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We are staying in the YHA in Bath this week and with all these hills I am keen to do a maximum vertical ascent route. Has anyone got any suggestions for piecing together some of the hills for maximum climbing for least mileage?
I’m on a gravel bike so could be either / or road and off-road.
Thanks!
It’s a bit of a cheeky request but I’m looking after the kids today I won’t have time to paw over the map before my riding time slot / opportunity.
If you're on Strava, there's a road route called '5 Hills of Bath' and another called '5 Hills of Bath corrected' that really max out the climbing right on your doorstep. Starts at the bottom of Widcombe Hill and finishes a few hundred metres from the YHA at the top of Bathwick Hill. It's a brutal hour of climbing and descending.
There may be plenty of hills closer, but you aren't that far away from a good selection of ~600+ foot hill climbs around the Mendips, ~17 miles will get you to the base of East Harptree cat3 climb and then knock yourself out on the likes of Old Bristol Rd; Eborr Gorge; Draycott Steep; Cheddar Gorge; Burrington Combe etc.
A very crude route of the above with covering some ground in both directions would be ~78 miles with ~7750 feet of climb, pretty good ratio! 😆
https://www.strava.com/routes/2731868790389438474
What kind of numbers are you looking for? What kind of time and total climbing ideally?
You can easily get 1500-2000ft an hour and that is my fannying around on the MTB
Do you want a tech challenge and see some countryside or just go up road for an hour?
If the latter then there are a load of quiet road climbs near you and I would probably stick to the Widcombe/ Monkton Combe/ University area for least faff.
Some of my preferred ones:
Widcombe Hill
North Road
Bathwick Hill (bit busier and not then most "fun" so I tend to avoid)
Ralph Allen Drive
Ralph Allen Drive ending up Foxhill Lane for a steeper finish
Ralph Allen Drive ending up Pope Walk for a more slippery challenge.
Claverton Hill
Shaft Road
Church Lane to Shaft Road up the steps (it is a bridleway and very doable but a good challenge)
Summer Lane
Mendips would be much nicer than doing the bath hills. Bath is pretty gridlocked at the moment with roadworks and the changes made to queen's square for social distancing.
A more interesting area making more use of off road stuff would be the Cotswold Way/ Lansdown/ North Bath area.
Just let me know if you want a "close road hills route" or "more-off-road-challenging-climbs-but still-close-to-Bath route" and I will happily plot a route for you if you let me know the time and rough distance you have in mind 😀
Anywhere out of your front door I'd have thought! But more seriously, Prior Park Drive/Widcombe Hill, up and over the University and down Brassnocker Hill, and then up Winsley Hill would be a bit of a beast.
Thanks folks, what a helpful bunch you are. I would probably do a couple of lapsing the “5 climbs” today but @DanW I would appreciate 3 hours of gravel bike climbs at approx 10mph because we’re here for another 5 days.
Email is slowboydickie at gmail dot com
Thanks again!!
Do you fancy some MTB-lite descents or make it all about the climbs and keep the descents as easy as possible? I can definitely come up with some climbing heavy, easy in terms or surface (eg not crazy rocky), MTB routes but if you fancy more road based stuff then others will be better to ask- I can't stand being on the road if I can help it 🙂