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 Willots Pass.
07:55I could definitely keep a higher cadence on this one.
07:57but yeah, pretty unrelenting.
07:59Definitely wasn't as bad as when it's passed. I could definitely keep a higher cadence on
08:15this one. But doing them back-to-back was... See, that's what you need to be in.
08:27All right, guys, I've taken a little break here on the back of the camera car just to
08:33get a quick breather, let my legs rest, because that was a brutal climb. But I do want to take
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10:23Now, tea break over. It's time to get back on the bike, take on some more climbs.
10:32So here we are at Burbage Moor, 2.2 miles long. So it's a bit of a long one. Averages out at 7%.
10:39And that is because the beginning is flattish and then it really starts to ramp up. Now,
10:44while I approach the latter part of this climb, I do want to take the opportunity to thank
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11:15Climb number 15, Udenbank, was another tough one with 20% gradients at the bottom. After that,
11:21we had a longer drive north to hit Peavoid Lane,
11:24which has been used numerous times for the National Hill Climb Championships.
11:30Oh, I can't hack it anymore.
12:00P-roid lane truly broke me. I ended up having to stop halfway up the climb and it was well
12:10into the evening by now. At this point I realised I probably wouldn't make the magic 20 climbs,
12:16but if we could get to 18, I'd be happy.
12:19Oh, I'm just so tired. That was really tough.
12:28Keeping up on 20 climbs did mean I was more free to enjoy the final two, Jackson Bridge
12:34and Home Moss. They're both well-known hill climb venues, so I wanted to finish up with
12:38some full-on efforts.
12:39Where are we?
12:40Yeah, I think 20 might be out of the question.
12:58Actually wasn't too bad. That was just a lot of overreacting, but quite frankly, it's absolutely
13:03gorgeous at the moment, so it was very good.
13:09All right, here we go, dropping into the final climb of the day, Home Moss. Let's see how
13:21it goes.
13:41I've got to say, coming up here, legs were dead. You just had to grind it out and just
13:47make it happen, but yeah, pretty stunning.
13:58Well there we have it, 18 climbs done. It wasn't what I wanted, but I think it's still
14:02a fairly respectable result. If any of you guys were going to take on this challenge,
14:06I'll be really keen to hear where you'd do it, and if you do do it, do let me know how
14:09many you managed to get in, because I'll tell you, it is quite tough.
14:13It's fair to say though, even though it was very tough, it was actually an incredible
14:16day running some of the best climbs in the Peak District. Although they were really steep,
14:20it was just absolutely beautiful, and you were constantly rewarded with amazing views.
14:24I do want to say a massive thank you to Lacker, the good people that made this video possible.
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14:44That's all from me though, I think I need a long shower and a very long sleep, but if
14:48you enjoyed the video, drop it a like, subscribe to the channel for more content, and I'll
14:51see you again very soon.