Professional Cycling For the Fans - Toughest Hill Climb

Mount Washington is frequently touted as the "toughest Hill Climb in the world" but check out the Punta Veleno climb in today's stage of the Giro del Trentino---8.5 Km with average grade of 15%. Mount Washington is about 12 Km at about 12%.

I suppose the question is: what's tougher: a shorter, steeper climb or a longer, but slightly less steep one? From my limited experience--and I have never ridden either of these climbs, a constant 15 % will turn your legs to blubber alot more efficiently than a longer 12 %, even with suitably low gears.

The Zoncolan is over 10km at 11.5% average, with a kilometre at 20%. Not much fun.

Given that this is the pro forum, I guess their answer might be that the longer less steep climbs are preferable because it is easier to manage your effort and keep yourself from crossing the red line and going boom. They aren't just riding these hills, of course, they are racing them, which makes a big difference.

And for us ordinary mortals I suspect the answer is the same. There comes a point at which a hill is so steep that even with very low gearing I couldn't climb it and stay beneath my threshold, so would run out of gas so fast that unless it was very short, its total length would be immaterial - whereas on something of, say, 12% I may be slow, I may be hurting, but I could still keep plugging away.

Will this be repeated any place on the net today ? Work this morning kept me from watching it.

Will this be repeated any place on the net today ? Work this morning kept me from watching it.

Don't know the answer to that. I saw it on Eurosport so I'd guess there'll be a recording up somewhere.

A heck of a climb, that. Nice to see the out-and-out specialist climbers have a day in the sun, they seem to get fewer opportunities these days.

El Alto del Angliru.

El Alto del Angliru.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alto_de_L%27Angliru

El Alto del Angliru.

This has seem as the toughest, at least from these last years watching races. The sky guys (froome and wiggins) were fighting to keep the rubber side down, the motorcycles too, it was wicked.

I don't think this question can be answered well. Perhaps not at all, certainly not by average gradient data. If you have your head in the oven and you're squatting in a bucket of ice, on average, you're fine. There's a lot to be said for the little ripples in the climb that add to the misery.

Like chasm54 said, these guys are racing up the hills, not just riding them. The structure of the stage and where the hill falls matters lots, too.

But please, keep naming these epic climbs. I look forward to getting my lard ass up them some day. On my motorcycle! These things would kill me.

You guy's ever hear of Mt. Doom? Near Chester, NY?

I'd have to say the last couple of miles going up Mt. Hamilton in Californicatia is a real bear of a climb. I've only done is twice in my life. The clubs go up it almost every weekend during the season. I'm sure they take it at about 7-12 mph more than my 3 mph...
But, that's not the worst part of that stretch of road. Coming down can literally kill you. Invariably, because of snow, ice and all, potholes develop in the corners. I hit one that practically tore my hands' ligaments off. I really don't know or remember how I made it the 30 miles back home!

Monte Grapa offers 5 ways up I rode the Salto di Capra on La Pinarello last year and bonked pretty hard I don't know if its the hardest hill climb but know that it is brutal. Monte Grapa is a beast and has been ridden on the Giro

http://www.biciveneto.it/climbingmontegra.html

http://www.yourcyclingitalia.com/biketours/?p=66&option=com_wordpress&Itemid=83

My strava I did not start my gps until about 32 miles in I thought it was running and started it just before Capra

oops strava link here

http://app.strava.com/rides/2913614