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I tend to be set in my ways with my cycling and regularly do the same two loops for fun & fitness (mental health & a damaged heart) on my rather chunky Swift; both involve, what are for me, fairly challenging climbs onto the Mendips (I appreciate that this is all rather modest in cycling terms compared to what a lot of folk do).
I put together a 'proper' gravel from bits in the Chiggle sale although that's a bit chunky too. The aim was to do a bit more exploring but I've been struggling to get on with the curly bars.
I wasn't feeling particularly motivated yesterday, but decided to take the gravel bike out for a proper explore, spotted a different climb up into the Mendips on Komoot and headed for that.
Gosh, it was hard work. Due to my heart & a fair few beta-blockers I sit & spin and climb very slowly and I needed my lowest gear on this one rather a lot!
Anyway I got there in the end (but only just & nearly bailed on a couple of occasions) and felt fairly chuffed. It was a nice end to a week where I previously had an unsettling interaction with a sweary car driver (although I managed to get stung by a wasp on the way home).
I had a quick google of the road when I got back to see if there was anything interesting there and found this:-
https://climbfinder.com/en/climbs/draycott-steep-draycott
It looks as if it is quite a tough one, so I've surprised myself. Again, it's not much compared to you multi-day epics lot, but it's an achievement for me!
I'm wondering whether I could have managed it on the Swift, but don't feel terribly inclined to find out
Well it rates that as the 36th toughest in England, so that's up there, and 1 in 4 in the middle. I reckon you're doing OK!
I like that website too, not seen it before.
That's a hefty climb. Well done!
Draycott's New Rd is a cracking climb, bonus points awarded if you start the climb on the other side of the main road before entering New Rd (called something like "Draycott from the lowest point" iirc)! 😉
That middle ~0.5 mile of ~20% is brutal, especially if you have already gone into the red before hitting it.
I can think of only one climb I did '17 to '22 that was harder than Draycott, namely Prestatyn's Ffordd Las and Hillside, from near the train station to the edge of the tiny village of Gwaenysgor... ~1 mile end ~600 feet, there's a warning sign regarding 33% at the top of Hillside. 😮
My favourite was to ride up the hill at Robin Hoods Bay where its cobbled and has steps on the pavement.
We done op I have lots of heart drugs and they do knacker your climbing ability.
Cracking effort - the second quarter of that one is a bit of a grinder.
Re-lube with your favourite pint afterwards... 👌
That has legendary status around these parts !💪I've yet to attempt it but a few of the local Strava Nazis have egged me on to do it . I might try it one day and only tell anyone if I do manage it without dying!
Chapeau! 25% climb off-road is super tough IME 👌👌👌
Thanks for the kind words.
To put it all in perspective though it suddenly dawned on me that Connect does segments (I only use it to store rides).
The chap at the top of the "Death by Draycot" segment did it in 5 minutes 53. I on the other hand took 16 minutes 11 (and may have had a tailwind)🥺
Still, I'll be 58 in a few months & with a damaged heart & chunky steel gravel bike I'm still pretty chuffed!
Andrew Feather, a multiple-winner of recent national hill climb championhips, has insanely quick times up many climbs around Mendips and Longleat!
Nicely done. My preferred method of climbing is lowest gear and takeing my time.
there is a quote, I think from Greg Lemond, “it never gets easy, you just go faster.” In my case I never go faster but some days it’s easier.
I think it’s a great achievement. That would be tough for me
But what matters to me is that you think it’s a great achievement.
We don’t have to cycle to be better than others. We can just enjoy what we’ve done and the experiences we had
I now have a tough climb on my way home - your climb is twice as big vertically and similarly steep. And I’m on a ebike and don’t have a heart condition! Well done!
Take heart (pun intended) if you're a bit of a fatty...😉
I reckon that's the hardest climb in the whole Bristol region, I find it slightly harder than Draycott new road which is parallel as it has less bits of respite. Spinning it up isn't really an option with 34-34 gearing on a road bike I still had to chuff it out of the saddle to just keep moving at 6kmph.