it is. And at 670m it seems it is indeed the highest road pass in the UK

It depends on what you mean by steep, I guess. Sutton Bank is really only steep on the inside of one bend. Although, to be fair, the steepest bit of Porlock Hill is also the inside of a bend, but it's pretty steep for longer. Countisbury Hill *is* fairly steep, but it's more of a long slog than single, really steep point. If you're looking for long slogs, then there are much worse ones.

There are a series of books of cycling climbs in Britain, which have 550 of the 'best' hills to cycle up. I made a graph of all of them here: 

https://t.co/JOPWQilXJg 

Berriedale isn't among the 550, but it doesn't look particularly hard (2.2km at an average of 6.3% and a maximum gradient of 12.5%) - it'll just come really near the end for any LEJOG riders. 

https://veloviewer.com/segments/2106503

Great Graph ! I guess now we can see how you get your username !

But average gradient doesn't really give a true picture, and neither does max gradient. The killer is the duration of the steep section - how long above 15%

Veloviewer is great for comparing climbs, you can overlay any climb over another, including top climbs from around the world - great for comparing Hardknott with Zoncolan for example.

I've yet to attempt any of Simon Warren's "11"s but of the "10"s it's hard to choose between Hardknott, Asterton Bank and Trooper Lane. Hardknott is a double punch, you get a slight breather in the middle but not enough to recover before you hit the steepest section. Asterton is relentless, half a mile at 20%. Likewise Trooper lane, with the added fun of cobbles.   

Colwyd looks very appetising - came down it on an MTB last year and my brakes couldn't cope !  

The trouble is that the difficulty rating ("11" vs. "10" etc) is very personal. I've been up Bealach na Ba ("11") and found it easier than Swiss Hill ("5"). BnB is just a long grind and you can do it at your own pace whereas SH (short but steep and cobbled) gets much harder (impossible?) if you don't maintain momentum or take the wrong line or wheelspin on a damp patch or...

Interesting post! My knowledge of Berriedale is only because of the awe with which my one-time brother-in-law (deceased) Reg Randall (who held the end-to-end record in the '60s) spoke of it.

As for Porlock, I have a very vivid memory of going to watch a Tour of Britain stage going up it, probably in the early '60s, and being surprised to see the back end of the peloton getting off and walking up! I guess they were badly advised on gearing and probably thought England was basically flat as a lot of Europeans who've never visited still seem to think.

Curse you, I've just spent ten pounds on that site, how cool and love the graph.

Cheers

Toby

My memory of Porlock is a short steep bit and a long drag thereafter, on a very busy road. Nearby Dunkery Beacon was a much better climb. Unfortunately for me I turned off the A39 just before the summit, to take the scenic route to Lynton, so according to Strava and the 100 climbs app I haven't done it.

And of course if it isn't on Strava it didn't happen    

I have a mad plan for a graph that shows you the % of each climb at each gradient, but it'd be quite a lot of work to actually draw. I agree average gradient is sometimes quite misleading - there are a few absolute bastards that look much easier than they are because they have a long, easier section (e.g. Talland Hill, Winnats, Mytholm Steeps).

Of the 11s, I've only done Great Dun Fell, which I didn't think was so bad. But I think it depends on what you're good at. I'm fine with short(ish) very steep climbs (e.g. the 1st half of Hardknott), or long grinds (e.g. Great Dun Fell), but really struggle with long steep sections (e.g. Asterton Bank or Trooper Lane, both of which nearly ended me).

I agree, Dunkery Beacon is a much more pleasant ride, and I found it a fair bit easier than Porlock (in spite of being a 10/10 rather than a 9). 

Have you done the Porlock toll road? That is magnificent (and much easier). Almost alpine. Don't confuse if for the other toll road slightly further west though - I came down that and it was probably the least pleasant thing I've ever done on two wheels - the surface was terrible - and then I had to pay a pound for the privilege!

If you are going to do it, do it properly!

It's not the gradient that's important, but how much power you need to get up that gradient and how close that power is to your 'gut busting limit'. As you approach that limit, the perceived 'effort' rises (and sustained time to collapse falls) very non-linearly. That implies that you should allow your graph viewers to input weight and FTP (or something similar) to try and predict how 'hard' a climb is going to feel - or indeed a 'pain curve' for each climb.

Probably need to account for road surface too (cobbles?) which may distort the hurt for some climbs.

Only been to Porlock once, as a stopover on-route to Cornwall, so did Dunkery Beacon in the evening and Porlock hill the next day. Didn't find either of them that hard, but might have a had a tail wind ! But I did do do DB from Porlock village, which includes a nasty warm-up climb - https://veloviewer.com/segments/8180452. 

After Porlock I went on to Bude via Lynmouth and the Valley of the Rocks - and somehow managed to generate this segment - https://veloviewer.com/segments/8289733 - with an average gradient of 42% ! I suspect it was due to me riding very slowly in some dense woodland, but it was hellishly steep !

Ha! That sounds nice, but sadly would need somebody with a whole lot more time on their hands than I currently have.

Ah yes, I came down that hill into Lynmouth and was sorely tempted to turn straight around and ride back up it, but I'd already ridden Dunkery Beacon and Porlock and had appointments with Countisbury Hill, Exmoor Forest and the Porlock Toll Road, so I left it as a future project.

In that neck of the woods, I rode the access rode to Clovelly the other week. Ouch.

Back in the day ( mid 60's when I was a mere youth)  I climbed Killhope on a 46 x 24  ( I'd need a 34 x 32 nowadays!) -- it was in the middle of one of my favourite longer club rides from Tynemouth - via Corbridge, Hexham - over the 'Hydro' to Carts Bog, down Starward Peel hairpins, over Whitfield Fell to Alston - then to Nenthead, Killhope, and enjoy the long descent to Stanhope in Weardale.  Up over Crawleyside to Edmundbyers, then 'mostly' downhill back to the coast.  120 miles or thereabouts. There was actually very little 'flat' road to be ridden.