The Steepest Climb In The World: Can We Make It Rideable?
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- Опубліковано 26 вер 2024
- Last year Ollie tried (and failed!) to climb what could very well be the steepest road in the world. That got us thinking, could tech help him? We sent him back to Bamford Clough to find out. With a steepest section of 36.5%, would Ollie finally be able to conquer this brutal climb?
Poll: Can Ollie Make It Up the Climb? 👉 gcn.eu/7a8
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Do you know of any climbs you'd like to see Ollie take on?
Us Filipino viewers would love to see you do the "Black Wall" challenge here in the Philippines. The gradient at its highest is 35%
Come to sunny St. Lucia...lots of mountain rides for you to enjoy...like Majorca but possibly shorter. BTW I correct my information to read 41.8% not degrees in terms of hill steepness. Ollie we have amazing sandy beaches too....just saying again
There's one in Hawaii I'd like to see him challenge--Waipio Valley Road. Send him next January.
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P.S. Ollie didn't ask me to suggest a trip to Hawaii in January.
Can you make Ollie Everest that climb please 🙂
get in touch with jeremy and come on over to the usa and do the mt. washington climb. as tough as it gets with a nice coupie hunded yards of dir at the top. you'll have to wait till august though to try to avoid snoe, a constant at least 25mph wind and temps in the 30's! best wishes, enjoyed this video!
I'm pretty sure the hill my dad went up to school both ways was much steeper. Plus it was always raining or snowing and into a headwind
My grandfather use to tell me his bike never had tires so he rode it on just rims.
Andrew! you must be my brother, because my dad did the same thing!
We ‘ad it tough…
Bro, wanted so say the same and at the same time i knew so.eone already said it haha
my dad would do that, but he only had one leg. His other leg was off starting a profitable business.
5:32 Congratulations - it is always hard to imagine how steep a climb is when you watch it on TV, but the bench shot gives a pretty good idea of how brutal it is.
It's hard to convey steep ramps sometimes
"I wasn't trying to get up there fast... I was just trying to get up. The speed you go is the speed you go."
- me, pretty much on every climb.
Aces climb Oli!
Absolutely pissed myself when you tried to start Ollie… thanks I needed that … well done by the way 😂👍🏼 oh by the way when are you planning to Everest this climb 😂😂😂
It's a 100m climb, so 'only' 88 laps should do the job!
Come on Ollie get this Everested 👍🏼😂
Fair game Ollie, a 35/33 gear ratio is still harder than my own compact 34/34 :D You needed a gravel/MTB drivetrain!
Ollie is a hero. That's something road bikes are lacking imho, easiest gears for climbs like that. My road bike is also 34/34 but on some place I'd be grateful to have something more akin to 34/50, it's mountainous (1035m, 1100m mountains at most), but it's very hilly
Well done Ollie!!! I have gained so much respect for you over the year or so I have subscribed to GCN. Always shows us the lighter side of things even if the challenge is tough. ❤
I love that you included the failed attempts. Nice video as always
Thanks - it doesn't always go right on the first attempt that's for sure!
Nice camera work at the end with Ollie coughing and wheezing under a sign saying ‘Quiet Lane’. “Ollie mate, can you just recover silently please?” 😂😂
So you are normal after all, well done for trying and trying again. That was Ridiculously steep. That is steeper than my roof, it's only 33%
Maybe we should try send Ollie up your roof next?
Would love to see "the Feather" attempt that and leave a KOM throw down!
Hills are a big reason I went with the GRX group set. 46-30 chainring and 11-34 cassette.
You have strong legs with the available gear ratio you have, mate!
You can go 46-34 in the front and 11-34 in the back with Shimano 105. I have it set up like that on my Cyclocross bike.
you'te a trooper bro! i've got a bike set up only for climbing with an old campy daytona rd wih the 11-34 and a 26 front ring. i can haul my 265 lb carcass up almost anything with that set up-well almost anything!
@@drjwbriand That still is a heavy load, my mate! Wow!
There's always the Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea climbs in Hawai'i, evidently they're the longest and hardest (respectively) climbs in the world. They're even on the same island, so you can try for both on the same trip!
Canton Ave., Pittsburgh, 37% and cobblestones! See Dirty Dozen, Pittsburgh
You're a beast. The hardest I've done is 1km at 12% average (maxing out at 25%) and that was hell. Can't imagine a road that's 50% steeper.
Where I live we have a very similar road except it’s 1.5 km, 13% average, and 25% max (steepest quarter mile was around 18%). I could feel my heart beating through my ears an the blood rushing past my face was deafening. I was moving at about 5 kph and it took nearly all of my energy to keep upright (and I was using a 34-32 gear)
Well you guys need to visit the Himalayas. Some places we have slopes that have almost a 100% gradient 😂... Thanks to the fact that the entire region is a sinking zone and our roads often sink...
@Ollie, out of interest what gear ratios do the two hill climb pros use as a comparison?
@@AlistairLattimore I use a 36 front and 46 back for climbing. But the main issue is that there isn't mutch traction while climbing the hill and also if there is enough traction then the front wheel starts rising making the bike wanna tip over backwards. So it's kinda scary and also I haven't been able to climb slopes higher than 70%. I once encountered one at 86% and I tipped over and fell 😂
@@quarkonium3795 i can understand you, i have done 0.7 km at 13% (39-30 gear) i was so out of energy that i decided to stop when i mistook a tree for a man
I was once on a really steep climb on gravel in my lowest gear (34-36). Grip was not the problem, but the low gear made me bringing so much torque to the wheel, that my front wheel would take off sometimes.
4:08 kudos to the editing team, the music was *chef's kiss* perfection for the beginning of that little montage 😀
Ollie - well done with the Rifleman’s Creed and Full Metal Jacket paraphrased quote… “… there are others like it, this one is mine. “ That is also how I feel about my bike, there are others like it, but…😁
There are 2 great climbs in Cork City, Ireland St. Patrick's hill which is relatively short and Fair hill which is a lot longer. Would love to see you attempt both
To me it’s always surprising when you convert the incline percentage to degrees it doesn’t *sound* so bad (e.g. 20% is just over 11°) yet when you stand at the base of a 20% hill it looks like a freaking wall…
and 100% is 45°
@@bigmichael6156 Thanks, I never looked at like that, and it seems obvious to me now 😄
Don’t they say snow won’t stick to a face over 70*? On top of a 40* ski slope it always looks like a cliff. I think cycling up steep climbs is one the hardest athletic pursuits one can do. A 20% hill is brutal
Shimano FC-RX600-11 46-30T + MicroShift SB-M110
MicroShift CS-G113 11-46T + Shimano RD-M8000-SGS (or Shimano RD-M9050-SGS)
Whoah. And i felt gassed on my first ride of the season today when we had to cross a FLAT grass path that just turned to mud. Quads were on fire and I could barely breathe. Walked because we got stuck. Y'all are beyond next level at GCN. Pure power houses.
Wow that is BRUTAL! There is a climb in Poland near me - not as steep but a bit longer. 1km at an average gradient of 20% and a 100m long section of steady 30% gradient in the middle. It is ridiculously hard to ride the entire climb without stopping. I sort of can but at the same time can't imagine going up 36,5% :)
Cheers from "Rzeźnia w Laskowej, PL" :)
which drivetrain do you have if that's not asking much? And on what kind of bike?
@@xosece Standard Ultegra 6800: a 52/36 crankset and a 11-28 cassette. Managed to do the whole thing on my third try, had to bail on the first 2. My average speed up that climb is 7km/h and it's pretty tough to keep upright hehe :) Cheers!
@@piotrkol91 that's impressive! Sometimes I wonder how some people make it. Something I miss in road bikes is having more options for easier gears, something like having the typical road bike chainring (34-50T or whatever) but something along the lines of 48T or 52T in the sprocket. While I prefer to grind rather than spinning, at certain hills, I'd be still grinding in a 34-48 gear....
“I probably should have swept this bit’. Literal lol 😂
0:00 the "previously on gcn" gets me everytime, so funny, watched it 5 times over and over again 😂😂!!
Great effort Oli, and many thanks for your Bambi on ice impression at the beginning😅
Outstanding. And if we die from a heart attack on our bike, that’s not so bad compared to all the other slow and horrible ways available to the average person. Never stop.
Loved it. When Ollie says "can't clip in", I had flashbacks to Matt.🙄😂
To be fair, 2% can be unrideable if there's enough rotting leafmeal covering the surface of the road. That road was still unclimbable until he busted out the broom.
Indeed!
Is the broom the best value for money tech upgrade we've ever used?
So funny but so lovely to see Ollie make a twit of himself and let us see it on camera , love that man
Have you heard of the Waipio Valley hill (in Kona Hawaii)? It elevates 270 metres in 2km, it averages 25% grade peaking at 45% at points. It's proposterous
Superb video, well done Ollie. Loved the failed starts in the beginning.
I am in Taiwan... lots of 9-20% sustained climbs.... I run a SRAM 11-36 cassette and a 52/34 Dura ace crankset... YES IT WORKS....needed the long cage r8000 rear mech... works perfectly for up and fast down.
Dr. Bridgewood hitting the fence is the best part 🤣🤣🤣
You guys should have brought Blake Sampson along for the ride...
Now that would have been really interesting.
Still way overgeared. I find that mountain bike gearing of 38-24 front and 11-40 rear is suitable for myself, an older but fit recreational rider. Road bikes are commonly sold with gears only slightly lower than pro racers, but I put out less than half their power
True, I plan to build a road bike with 46/30, 11-36. Want high cadence climbing.
Agree completely. 53/39 is just not enjoyable, for me, for recreational riding, and I'm quite fit. I don't need to go 80kph downhill, but I do like to be able to climb without exploding my knees. In past couple years I sold my oldschool 53/39 with 11-28 bike and now have a gravel bike with 46/30 and a 34T cassette. I have yet to need a higher gear than 46-11 even descending on pavement, but man do I love the 30-34. My new road bike will be a compact double with a 34 or 36 rear cassette.
50t-11t rear and 22t-32t front on my Kloss Enroute, a retro roadbike. That the only way I can travel anywhere in my hometown in Bogor, Indonesia. No flats here.
٩(◕‿◕｡)۶
@@QwertyUser1983 That's even bigger gearing than my mountain bike, 11-42t rear and a compact 36/26 on the crank, which is what I used for the steepest climb that I've ever tried, and it was definitely not as steep as the one in this video.
@@michaelb1761 Well, 100 kg round me + 10 kg weekly groceries + 15 kg bike with pannier cage rack,
Those big gearings are super helpful
(*♡∀♡)
I'm an old codger but can generally get up stuff like that. My road bike has a 52 36 on the front and an 11 46 on the back. In the old days we ran triples which had the same effect and worked fine. Gearing is more important than weight (within reason).
i ride a triple with 50/39/30. on the rear i have either a 12-25 or 12-28. there is one local hill about 20 percent plus maybe? hits 25% never made it up yet... disclaimer, i am old and fat lol.
Thanks, Ollie, for this climbing vignette - it was hilarious!
Bravo. My meager offering is the Hatcher's Pass Summit in Alaska. 1.5 miles of 13% avg, washboard gravel. This is the last bit of 5 miles with 700m elevation gain (the rest is paved).
Maybe send Si for that one...gorgeous ride, about 15 miles of backcountry gravel road in Willow, passing by old and current gold mines.
Music choice is on point this one. You don't really get a sense for how steep it is until you see that bench on a concrete platform jutting out.
Thumbs up immediately for the film reference, "there are others like it but this one is mine." Is that part of your prayers every evening when you go to bed?
Ollie should consider riding 3 hills in the Palos Verdes peninsula in California. You can go south on either Crenshaw Blvd and have some fun on that climb (about 3 miles of climbing at about 20-22% closer to the top) and then descend on Hawthorne Blvd towards the Pacific ocean, make your way to Palos Verdes Drive East and concur the switchbacks (about 17-25% for 2.5 miles of climbing). And it's moderately warm for the summer. Have fun climbing! I'll bring my bungee cords so I can follow you.
hat's off to you for doing it in that gear ratio. I've done sustained 36% on forest service roads in the US on a mountain bike, but we were running a 22 cog up front (aka granny ring) and a 36 in the back. I think my knees would explode going above 1:1
With my old-timer, superlight carbon 33 gear MTB, I had some very steep hills (one pawed) in woods near my former home, and in the lowest gear, fearing to fall backwards going up (I couldn't even start on a flat road in those gears, and obtain enough speed to be able to ride!), I could just manage to go up, with my lungs outside! Also with a huge wear on chain and chainwheel.
Fun challenge! Ditch the roadie shoes and slap on SPD's. It took me decades to realize the obvious: the double sided SPD's pedal interface is hard to beat. You would have launched within the first couple attempts. And yes I now ride SPD's all the time and could care less what the roadie fashion police thinks. :) Glad you made it up! Thanks for the fun video! And really... ditch your look cleats ;)
Since you are looking for hard climbs somewhere warm and sunny, I've got 2 for you on the Big Island of Hawaii. 😁
- Waipio valley road climb. Maybe easier than this one in length and gradient (~1mile long, average ~20% gradient) but pavement is beat up and there are water bars for drainage.
- Mauna Kea. From the Hilo side, 42.6 miles (68.5km), 6% average gradient. Climbs from the beach to 13767 feet (4192m).
Amazing effort Ollie 👏 chapeau! You need that GCN bike with helium in the frame, and a bit of porridge for rear end compliance!!😜👍😁😁😁
Sorry to break it to you Ollie, I walked up Bramford Clough today quicker than you cycled up it. I will happily admit it was a near death experience, taking this course record on Strava was hard work and I’m sure it’ll be short lived! Chapeau for taking on the climb it is indeed savage!
Good effort, but were you wearing your cycling shoes and carrying your bike over your shoulder?
@@DMcTyke no I wasn’t but rather cycle up that hill than walk it again this video or pictures don’t do it any justice
That's awesome. My trance with a 30 front 50 back says we got all day. Can't wait to get a road bike.
I will probably never attempt a climb like that, but I learned a few things about bike technology and trail building from watching this video. Thanks!
the failed starts really crack my laugh out 🤣
I've tried twice and couldn't keep the front wheel on the tarmac, lost all steering then just toppled sidewards in one of the gullies. The physics of it seemed even tougher than the effort to be honest.
I'd have brought a mtb there... It'd have been much easier gears.
I went up well over 20% roads, but they never where longer than a hundred meters.
I live in Belgium after all.
@Nicoco you don't know Belgium well. The northern part (Dutch speaking -> Flanders) is really flat indeed.
But the southern part of Belgium (French speaking -> Wallonia) has a much more diverse terrain. There's a limestone plateau carved with valleys of various sizes. The highest point is just shy of 700m.
If you want to have an idea of what some parts of Belgium look like, you can search "Dinant" or "Viroinval".
@Nicoco it most likely does^^
You won't find 10km climbs here, but short and steep ones you will. Something else you might know about Belgian cycling is "Le mur de Huy" which is regularly included in "Le tour de France". We have quite a few features like that, tho it's not around each and every corner. You have to know them.
That easier gear you swapped to, is my normal gear and sometimes want it even easier than that. so chapeau!
I want that sign-off every time.
I did a climb with very similar stats by the entrance of Partnach Gorge, Garmisch. Like you, I've ridden many of the big climbs but this was the hardest I've done. Took a whole day for my breathing to feel normal again!
That is a pretty steep one!
I've just upgraded (Carrera TDF in Tourney!!) to a Vitus Razor Disc Sora 50/34 equipped bike and when it arrived I took off the 11-32 rear mech and cassette and replaced it with a 12-36 and a Deore RD-M592.....This mech has a capacity of 45T so could happily take an 11-40 cassette (In fact it does take an 11-42 Microshift Advent cassette, just no big ring to big cog nonsense, which will be going on it when we take our annual jaunt to Applecross and I'll finally attempt the Bealach Na Ba)
WOW!!! Well done, mate!
Well done our kid. Proper champion is it.
Nice Full Metal Jacket reference! Best movie ever! I bet if there were some doughnuts at the top you'd get there!
The Corkscrew, Rainow/Bollington..add in twists, oh & cobbles.
Nice! Come to San Francisco, CA US where it is very hilly with some grades are 30% or more; but views are great. Just watch out for the cycle jackers and muggers in some parts of the city & you’ll be ok.
36.2% at it’s steepest, all on dirt. Another is 41% section on maybe a 1/4-3/8 mile overall climb, feels like eternity and you will taste you lungs. All Mountain bike climbs.
Brother, we feel your pain. You are a machine. Nice job! We have some real leg busters here in SF Bay Area. The first one I mentioned is a dirt climb that is roughly 800’+ (maybe 900’) gain in about 1 mile. Probably 6 other climbs that are ridiculously difficult and will make you pray for death ☠️ as well. Good times! 😃
Great work. Way to go.
I've walked up this (before it was re-paved) and that hurt - props for getting a bike up it!
Canton Avenue in Pittsburgh PA USA, is only 190 m long and is claimed to be 37%. Steepest in the USA actually.
Breakneck road Vernon township NJ. A very steep and steady gradient with a high grade in the middle and at the end.
At 1:09 ‘this is the only climb that’s defeated me and I’ve had to get off and walk’. There’s a Cycling Weekly video on UA-cam about The Fred Whitton where Ollie talks about walking up Hardknott.
There is 3 hard bill climbs in Worcestershire: Ankerdine hill, Shelshey Walsh and Fish hill.
Mendip steeps here in Somerset is a beast too, and only round the corner, sure Si's done it many times
Next to Grenoble, "montée du pere gras" next to " la bastille" around 1.8km at 25% i think. To be checked
OLLIE....you mentioned suggesting a steeper climb somewhere warm....on the island of St. Lucia in the Caribbean we have a short hill in a community development which registers at 41.8 degrees on my element bolt at its steepest point. You are welcome to visit, confirm and attempt it. Ps I have a mountain bike with a 32 front and 52 rear in case you need it...just saying
Regards Gordon Charles
sounds incredible!
Degrees or %? If 41,8 degrees it's an amazing challenge even with a 32/52.
@@janvanrookhuijzen8309 Good question...I would have to check my wahoo bolt...however this bike computer registers gradient is what I read...and I did it twice for good measure
@@janvanrookhuijzen8309 Ok I can confirm that it is 41.8% my error
@@gordoncharles8372 still crazy steep!
HWY 308, Osaka, Japan. Heading east - 2.5km, long stretches @ 20%, some short stretches @37.5%, never dropping below 15% for the whole thing. Aptly nicknamed the dark pass! There are many vids on youtube for this one. It's on my bucket list.
Not as hard, but Riber and Rowsley Bar are so savage, especially when you've already got some miles in your legs.
Vale Street in Bristol, which features in a GCN video less than a week after this one, is said to be a 22-degree incline, which is over a 40% grade.
can confirm there is a steeper road in the USA at Bellavue NE, even in a car I was not comfortable coming to a stop or going up the road.
As a mechanical engineer and cyclist I have wondered what is the gradient where the speed you can maintain is equal between cycling and on foot. For example, I have gone up the 520 steps of the Köln Cathederal that tourists are allowed at a speed that I KNOW is impossible on a bike. Also, you often see guys running along side cyclists in the Tour de France on the hills. Maybe 36.5° is that magical transition? Now go and huff it sans bike and report back. Thanks muchly.
I have a more difficult one for you. Maney Branch Road in Weaverville, North Carolina. It is almost exactly 1 mile long and averages 18.9 percent. It is part of a local 75 mile race called The Viper. If you guys want to come over and give it a go you are more than welcome, the riding around Asheville is lovely. I will even help and give you a tour of the Biltmore Estate.
What about Rosedale Chimney Bank in the North Yorkshire Moors? Ok, not quite tropical, but a fair bit longer, I think.
This is me on my 36x28 at 15%. Good man Ollie and thanks for including the false start bits.
👏🏼 👏🏼 👏🏼 GREAT JOB!
Fair play Ollie!! Not sure if it's steeper but I know in the video with Jess & Dan Evans she asks him at around 4:53 if he thinks it's as steep as Abdon Burf in the Midlands which is a climb Simon Warren hails as one of the worst climbs he has ever had to put his foot down on. I've not ridden it myself but I've walked up it and I can honestly say it's horrendous. Would love to see Ollie give that a bash.
Have you done Gold Hill, in Shaftesbury? At 25% & cobbled it should be very interesting to see how you do? Plus you have to wear a flat cap, tweed plus twos and carry a pack of Hovis biscuits in your saddlebag!
In Santa Cruz CA hills ( old former Redwood logging trails now blacktopped) in the 1970's I prided myself on climbing every road on my TDF Ferdi Kessels Reynolds 531 racing bike,frame #32. Front Campy chainset 53-41, rear Malliard cluster was a 13-21. I trained 400 miles a week on the steepest roads I could find up and down our coastline
1:07 If I wouldn't be told I would guess that that is a flat with a little bump on it...it is ridiculously steep climb.
How did they pave it? Poured melted asphalt from the top? 😳
LOL if you are referring to our 41.8% hill in St. Lucia it is paved with concrete not asphalt and its about 100m
More to the point. Why did they pave it over? It's not like it's a usable road.
That‘s just brutal on a road bike. Next challenge: Get up there in Zone 2? I have a 20T MTB chainring in the parts bin if you are interested. ;)
I want to see GMBN give this a shot.
You should try a little climb out of the east side of a village called Powburn in North Northumberland. It doesn't have a gradient sign but it's the steepest thing I've ever cycled on and an extremely bad surface, would make an interesting challenge I've only ever gone down it before
I used to have a climb (20% for 1 km) at the turnaround of a fast group ride. I'd be the last up, every week, because I'd do it in a 39x23 (low gear) to stress my legs.
There is a hill in Llandogo, Monmouth NP25 4TW that runs past the priory nursing home, about half a mile long, very steep, single track and greasy.
sorry to say,but the hardest clmb out there is the Scanuppia,Trentino,Italy.best wishes for all you are doing👍👍
😉
The Rocky in Cumbernauld, from the Village up to Seafar.
The biggest irony is the sign that says "Quiet lane" I guess heavy breathing and gossiping for air will ignored at 30% gradient 😉
What exactly is gossiping for air?
This might be the hardest road climb, but you can always find harder off road climbs that are perhaps road bikeable.
I’d like to see Ollie try the actual, Guinness Book of Records, steepest st in the world - Baldwin St, Dunedin, NZ.
Not so pretty or warm but it would be fun to watch Ollie flounder on that one also.
Good show old bean. Si showed peak up was more aero than peak down (like you did on this climb) that could've saved you untold watts and boosted your speed! Seriously though, well down.
Daaaang!!! Noice! There's a 200ft, 25% climb on my commute from work to home and it's brutal, I've got 32 in back and 36 up front. My legs ache just watching Ollie climb that hill!
for a nice steep climb in a warm and beautiful place. there is a volcanic crater in Bali with a lake in it, in the north of the island to get out its switchbacks so steep I had to take my cycling shoes off to climb... as trucks and cars passed me with the rear wheels locked just skidding on the way down, and motorbikes being pushed as they couldn't ride up with someone on them... its then followed by an incredible decent on which my brakes were glowing orange as you head through forest towards the sea.
Ollie: Consider riding up Canton Avenue in suburban Pittsburgh, PA. It claims to be the steepest public street in the continental USA. Better yet, come do it as part of the Dirty Dozen ride which includes the twelve of the steepest streets in Pittsburgh. As for sunshine and warmth we’ll we can’t promise that!
try Spread-eagle in dorset steep and is not far from zigzag used during the old Milk Race in the 80's