You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Anyone got any routes that take in some big road climbs around Snowdonia or elsewhere in Wales? Wondering how close can get to the feel of a TdF mountain stage - not very close I'm sure!
Not sure of routes but it's easy enough to build your own if you know your way around. Try including Nant Gwynant pass from Beddgelert to Capel Curig, Llanberis and Ogwen Passes to the North. All suffer with bad traffic congestion during the summer, though 🙁
A good loop would be to go up Gwynant, across to Capel Curig, left up the A5 and through Ogwen, then left in Bethesda, Tregarth and and Pentir (or the u/c road over Mynydd Llandegai if you want it even harder), up Llanberis pass and back down Gwynant.
Or go south from Betws Y Coed along the A470 to Llan Ffestiniog, then left over the moors to Ysbyty Ifan. In Pentrefoelas take the B-road through Nebo and either drop down to Llanrwst or carry on North towards Colwyn Bay direction, drop down to Conwy and go back up the valley to Betws on the much quieter B-road on the western side.
There are plenty of little known, tough rides around Hiraethog and the Denbighshire moors. Look for the routes of the Dave Lloyd Megachallenge and Gran Fondo Cymru on bikely.com - both are tough, long sportive rides known for their hard climbs.
Some of the longest climbs are around the Beacons and Black Mountains. Look for the roads used by the Dragon Ride or the Tour of the Black Mountains. None of the climbs we have will be Alpine in scale but there are plenty of hard ones around if you care to look for them.
+1 for the Dragon Ride route, a couple of the climbs almost felt like Alpine stages (although I'm sure someone who's actually ridden some might say different!). One stands out but I'm not sure which one it was! Maybe the second ascent of the Bwilch? Certainly some of them went on for a few miles although none of them were particularly steep. The Devil's Staircase is almost the opposite- short but effin steep!
Try this [url= http://www.phased.co.uk/GBBR/viewcycle.php?id=30&title=Rhayader%20Devils%20Staircase ]epic in Rhayader[/url]
A loop of Snowdon will either take you up the Llanberis Pass or up from Beddgelert, both great climbs
Thanks for all this.
In my Googling I found this site that might be of interest to people who like to climb - it lists and rates climbs: