Some of you may be familiar with Simon Warren's 100 Greatest Climbs book and I can safely say, it inspired us. So Sam decided he would take on a challenge and try and cycle as many of these coveted climbs as he could in one day. It's no small challenge and it's sure to test his endurance abilities but how many could he do from sunrise to sunset? He was riding his trusty road bike up each climb with a less than friendly 38/28 climbing gear.
The Peak District made for the perfect place to take on this challenge as it's home to quite a few of the top 100 climbs so it meant ticking them off would be faster and the distance between climbs would be minimal. How many of these climbs do you think you could do in one day?
The Peak District made for the perfect place to take on this challenge as it's home to quite a few of the top 100 climbs so it meant ticking them off would be faster and the distance between climbs would be minimal. How many of these climbs do you think you could do in one day?
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00:30I don't think 38.28 is the right gearing for this, that was insane.
00:45Good morning everyone and it is very much morning, just gone four o'clock actually to
00:48be precise and today you join me in the heart of Matlock at the south of the Peak District
00:53because I'm taking on a bit of a crazy challenge today, I'm going to try and ride off as many
00:57of the top 100 climbs in the UK from Simon Warren's Top 100 Climbs book as I can from
01:02sunrise to sunset, now at the moment it is still pre-sunrise so we've got a bit of time.
01:08We're going to be driving from climb to climb to getting as many as we can over the day
01:12and we're going to have it over to Ribor Lane, Ribor Road, Ribor Climb and get that one off
01:17first which is a pretty brutal one to start the day but I think I need a bit of caffeine
01:21and then I'll be good to go.
01:29Right we're at the bottom now, I'm going to roll down to the bottom to make sure I get
01:32the full segment because that is absolutely key and then we'll give it the beans, let's
01:38go.
01:39I think the key thing here is going to be to make sure I pace myself because I think
01:44it could be very easy to go too hard too soon.
01:58Number one done, over to Bank and let's get on with number two.
02:01Here we go, number two of the day, let's have it.
02:10So that's Bank Road done, I actually think that was harder than Ribor, I think it's because
02:15also I did Ribor and then I had to do Bank pretty much straight away but that's number
02:19two done, we've got a little bit of a drive now out into the country where we've got some
02:22longer climbs, let's get on with it.
02:34Alright so that's three climbs down so we've just done Slack Lane, that's taken us about
02:40an hour and 15 minutes to get three done so not too bad going.
02:45We're going to head over to the fourth now but if we're going to get 20 plus climbs in
02:51today it's going to be a long, long day.
02:56Climb number four started off easily enough but it wasn't long until I was gurning my
03:00way up its 20% ramps.
03:03It was at that point that I realised my easiest gear of 38.28 was probably going to cause
03:08me some issues throughout the day.
03:10Well there we go, that was, was it fun?
03:16It was torture but that's not bad is it?
03:21On to the next one.
03:24I think I'll roll into this one again, I think that's the key, rolling into it.
03:28Let's see how far we can get up on a bit of momentum.
03:36Oh that burns, that one was just, it was consistent actually, it was consistent, it was just consistently
03:46steep, consistently painful.
03:50I've forgotten which number this one is but on to Montel Head.
03:55Okay, Montel Head, this is quite a short little kicker, I can already see the top from here
04:04so we'll see how we go.
04:17Right so we've just left Montel Head, actually wasn't too bad.
04:22After Montel Head we had one of the longest transfers of the day with a good hour-long
04:26drive heading west over to Swiss Hill, which would then allow us to eventually head back
04:31east over the Cat and Fiddle.
04:32It had taken nearly four hours to do the first five climbs so we really needed to press on
04:38if we were to hit at least 20 by the end of the day.
04:41So we've come to Swiss Hill, I thought this was going to be an easy one to tip off but
04:46I didn't realise it was a cobbled climb, this one's going to be intense.
04:53Alright, time now, about ten o'clock, I've been trying to hold off on the caffeine but
05:08needs must so I'm going to do Cat and Fiddle now so it's a bit of a long one and hopefully
05:14this will give me the beans.
05:23I've said it this entire video but the views down here are great.
05:32Here we go, here's the end, just need to wait for the segment to end on my Garmin, come
05:38on, there it is, we've made it.
05:46Alright so that is the Cat and Fiddle done and dusted, now on to Pim Chair so we can
05:51start heading right back into the Peak District.
06:22I don't think 38.28 is the right gearing for this, that was insane.
06:32I felt pretty broken at the top of Pim Chair, I think the early start time and the stop
06:37start nature of the ride was starting to get to me.
06:40Fortunately, climb number 11, Axe Edge, was longer and a more mellow one so it gave me
06:46a good chance to spin my legs rather than grinding out of the saddle at 50 RPM.
06:52So ladies and gents, welcome to climb number 11 of the day.
07:02This is Peaslows and it's about a mile long at 10% so it's pretty stable but yeah, legs
07:11are starting to feel it a bit now and I am keen for some lunch.
07:16I tell you what, these climbs are absolutely brilliant.
07:24We're at the bottom of Willets Pass, just had a bit of lunch.
07:27It's quite busy today and you can see there's a fair bit of traffic and then we're going
07:31to do Mamnik after that.
07:34No easy way of putting that but that was really, really tough.
07:38Mamnik next, that'll be climb number 13 I think and I'm led to believe that it is a
07:44little bit easier so that's always good but yeah, Willets Pass, absolutely beautiful but
07:50yeah, pretty unrelenting.
07:53Definitely wasn't as bad as Willets Pass, I could definitely keep a higher cadence on
07:57this one but doing them back-to-back was...
08:03See, that's what you get.
08:15Good morning.
08:16um but doing them back to back was uh
08:21see that's what you need to be in
08:30all right guys i've taken a little break here on the back of the camera car just
08:33to get a quick breather let my legs rest because that was a
08:35brutal climb um but i do want to take the opportunity to tell you about the
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10:23break over it's time to get back on the bike take on
10:26some more climbs
10:32so here we are Burbage moor 2.2 miles long so it's a bit of a long one
10:36averages out at seven percent and that is because the beginning is
10:41flattish and then it really starts to ramp up
10:44now while i approach the latter part of this climb i do want to take the
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11:15climb number 15 udun bank was another tough one with 20
11:19gradients at the bottom after that we had a longer drive north
11:23to hit pvoid lane which has been used numerous times for the national hill
11:27climb championships
11:57oh i can't hack it anymore
12:04proid lane truly broke me i ended up having to stop halfway up the climb
12:09and it was well into the evening by now at this point i realized i probably
12:14wouldn't make the magic 20 climbs but if we could get to 18 i'd be happy
12:20oh i'm just so tired oh that was really tough
12:28giving up on 20 climbs did mean i was more free to enjoy the final two
12:33jackson bridge and home moss they're both well-known hill climb venues so
12:37i wanted to finish up with some full-on efforts
12:42where are we? yeah i think 20 might be out of the question
12:58actually wasn't too bad that was just a lot of overreacting but
13:02quite frankly it's absolutely gorgeous at the moment so uh
13:06was very good
13:14all right here we go dropping into the final climb of the day
13:18home moss let's see how it goes
13:36so i've got to say coming up here legs were dead you just had to grind it
13:46out and just make it happen but yeah pretty stunning
13:58well there we have it 18 climbs done it wasn't what i wanted
14:01but i think it's still a fairly respectable result if any of you guys
14:04were going to take on this challenge i'll be really keen to hear where you'd
14:07do it and if you do do it do let me know how many you managed to
14:10get in because i'll tell you it is quite tough
14:12it's fair to say though even though it was very tough it was actually an
14:16incredible day running some of the best climbs in the peak district although
14:19they were really steep it was just absolutely beautiful and
14:22you were constantly rewarded with amazing views
14:26i do want to say a massive thank you to lacquer the good people that made this
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14:42so yeah do do check them out that's all from me though i think i need a long
14:45shower and a very long sleep but if you enjoyed
14:48the video drop it a like subscribe to the channel for more content
14:51and i'll see you again very soon