Is This The New Steepest Climb In The World?
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- Опубликовано: 8 фев 2025
- The UK is no stranger to steep climbs and it now has a new claimant to the title of the steepest road in the world! Bamford Clough, a newly paved 500m long wall near the village of Bamford in Derbyshire, is a real brute, with sections of over 36%. We’ve sent Ollie to check it out, where he and former national hill climb champions Jess and Dan Evans will see if it's even possible to make it to the top!
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What's the steepest climb you've ever ridden?
I've done Rosedale chimney in North Yorkshire. It peaks at 33% on the switch back. Brutal climb from the Abbey all the way up.
I’m relatively new to finding climbs, but Redbank in the peaks was a tough one. Got to do it again in the Cumbrian Cracker sportive in a few weeks.
In France i've done a 28% street at the maximum and 14% average, on the north of france ! come and try to steel the KOM of Alexis Brunel rider for UAE team emirates !
So Far, Revpal, PH, 11 km climb with Max Gradients of 25% 668m high from start of climb to finish
Hardknott Pass
This time Ollie manages to get dropped before he even starts.
He's having a heavy symptoms of Matt Stephens clipping syndrome.
I thought that too!
@@iancuk I don't think you realise how steep that road is. It's difficult enough to clip in with MTB SPDs unless you start right at the bottom. It used to be possible on an MTB but it wasn't fun and didn't add anything to a ride
@@richardbrook4545 as a person whose recently dented his left shin with MTB pedal after clipping-fail on 20% grad, I think you're quite fun at parties 🤣.
@@iancuk 😜
Wow! Impressive how Dan just flies up that so smoothly and clears some leaves on his way back down. impressive that Jess is chuckling while climbing that beast and not just gasping for breath. Most impressed by Ollie giving it a go again and again. Nicely done!
it's juat a new challenge for Ollie.
Saw this comment “Dan just flies…” and had to check the date. Thought it might’ve been Lloydie and the Cervelo Test Team…..
@@kiwigunner it's all that Zwift academy training he has been doing! :)
I get the sense that the driveway to the Evans household is basically vertical.
Respect to the crew that handled asphalt equipment at that gradient.
Dropped at the start. New achievement unlocked. Well done Ollie.
Amazed that someone was even able to operate heavy machinery to pave that road 😵
I think they just dumped tarmac at the top and let it run down 😂
for grip we let some pressure out of the steamrollers tires
@@bertonabike6991 I mean. That’s working smarter not harder.
@@pretzelhunt ... lol good one
@@bertonabike6991
Yes, it had to have been a top-down job.
After a tough week I needed this Ollie video. Made me laugh. Love the soundtrack. Ollie gets dropped right off the start. LOL. Gotta do this in the summer. I want him to make it. Go Ollie!!! Thanks again to GCN for making my day.
Rode up this hill when it was a very rough unsurfaced track many times on a motorbike, back in the 1980's & 1990's in the MCC's classic Edinburgh Trial. It was a massive challenge back then & many a rider came to grief. Respect to anyone who can get up there on a bicycle, even though it is now covered in tarmac.
I first descended this before climbing it (on my mtb) and it just absolutely dropped away from me. this one is absolutely absurd, especially since it's so straight you can see all the work you have to do. Absolutely brutal.
I rather know where it ends instead of being surprised by another stretch around a bent.
All that tech and kit, but no one has a broom.
: True. You can easily go out there with a broom and be busy for 30-45 minutes and get rid of the most dangerous bits...
Road cyclists in a nutshell 🤷🏻♂️
More content with Jess! What a legend she is
YES!!
Agree more Jess please 👍👍
Lol, she was pretty much holding a conversation up that gradient!
Definitely, an absolute star and unbelievably strong
Is anyone else really impressed that they were able to pave that drop!
YES ! WTF?
I miss the ol lasty pain face meter, love to see him on this climb.
Jess was fun. Love her competitiveness lol
If I had to do this hill, my gearing would be so low that it would be quicker to walk.
I think I would manage this with a 22 at the front, a 42 on the rear on an electric bike put into turbo mode
Yes, if I attempted this hill, my speed would be lower than normal walking speed. But you'd never get me to try it, on those wet leaves.
My recently refitted hybrid has a lower gear than any of those bikes, though it is heavier to start with. Try 26/34 for size. But I'm not sure where I'd find a similarly steep hill around here to try it out.
Great video! Always fun to watch Ollie. I recently spent a few days in the Peak District and did more climbing in 10 miles that I would do in 40+ at home. I'm exhausted just thinking about that climb...
Peak district can be killer for sure.
Truly impressive...especially with the wet leaves. Amazing!
35/33 sounds reasonable for the climb, never had anything easier than currently 36/28, so have to walk when it is above 30% (also weighing close to 90 kg). However, the road I had a hardest time walking up (had to stop while walking because it was so steep) is a short-cut road from Lana (near Merano in the northern Italy) to Pawigl/Pavicolo (nice gravel continuation up to Vigiljoch). I feel fairly confident even your welsh champ with easy 35/33 gears won't get up there, but I may underestimate him ... would not dare to try the ramp you did in wet conditions - got off the bike when it was merely 24% in rain before ... (and you even had plenty of leaves). Anyway it was somewhere between 38-40% or so ... and paved. Been to several roads with percentages around 32-35% ... so if you want other ones to try, let me know.
One of those videos you smile all the way through ( mainly as it’s someone else doing it !)
It’s autumn, why would there not be leaves, take a brush😂😂
Any film crew with good sense, would have brought along a leaf blower - but then, this is GCN and the crazier the video, the better.
A broom is more practical .Followed by the wagon.
@@marianneoelund2940 a broom is a lot cheaper and less noisy
@@thomasl6912
Yes, it is. However, have you ever tried to sweep up wet leaves from a tarmac surface, using a broom?
@@marianneoelund2940 yes, I have. You may need a broom with stiffer bristles if the leaves are decomposed
Props for doing the hill, the leaves, and the weather, and the camera crew!
Love the introduction music !
"Well, ... it's a total wall", LOL
Laugh so hard viewing this video - Ollie needs to train with Dan & Jess ... a lot :-)
genuinely fitness not an issue for me here!
@@GCNuser123 wasn't thinking fitness, but climbing speed - they almost made it look like it was only a 10% climb
Why the hell did Ollie go to the steepest climb in the world with that gear combo?
I think it's just part of who he is now. Didn't he also start an Everest with to tall gears?
Either way, it plays into the comic relief part of who he is. And I suspect that's on and off camera to some extent.
@@veriest1 I think like a lot of geeks he overthinks and misses the deets of somethings, much to his embarrassment. mostly he leans into it now because we like it.
Strictly for our entertainment. The same reason why Si and Hank rode the racing tandem (on a 58 tooth chainring) up a grade that hits 28%.
He lives in a world of imagination where he doesn't need super low gears for a super steep climb
Absolutely no problem - ridden the climb dozens of times, no sweat.
Next planning to start from the bottom, any time soon.
HAHAHAHAHAA
I'd be sweating my ass off either way, mostly because of how fast you'd accelerate downhill
@@MrCh0o
I don't think any of my bikes have adequate brakes for that. I'd be white-knuckling the brake levers, and still be accelerating.
@@marianneoelund2940 downhill 4 piston 200+mm disc brakes will do you nicely there
@@SimonBauer7
Yes, my daily riders only have rim brakes.
But I calculated how much heat the brakes need to dissipate on steep downhills, if you don't keep your speed down. It's a little frightening.
Nice trials skills by Dan. Cool nose wheelie/stoppie!
Just finished watching. Wow. I'm exhausted. Gotta go to bed now.
Hats off to the couple.
Don't even know how they managed it to have traction at all?
Crazy!!
Salute you.
Dan looks so 🥶 at the end, an the sound of those breaks, sounding more like rim then disk.
Totally relate to Ollie's momentum clip in problem on a sleep climb but still laughed.
That was some Matt Stephens level clip-in fail.
Thank you Ollie, and Matt by virtue of the comments, for making me feel less rookie in my uphill clipping skills. Can we have Dan or Jess do a video on how to clip on the climbs? They didn't seem to have any trouble clipping in at all.
Practice practice practice.
Very interesting riding guys, hmmm the tires Di make a diff but the all road bike is really for tarmac vs the gravel bike n vice versa
I've just finished cycling the Mae Hong Son Loop in Thailand with regular climbs over 20% That seemed bonkers. Over 30% I can't even begin to imagine!!
We'll have to check it out. We rode the one in Harlech a few years back..absolutely brutal...
I would love to see you ride Scanuppia in the Dolomites.
7.2km at 18% average, serval pitches at over 30% and a max gradient of 37%.
In comparison, Bamford Clough us just 0.7km Long, at 21% average and 36.5% max gradient.
Scanuppia for anyone else reading the comments and googling it!
@@the318pop you’re correct
So fun too watch! Had me in stitches!
Love the Calypso? Flamenco? music at 6:20 with the duo dancing up the hill!
What a lovely couple Jess and Dan are!!
You guys should come to Pittsburgh, PA and race the Pittsburgh Dirty Dozen race. 13 of the worst climbs you could imagine including Canton ave at 37%
It’s coming into summer in New Zealand, now is a great time to go do Baldwin Street.
Did Ollie inherit the curse of not clipping in properly from Matt? Poor lad, he's already synonymous for getting dropped and sinking on hydrobikes.
The best part is I think he exclusively uses Speedplays. lol
You need to come Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and do the Dirty Dozen hill climb race. It was held last month so you will need to wait a year.
Canton Ave, Pittsburgh, 37% on cobblestones!
Am from Sheffield and have rode through Bamford village loads times on the main road. Not seen this beast before though might have to go and check it out.
I'm pretty confident that it should be possible to find a steeper climb on the beautiful island of Madeira. Last time I was there - without my bike though- we drove around the island and there were several ramps where it was difficult to get up with a car.
You're not supposed to drive your car up stair steps.
It is also about daring to try it ... always afraid the chain or handlabar/stem would break ...
@@jerrynilson3300 The chain could definitely be a weak point, especially if you have to change gears so I always try to avoid that when riding really steep roads.
Madeira has a lot of extreme hard climb indeed.
It’s funny you mentioned Hawaii in the video. I live on the Big Island of Hawaii, which has the steepest paved road in the United States. Waipio Rd. In Honokaa, HI is 37%. It’s difficult to walk better yet ride on a bike. Also, it rains a lot in this area, so it’s almost always wet and slippery.
I love a hill and a challenge, my next trike will be attempting that next year. My last one broke on Winnatts
30+% gradient and Ollie comes with a 39/30 gearing. What the #&%@ was he thinking. Cleary he wasn't thinking.
All the attention for tech and new tech and then come there with that gearing..... Same with a mate off mine. A real nut for expensive Italian stuff. Came to the Ardennes last weekend with a 39/23.... Had to walk up a climb twice and switch to a rental the next day.
Awful choice, right? God knows even with my 34/32 gearing I would have folded right away though.
@@valk5045
My racing bike was 39/23 until very recently, when I changed the cassette to have a 39/28 low gear. It makes a surprising amount of difference.
Allt Bron Phillip on Anglesey is pretty steep, over 33% in some places, which i thought was ridiculous at the time. I see from Strava Dan's got the second fastest time up it already, though.
I’ve tried both and Bamford Clough is noticeably harder, as is Afon Ddu…
This video made me think: Please do a GCN tech video about possible ways to put an MTB rear groupset on a road gravel bike. Covering all ranges would be helpful. 3x and 2x groupsets etc.
Check out GPLama’s Mullet build for his Aspero.
I have a MTB crank in the front with a 22 tooth, and I just love it :)
@@elbotho my LBS mechanic tried to do exactly this with a Deore 3x ( during the parts shortageI was super excited, I was only going to lose 2 teeth in my sprinting gear) and my Sora derailier could not shift down and back to the 22 inch chainring. I currently run a 30 chainring ( smallest in front) and a 34 sprocket Granny gear in back... Which is acceptable most of the time. But for 800 meter elevation gains in one shot. I would like to be able to spin the steeps and just keep crawling. What is your set up?
@@thommomonk I am going to have to look. Thanks!
I use a 46/30 with an 11/40 cassette on my gravel bike. Elliptical Chain rings with Ultegra drivetrain. I still couldn't do anything remotely close to that climb
Watching contents like this inspires autum riding a lot ( makes me feel a spoiled continental ,-), thank you anyway
Ollie dropped before setting off 🤣. Legendary!
Near-ish GCN mega base you have Awkward Hill (which is near Blagdon Lake), it isn't as steep but the name is really cool.
From Wikipedia -- Canton Avenue is a street in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Beechview neighborhood which is the steepest officially recorded public street in the United States. Canton Avenue is 630 ft (190 m) long (the hill is about 65 meters long) and is claimed to include a 37% grade with a length of 21 feet (6.4 m).
This will make a good Strava segment!
6:25 There is no shame in attempting ~ there is only shame in having the talant and NOT attempting the climb. This would be a challenge for the entire GCN presenter crew....can they defeat the Siborg on this gradient? All will be assimilated. Resistance is anti-areo.
Make Si do it on a TT bike? 😂
26% at TCH Balamban, Cebu, Philippines, very under-geared and struggling but I love it.
There is a climb between Pontypridd and Abertridwr that is crazy steep before a cattle grid, Penheol Ely Road is the name of the road, it goes past Ponty golf club.
In eastern Melbourne there is an old road climb car race track that strava thinks has a gradient of >50% at sections. Maybe it is that at the on the inside by I think it is actually to 35-40%
Savage! At least you chose good weather!
And all done after competing in the Nationals. Well done Jess & Dan.
Jess a natural on screen and of course climbing. More content with her required please
We have a +40% with a 100m long section in Costa Rica, Irazu volcano, Prussia park. Every step feels like climbing 2 ladder steps and going down is scary as hell.
Those purple Cannondales though 😍
Misses Evans never stoped laughing.
6:28
Just how long is this Olliver Bridgewood reel of shame? And would you please upload it to GCN+. Id pay just to watch that.
Love you Ollie!
Steepest paved roads for me Locally in the San Francisco Bay Area (south) are: 1) Hicks Rd. north and Mount Umunhum Rd. 2) Metcalf Rd. 3) Quimby Rd. I will add Old Preist Grade in the Sierra Nevada foothills in north central California. All of these are real chain stretchers…
Without the shadow of a doubt that looks incredibly steep. If you ask me with a high degree of certainty I would dsre to say that "El tanque Las Casuarinas" has been the steepest challenge in my life. It is located in Lima Peru and before giving it a try you should wolf a huge snack down ricch in poroteins I must say. Thanks for the video. Stay safe. Cheers mate!
There's a not long but fairly a 2-5 minute steep hill over here in Bronx, NY. Specifically riverdale, the hill gets me everytime but I manage to reach to the end! It's really steep with turns
Go on Girl - you rock
Steepest road I know is between Cwm to man moel in the South Wales valleys, impossible to ride in autumn/winter, at least 500meters long and has got to be a 30%er
In Grindelwald a village in Switzerland, there’s a hill called Aspen and the road there is very steep. You guys should go and check it out 👌🏻😎
Might be able to manage it on my Fatty. 22F 50R... Can't even imagine trying on the road bike.
And we're with you on the not clipping in, Ollie... it's /Hard/ on a steep gradient.
Please come out to San Francisco and ride Bradford St. 41% gradient at its steepest. Lots of fun!
At this point a gcn video just isnt complete without Ollie getting dropped. I mean he got dropped before he even started.
Love you Ollie
If you guys ever make it out to San Francisco you should check out Broderick Street (sidewalk really) between Vallejo and Broadway. It’s short but sweet.
This uphill in Funchal, Madeira is ridiculous: 2,8 km long with avg gradient almost 19%: strava segment: "Caminho do comboio (Power Climb)"
Canton Avenue, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. 37% and cobbles to boot. Absolute banger of a hill
Scanuppia near Trento in Italy: 7,5km 17,6% medium and 45% max and finish 1515m.s.l.m. There are some absurd climb (Muri Marchigiani)...even Contador go zig-zag at Muro di Guardiagrele.
There is a climb in South Shropshire from Asterton up to the gliding club on top of the Long Mynd that has to be pushing this.
To be fair, I tried it today and it's extremely leafy, possibly the reason it's currently closed. So probably one for the summer. The final patch of leaves about 100m from the end is just so challenging.
Couple goals right there
Mystery rd Guanaba , Gold Coast , QLD , Australia way over 30% just ask Froomey & his Sky team mates training on this killer road
Cheers
Harry
I live right at the bottom, should have popped in for tea!!
I want to see the GCN tandem bike climb that gradient
Impressive climbing and skills Dan & Jess in pretty poor conditions and with the leaves making it more difficult, but at least the wind was on your side. I guess Ollie will have to come back next time to show us how to do it, remember Ollie if it's not on Strava, it didn't happen. Oh and a video evidence too :))
Ok next time I am trouring about in Japan I am measuring some of the climbs and recording their locations. There are some little mountain villages where I struggled to walk my bike up (had to keep taking breaks lol) and 2 wheel drive cars just couldn't make it.
Love your content! Keep it going!
You need to try Trinity street in Barry, it's probably not quite as steep as this, but it is where Gwen from Gavin and Stacey lives! I'm sure as a Welsh girl, Manon would be up for it!
Walked up this plenty of times, and to the top of High Neb, Shatton Lane over the valley is a good climb but probably for mtb/gravel bikes
Come and try Doi Ang Khang in Fang District on the Thai Myanmar border, pitches of 31% after climbing for 25 KM at an altitude of 1780 M.
That's an absolute nightmare, especially with the wet leaves. Even on foot, one could easily end up sliding down the hill out of control, on their back side.
Excluding the easier 150m at the bottom, Google says it climbs 121m (394 ft.) over a distance of 435m (1429 ft.), for an average grade of 27.5%, which means that not only is it steep, but it's also much longer than most super-steep grades. To make it even more brutal, it gets steeper as you climb, with the hardest section at the top.
To put things in perspective, even at walking speed (3 mph), I would have to put out over 400 watts to keep moving on the steepest part - and I'm only a 66 Kg rider. Just walking up the grade with your bike, would be very difficult (as Ollie discovered).
Apparently there is one in Gran Parque Nacional Sierra Maestra in Cuba on a climb to Alto del Naranjo which is 40%.
It's not Ollies fault that he got wheelspin on the leaves. He simply got to much power in his legs
This is near me!!! I’m having a crack at this next spring, might wait til the leaf litter isn’t an issue.
Well, to be fair, Ollie has been walking about exhibit halls lately, all that walking and talking about bike tech is probably more exhausting than it looks.
Excelent video. Congratulations. In my Country. Climb Eólicas Santa Ana. Costa Rica. 32 % average gradient for 7 kilometers.
Do you not have brushes/brooms in the U.K? Ollie should use Mtb shoes and pedals with grippier tyres to get started at least. 1to1 or better gearing would help.All I can say about Dan&Jess is good Evans !
Auckland’s west coast has the steepest street in the world. The world famous in NZ’s own Te Aute climb. It’s absolutely brutal for 900 metres. The Strava profile is misleading, as the start middle and finish are relatively flat. The two sections of steepness are measured at 40%.
Next video "The Ollie Bridgewood reel of shame." It'll be the most viewed ever.
Ditching beacon is the brute way f a hill near me, absolute killer, twisty and steep and seemingly everlasting. The views from the top though make it all worth while.
@@benshell2603 gps coordinates?
I'll have to take a day off work to watch it, looooong video 🤣
Penang Hill Jeep Track. 5.1km, 833m above sea level, 38.9° at steepest.
There has been several cases of mtb disc brakes failing coming down the hill. I had several inner tubes melted on my rim brakes going down the stretch. It's a brutal climb to the top.
Not many cyclists understand that when grades get that steep, you need to keep your descent speed very low.
Definitely going to check that out!