This is FANTASTIC Leonard!! Remember that the only person you should be racing is yourself, well unless you turn pro. The only person I care about racing is myself. If I worried about racing other people, I would have giving up bicycle riding years ago.
Same for me. i did try to push up n ride faster, but that got me burnt out. I tune my pace slower particularly when going uphill I find it more agreeable.
Wow, I really enjoyed ascending Box Hill with you and enjoying the view across to the South Downs once more. I rode it many times from the late ‘50s until emigrating 20 years ago. Thanks for allowing me to follow you on Strava. Keep up the good work sir.
It certainly is. I could be mistaken but I think that view is actually the North Downs, though. I live in the heart of the South Downs and Box Hill is about an hour's drive away.
Leonard, nice film. I've now put Box Hill on my bucket list.........on the off chance I ever get back to the UK! Seriously though, my brothers did this in the Ride 100 and got caught in a bicycle traffic jam!!!
I did the ride london 100 in 2017 which went up box hill. I actually found it generally pretty easy, even 65 miles into the 100! Now if you want a challenge, head for the hill which preceded it on the ride london, Leith Hill. That is a killer, and I didn't know about it beforehand. Managed to get up, just, with an 11-28 cassette but it was lethal.
Great video. Nicely done to get your pr. A couple of ideas consideration for next time: (hard) stick in Ranmore common climb first and loop back to Box. (Easy) Ride on past the Box hill viewpoint and round the Headley loop... You'll enjoy that.
You just inspired me to challenge myself on a nasty hill called The Seven Sisters. 30 years ago I wouldn't think twice about sprinting on it. Now just looking at it hurts me. Now I'm going to give it a try. Thanks
The seven sisters aka (East Palisades Av. hill) are mostly in Englewood NJ and ends in Englewood Cliffs NJ. It starts really steep at Grand Ave and goes straight up to US 9W. It's a little less than 1.5 miles(2.33 km) and the average grade is 4% . It flattens in spots and then climbs again. I'm guessing each climb is a sister.
Another great film Leonard and very good timing as I’ve just been lucky enough to get a place in the Ride London 100 so will have the excellent challenge of tackling it this year. You’ve made it seem a bit less scary, but I’ve been warned Leith Hill is tougher. I’d love it if you could do a similar film of getting up Leith Hill. Lovely shots of the scenery, thank you.
Yes, in my opinion Leith Hill is far more of a killer, there's another baddie at Polesden Lacey which is very nearby. Box is my local, you done good Leonard , it's good to tick off the bucket list and always gives you more to strive for in the future.
Ha ha, Love Yorkshire, but struggle with the pronunciations. Crag vale ascends from the village of "My-thum-royd", it use to be a a regular ride for me when I lived and worked over there. Great Vlog as always, much appreciated.
@@jollygoodvelo Well there are a few mad farmers in the surrounding hills, and being a local lad, if I leave it a day or two between shaves I have a hint of ginger in the bristles. ;-)
Yeah ... I think your comment about age making a difference is critical. For someone my age (17 years old) with averahe fitness level Box Hill is not that difficult (especially if the legs are fresh). For someone of your age though, I very much agree with your assessment. It can be a challenge. I personally feel that for most people Box Hill is pretty much as difficult as you choose to make it. If you race it’ll be hellish but if you take it easy, it’ll be fairly straightforward, if a bit on the long, slow and draggy side. It’s certainly a substantial aerobic test if you decide to race up it and it does require careful pacing to avoid going into the red in the long stretch after the second bend.
Thanks Leonard, I really enjoyed watching that. I hope to make it across the pond some day and ride across the English countryside. My main goal is to sample all the Scotch in Scotland, but England and Wales is also on the list. ;)
box hill 👍👍👍 i was trying to build base too but it was annoying having to unlock my phone repeatedly to look at the HR on strava written in tiny font. and if i just leave the screen on the battery would go flat too quickly. how much weight do you save between your best bike and the allez? my brother has stuck with his allez and has been riding for several years, but has upgraded the wheels, tyres and groupset. i don't know why i love talking about bikes i can't afford lol. a couple of kgs of weight is a lot compared to what you can save on a bike right? so in the grand scheme of things it is quite a bit! :) really cool that you kept the footage from several years ago! i'm not too too far from box hill so want to aim for beating some people i know lol
Looking at this 2.5 K and 5% avg for this hill I realise I live in a cycling paradise in Dublin. With hills and countryside like this 20 mins from my home. Plus I live 20 minuits from the centre of Dublin too. As for the views across the mountain tops or Dublin Bay, well there amazing.
Box hill climb is in zwift aswell; does it compare a bit? I did the zwift one, so now i ‘know’ what you had to go through, lol. (It’s in the london part of zwift, just in case)
If I was to ride the Box Hill I would probably go as fast as you, or maybe slightly faster, let's say 10-12km/h max. On one of the Tour de Zwift stages (6 I think it was) my ave. speed on the climp part was about 5km/h :) Even so I wasn't the last one which made me happy :) but the last 200-300m I overtook more than 10-15 cyclists but I've speeded up and died after crossing the finish line. I like to come back to places I've been in past years. I can clearly see improvements year by year rather than month by month when it comes to climbs, I mean big climbs. In 2017 I was 99kg, then I've lost about 15kg in few months, the rides were awesome after than. I could clearly see the difference even after loosing about 5kg, which is the belly I've had. The belly did a lot of difference.
Well done on losing the weight. It’s not easy. Having ridden the real Box Hill and the one on Zwift I would say that the Zwift one is a bit harder. As I don’t have a smart trainer yet, it slows me down to a speed slower than I know I can do in real life. Long story short, I think you would be much faster than me up the real Box Hill.
If you really want a challenge head up the valley towards Hebden Bridge to Mytholm [I'm sure you know how to pronounce that now ;-)] and if you are mad enough try going up Rawtenstall Bank, it was used a few decades ago for the Milk Race. Most cyclists go up Heptonstall Rd to get up to the top. Just don't try coming down The Buttress back to Hebden Bridge, there is a skeleton in a black robe with a scythe at the bottom.
Mike Scott Not sure what you are referring to with 90 mins, Mike. Box Hill is pretty short and only takes about 11 mins. I have that climb on the channel somewhere. You might have to search for a bit, though.
As I say, Mike, there isn’t a 90 minute one. Box Hill is a 12 minute climb. I tried posting the link to that film but, for some reason, the system isn’t letting me. It’s called Box Hill unedited. You should find it fairly easily.
Good job. Looks like your cadence was a bit low-like you were grinding more than usual. Well done. Do you carry a lock for the bike to go in and buy the tea?
Your smile in front of the landmark sign is all anyone needs to know about the joys of cycling.
This is FANTASTIC Leonard!! Remember that the only person you should be racing is yourself, well unless you turn pro. The only person I care about racing is myself. If I worried about racing other people, I would have giving up bicycle riding years ago.
Thanks Nathan, I am my biggest competitor!
Amen to that. Whenever I ride its Mike versus Mike, that suits my non-competitive spirit.
Same for me. i did try to push up n ride faster, but that got me burnt out. I tune my pace slower particularly when going uphill I find it more agreeable.
Well done. I've cycled up Box Hill several times, heading there and back from where I live in Twickenham. It's a brutal climb and I go up very slowly.
Excellent film, and great riding! A PR is always a win, but getting out and Riding is also a positive!
Onwards and upwards!
Wow, I really enjoyed ascending Box Hill with you and enjoying the view across to the South Downs once more. I rode it many times from the late ‘50s until emigrating 20 years ago. Thanks for allowing me to follow you on Strava. Keep up the good work sir.
HI Leonard, good ride; congrats and thanks for explaining the Zwift routing. Wonderful scenery.
Thanks Monty
Hey, those white squiggly lines on the road in Zwift are for real!! Good job Leonard💪
They are indeed. I was surprised how accurate the Zwift course is.
looking over the South Downs from Box Hill is a special experience, particularly when the weather is as lovely as you just experienced.
It certainly is. I could be mistaken but I think that view is actually the North Downs, though. I live in the heart of the South Downs and Box Hill is about an hour's drive away.
Inspiring video - thank you. It's given me the motivation to take it on this year (as a 49 year old shaggy sheepdog!).
Hi Joe. Glad I could help. Box Hill isn't all that tough! Good luck and have fun.
Beautiful place to ride from the looks of it. Nicely done!
Thanks Randy
Great effort Leonard , looked a great day! Stick in with the fitness, I’m yet to get going! Keep the videos coming, there great.
Hi Alfie, they were both great days. Hope you manage to get going soon.
I am new to cycling myself. It is great to see other...refined men getting into pain,.. cycleing. Wish I'd done it sooner.
Superbly done!
Thanks Shelley.
Leonard, nice film. I've now put Box Hill on my bucket list.........on the off chance I ever get back to the UK! Seriously though, my brothers did this in the Ride 100 and got caught in a bicycle traffic jam!!!
If you do make it, let me know and we can ride it together, Charlie.
Great stuff well done Leonard.
Thanks Justin. Maybe we’ll do this together one day?
leonardmlee Yes definitely that would be good , I came across Leith hill on Zwift this week , that was a surprise lol.
Great video! Glad you are out there riding. Enjoy to the max!👍
Thanks Mike, I will!!
I did the ride london 100 in 2017 which went up box hill. I actually found it generally pretty easy, even 65 miles into the 100! Now if you want a challenge, head for the hill which preceded it on the ride london, Leith Hill. That is a killer, and I didn't know about it beforehand. Managed to get up, just, with an 11-28 cassette but it was lethal.
I’ve driven up Leith hill and even the car struggled.
Thanks for that info. I need to get a smaller chain ring
Congratulations on the PR!
Thanks. It was a little while ago now. I plan on going back at some point to get another PR.
Great video. Nicely done to get your pr. A couple of ideas consideration for next time: (hard) stick in Ranmore common climb first and loop back to Box. (Easy) Ride on past the Box hill viewpoint and round the Headley loop... You'll enjoy that.
I know that climb up to Ranmore Common from Dorking. Not sure I would call it easy.
@@jollygoodvelo agreed. That was my hard option. The easy is the Headley loop with optional pub too ;-)
Hi Leonard, Really enjoyed your Box Hill Challenge, used to ride it in the 60's with the Fulham Wheelers CC & Polytechnic CC.
It must be one of those classic climbs. To cycle out from Fulham must have been quite a ride out.
Nice video, well done Leonard
Thanks Alan. Glad you liked it.
Leonard, I'm really impressed with you watt numbers! You're super strong! Keep up the videos, very interesting!
+Marcus Partridge Thanks Marcus. Not sure how impressive they are when you factor my weight into account. It works out to around 2W/ Kg.
You just inspired me to challenge myself on a nasty hill called The Seven Sisters. 30 years ago I wouldn't think twice about sprinting on it. Now just looking at it hurts me. Now I'm going to give it a try. Thanks
Good luck with that. Where are the seven sisters? I hope there aren’t seven of them?
The seven sisters aka (East Palisades Av. hill) are mostly in Englewood NJ and ends in Englewood Cliffs NJ. It starts really steep at Grand Ave and goes straight up to US 9W. It's a little less than 1.5 miles(2.33 km) and the average grade is 4% . It flattens in spots and then climbs again. I'm guessing each climb is a sister.
I’ll have to look it up on Google Earth. Sounds a challenge. Again, I’ll wish you the best of luck. Let me know how you get on.
Another great film Leonard and very good timing as I’ve just been lucky enough to get a place in the Ride London 100 so will have the excellent challenge of tackling it this year. You’ve made it seem a bit less scary, but I’ve been warned Leith Hill is tougher. I’d love it if you could do a similar film of getting up Leith Hill. Lovely shots of the scenery, thank you.
Hi Alan, congratulations on the London 100. Not many I know have a managed to get a ballot place. I’ll see what I can do about Leith Hill. Stay tuned.
Yes, in my opinion Leith Hill is far more of a killer, there's another baddie at Polesden Lacey which is very nearby. Box is my local, you done good Leonard , it's good to tick off the bucket list and always gives you more to strive for in the future.
Thanks Michael. I’ll be back fairly soon to beat this PR.
Great video mate
Thanks Jay. How’s the kit business going?
well done sir!... I've ridden up it several times..... on my motorbike.
You should try it on a bike.
Nice one Leonard. I must try it the first time l'm back in old Blighty.
I definitely recommend it.
Well done!
Thank you.
Ha ha, Love Yorkshire, but struggle with the pronunciations. Crag vale ascends from the village of "My-thum-royd", it use to be a a regular ride for me when I lived and worked over there. Great Vlog as always, much appreciated.
It comes from the Vikings, apparently.
@@jollygoodvelo Well there are a few mad farmers in the surrounding hills, and being a local lad, if I leave it a day or two between shaves I have a hint of ginger in the bristles. ;-)
Yeah ... I think your comment about age making a difference is critical. For someone my age (17 years old) with averahe fitness level Box Hill is not that difficult (especially if the legs are fresh). For someone of your age though, I very much agree with your assessment. It can be a challenge.
I personally feel that for most people Box Hill is pretty much as difficult as you choose to make it. If you race it’ll be hellish but if you take it easy, it’ll be fairly straightforward, if a bit on the long, slow and draggy side. It’s certainly a substantial aerobic test if you decide to race up it and it does require careful pacing to avoid going into the red in the long stretch after the second bend.
Thanks Leonard, I really enjoyed watching that. I hope to make it across the pond some day and ride across the English countryside. My main goal is to sample all the Scotch in Scotland, but England and Wales is also on the list. ;)
Hi Owen, riding here in the UK certainly has its plus points. I think you will be spoilt for choice with the scotch up there.
Sample the Scotch, but come to Hereford to sample the Cider ;)
I was in Herefordshire at New Year and that was all I drank!
@@jollygoodvelo wise choice! Can recommend Bitty Bach by Wye Valley Brewery next time you are here
I was actually in Ross on Wye but didn’t see that. We drank Weston’s which is also very nice.
box hill 👍👍👍
i was trying to build base too but it was annoying having to unlock my phone repeatedly to look at the HR on strava written in tiny font. and if i just leave the screen on the battery would go flat too quickly.
how much weight do you save between your best bike and the allez? my brother has stuck with his allez and has been riding for several years, but has upgraded the wheels, tyres and groupset. i don't know why i love talking about bikes i can't afford lol. a couple of kgs of weight is a lot compared to what you can save on a bike right? so in the grand scheme of things it is quite a bit! :)
really cool that you kept the footage from several years ago! i'm not too too far from box hill so want to aim for beating some people i know lol
I would say the difference between the two is about theee kilos.
@@jollygoodvelo 3kg is a lot! wow
Looking at this 2.5 K and 5% avg for this hill I realise I live in a cycling paradise in Dublin. With hills and countryside like this 20 mins from my home. Plus I live 20 minuits from the centre of Dublin too. As for the views across the mountain tops or Dublin Bay, well there amazing.
Hi Leonardmlee nice work. What size sprockets were you in front and back?
It’s a 50/34 and an 11/28
As always nice/good movie. Big KUDOS !!!
Thanks Pawel.
Your e gonna be good coming down (should I be a spin doctor) ps do you need WiFi or something to get the strava facilities on your garmin
Box hill climb is in zwift aswell; does it compare a bit? I did the zwift one, so now i ‘know’ what you had to go through, lol. (It’s in the london part of zwift, just in case)
The real Box Hill is much harder than the one on Zwift! I've done the Zwift version a few times too.
I'm heading there tomorrow - eek!
Good luck and enjoy.
well done mate
Thank you.
Be good to see a video on your favourite local climbs, there’s a few I can think of in the Hampshire area
That’s a great idea. I might just do that.
Hi, love the channel, and find it very informative! Keep up the great work. Can I ask how you get the telemetry on the video? grade, HR etc?
Thanks
It’s a program called Garmin VIRB Edit. I have a tutorial on the channel.
leonardmlee Awesome!!! Thanks for the reply! Love the channel mate, been watching all the episodes in a marathon:)) 👍🏻
Well done Leonard
Thanks Ryan, even though it was a little while ago now.
I'd love to try Box hill just because I've heard so much about it
If you do come over, give me a shout and I'll ride up it with you.
cool, I will let you know. I don't have any specific plans but it is a possibility
+Bruce Chastain It’s only an hour away by plane!
"Gravitationally challenged" :D Good stuff man, just ride for you
If I was to ride the Box Hill I would probably go as fast as you, or maybe slightly faster, let's say 10-12km/h max. On one of the Tour de Zwift stages (6 I think it was) my ave. speed on the climp part was about 5km/h :) Even so I wasn't the last one which made me happy :) but the last 200-300m I overtook more than 10-15 cyclists but I've speeded up and died after crossing the finish line. I like to come back to places I've been in past years. I can clearly see improvements year by year rather than month by month when it comes to climbs, I mean big climbs. In 2017 I was 99kg, then I've lost about 15kg in few months, the rides were awesome after than. I could clearly see the difference even after loosing about 5kg, which is the belly I've had. The belly did a lot of difference.
Well done on losing the weight. It’s not easy. Having ridden the real Box Hill and the one on Zwift I would say that the Zwift one is a bit harder. As I don’t have a smart trainer yet, it slows me down to a speed slower than I know I can do in real life. Long story short, I think you would be much faster than me up the real Box Hill.
@@jollygoodvelo If I was still in London, it would have been great meeting up and do the Box :)
+Cycling Doughnut Definitely. Next time you are in the UK, give me a shout and we’ll go for a spin.
@@jollygoodvelo in the meantime we can do that in the virtual world :)
Good job Leonard... knock each one of those pins down… 👍🏼
Thanks Mark. The pins don't stand a chance!
Well done. Why not give Warren road Chatham a go? Be sure to warm up first!
Have to admit that I’ve not been out that way for years but should I find myself in Chatham I’ll certainly give it a go.
@@jollygoodvelo cool.
Way to go !!!
Thanks John. Hope you get going soon.
If you really want a challenge head up the valley towards Hebden Bridge to Mytholm [I'm sure you know how to pronounce that now ;-)] and if you are mad enough try going up Rawtenstall Bank, it was used a few decades ago for the Milk Race. Most cyclists go up Heptonstall Rd to get up to the top. Just don't try coming down The Buttress back to Hebden Bridge, there is a skeleton in a black robe with a scythe at the bottom.
Anything in Yorkshire is going to be a real challenge!
How many gopro were you using for the trip?
Only one!
How do you get those fancy real time stats on your video? Very cool! Glad you enjoyed the ride :)
+Alison McCandlish It’s a thing called VIRB. It’s completely free. I’ve even got a how to on the challenge walking you through how to do it.
@@jollygoodvelo you know all the tricks! Brill, might try that sometime, once I get my cadence gadget to work ;)
Somewhat gravitationally challenged :D
Classic British understatement!
@@jollygoodvelo Nice one :)
Great video 👍 I think I’ll just stick to riding it on Zwift, it’s probably easier 😂👍
I think it’s actually harder on Zwift.
Thanks for posting this. It's interesting to,see how it compares in real life as compared to,zwift.
How do I get to see your 90 minutes? This would be great for indoor training. Thanks in advance.
Mike Scott Not sure what you are referring to with 90 mins, Mike. Box Hill is pretty short and only takes about 11 mins. I have that climb on the channel somewhere. You might have to search for a bit, though.
@@jollygoodvelo The 90 minutes where you huffing and puffing all the way up Box Hill so I can actually watch you while I'm cycling indoors. Thank you.
As I say, Mike, there isn’t a 90 minute one. Box Hill is a 12 minute climb. I tried posting the link to that film but, for some reason, the system isn’t letting me. It’s called Box Hill unedited. You should find it fairly easily.
I love Box Hill on Swift!
Good job. Looks like your cadence was a bit low-like you were grinding more than usual. Well done. Do you carry a lock for the bike to go in and buy the tea?
Oops only watch the first attempt!
It’s a steep climb in places. I was pedalling as fast as I was able! I didn’t need a lock as my I was able to see my bike at all times.
to many cars