On his way down Ollie met an Italian granny on her old steel framed granny bike with the weeks shopping hanging on the handlebars pedaling up the steepest part.
This actually happened to me cycling in the Appenines. Every road there seems to be a horrible climb, and I pass a granny on an old steel bike cycling up to a village. I was dying. She wasn't breaking a sweat.
Once I was struggling on a extremely steep climb, and suddenly I saw this old lady on a rusty steel bike, carrying a big load of firewood for her stove, and she wasn’t even breathing hard, she just smiled at me with her mouth closed. She was going down.
Hi GCN team! this video is a dive into my youth! I know Salita Scanuppia very well, I used to go as a child with my father to look for mushrooms and from the top you could enjoy a wonderful view..! Great climb man💪
Hi, could I please ask for an advice ? I’m planning to give this a try next week but I’ve read that bikes are officially not permitted there. Do I risk being fined when entering with my bike or is it only a precaution ?
@@milanspanko241 Last I knew, Italia was still a free country. Now, unless there's been a hundred deaths due to vehicle-bike collisions up there every year, I'd go up it. Authorities are after getting WAYYYY too much authority in the so-called Free World. Take BACK your power
@@milanspanko241 This climb is officially not open to bike from 2009, yes you risk a fine. they made it illegal to bike cause there's a risk, and even think it happened, that when you're going down you gonna crash in cars coming up
Yeah I've had a GoPro with me on a few rides, and afterwards wanted to show someone a climb I thought was insane only to find out, that on camera it just looked like a flat stretch of road.
I don't usually (if ever) leave comments on RUclips videos, but I felt I needed to on this one. Ollie absolutely killed it! This climb is insane!!! Good job to the entire GCN team that worked on this video. You guys look like you went through hell to get up this thing. This video made my day!
They finally did the Scanuppia. As a climbing aficionado myself, who has done Mauna Kea, Alto de Las Animas and Etna (the full climb), I can’t recommend MTB gearing enough for this. I am a 100% for drop bar guy, but a hard tail Mountainbike is just far superior on such a climb. A wide slick tire on the rear will give more traction than these narrower tires. The 30/51 gearing is significantly lower than anything on a Gravel bike. That’s the difference between grinding 60 RPM over threshold all the way and being able to ride 80RPM sub threshold. Also, the suspension and wide handlebars makes the descending significantly more enjoyable. Riding down 30 or 40% on bad asphalt or even gravel is a terrible experience on a stiff fork.
I was thinking the whole time, MTBers do climbs with this grade all the time (not as long mind you), It would be interesting to see a hardtail XC race bike tackle at least the steapest section.
What ever gearing works for you is fine. Just saying he talked a whole lot about the gearing choices and traction, and then had to push the bike for like 20% of the climb. Roadies are obsessed with large gears and always tend to choose to high rather than too low.
@@paulwujek5208 27.5 or 650b wheels to reduce the weight and rollout from a 700c, 30t chainring, 11t-46t cassette (lighter than a 51t), carbon everything. 8 weeks of training of doing climbs 3 times a week. That should do it.
@@arrayedwoodcraft I fell for it, it cost me £150 in bitcoin, I don't want someone else to be as pi55ed off as I was that afternoon. I'm up on things, I didn't think for one minute, id be scammed, but they caught me at the right time.
Strava shows it passing 52%, probably depending on which line you take through corners. I'd still love to see a GCN Does Science episode where you take a grand tour climb like Alpe d'Huez and ride it once straight up the center line, and once choosing your line, so we can see the measurable effect that spectators blocking the road have on performance. I'm betting riders lose a significant amount of time on a long climb if they are denied the opportunity to clip the inside corner on curves or take the shallower outside line on steep switchbacks.
" I'm betting riders lose a significant amount of time on a long climb if they are denied the opportunity to clip the inside corner on curves or take the shallower outside line on steep switchbacks." Like a lot of climbers , I've considered this a time or two. I think it might be possible to alleviate the pain, slightly; but ultimately you have to raise x amount of pounds a certain amount of vertical feet, and I suspect the quickest line up, will also be the hardest.
@@henseleric I am a hobbyist at best, so my experience certainly isn't a proxy for what it's like for a racer. I just noticed that when I watch riders going up a climb that isn't blocked by spectators, they do appear to take either shorter or shallower lines through curves and corners rather than going straight up the middle, and I guessed that they were doing so because it was either easier or faster.
I remember a post on a czech cycling forum and I found it now again to get details, a czech rider, Jiri Fikejz (an ex no. in czech enduro, later took to road cycling). In 2019 he got KOM there, 53 minutes 54 s. He made it mostly on his lightest gear 30x42.
One of the best days ever. 😁👍 This climb is so brutal. Overheating, balance and motivation for suffering. 90% with 30-42T on 7,5kg Canyon Grail. Probably the hardest thing i've done on a bike.
@@JiriFikejz the man himself commenting here - love those youtube moments! This comment should be pinned 😀 Btw, as I saw Ollie showing his EKAR 38-42 gearing (could have used the 44 tooth cassette which would give him 186cm instead of 195cm per revolution), i thought - this is nice and better than most roadbikes use, but clearly not enough for a mission like this! 😅
@@JiriFikejz I have tried climb it using road bike but 34 at front and 11-36 cassette. And 50mm carbon tubular wheels to make it funny. I covered it all but fell over twice, don't know if it counts :D I'm going to try it again with a monster gravel bike and Eagle cassette - just need an opportunity to get to Italy. However, for me there is another (conquered by you :D) climb, for me even harder, not that far away. I mean Esine -> San Glisente climb. I failed to climb it on 40x46. Twice. I must try it again as well... just a bit far from my place, but still. I can't die without climbing this thing.
I’m impressed by the fact that he is still able to talk while climbing at 20% and more Also fun fact: the fastest average speed on this segment on strava is 7.9 km/h
@@sachieltromp6129 when it gets that steep even running is useless. Your heart rate goes through the roof almost immediately, I remember because I tried to run up a 27% gradient once.
Outstanding effort attempting this climb! Beyond the power and riding skills required for it, the mental strength to keep pushing and keep back on the bike is just amazing! Bravo Ollie! You absolutely legend! Hope you didn’t ruin your cleats on the walking parts…
There are numerous roads like this in the Philippines. There are what started as footpaths leading out of the Taal Volcano caldera to the rim. There are access roads to remote villages in the Cordillera in Northern Luzon that ascend cliffs. Most of these are nominally called roads because, with the massive rains that fall there, they get washed out. A gravel bike is the minimum requirement; MTB is better. And all of that is made more challenging by 35C temps and 85% humidity. If you start at dawn, you might be able to knock the temp down to below 30C but the humidity remains. It is a huge challenge, particularly for a pasty lowland foreigner.
@@kobe5952 dependa in my country (Bulgaria) we have places with 2000m elevation that give your body natural doping by bringing more blood cells to your blood from the air it all depends on whats the hight
I can only speak out my greatest respect for anyone trying this and even getting as far as he did (even though he seems to be pushing the bike a good part of the climb ;-)). I got into a bit of XC biking recently - being a beginner, I consciously chose a 2x12 drive train with a lowest gear of 26 front - 45 rear (29" wheels) - which translates to a 0.57 ratio, or 16,8 gear-inches, or 1.3 meters development. I often enough already struggle at the (short) ~15% gradients in my area while seated (somehow, for me, climbing out of saddle does not work well for me, rear tire starts slipping on the gravel or dirt forest roads/paths/trails , or I am already going to slow to keep a stable balance and usually my legs are already burning at that point) . He said he has a 38 front - 42 rear as his lowest gear (didn't get the wheel size, but I am guessing some 29") - which translates to a 0,9 ratio, or 26,4 gear inches or 2.1 meters development and he considers this as a quite easy gear. Thanks, I feel like a total wuss now. :-D (His gearing is roughly equivalent to my 36 tooth front chainring and the second lowest 40 tooth rear sprocket, so my goal is now to try my ~15% climbs with this gear).
Yeah, for road cycling that's a very easy gear, typical bikes come with 50/34 cranks and 11-28 cassettes. Wheel is prob 700c, so the same as a 29". I'm also surprised by how high a gear he's using, he could've fitted a smaller chainring or ran those 11-50 SRAM cassettes.
There's about 150 meters long 50% cobblestone road in Estonia, Kadrioru park, called "A. Weizenbergi". Probably not the hardest in the world, but quite the challenge for local MTBs. Coordinates: 59°26'16.7"N 24°47'53.3"E
I’m glad you’ve discovered the Scanuppia. I’m amazed that so few people know of this utter monster of a climb. I really think the GCN team should do a time trial up it, and also shoot a video with an e-bike too.
Recently i was very close but totally ignored the insanity even though i'm curious by nature. Doing those straight pieces at Passo Fedaia and Passo Pampeago is about what i can and am willing to handle
You’d have got up that Ollie with a 30 front 52 rear, also switch the seat post round and put your saddle full forward and nose down 25% so you can limb most of it seated.
i say it'd need a very odd frame, like one of those old pursuit track frames, with a very agressive forward offset, including near vertical a saddle post, and a giant soft rear tyre. problem is going to be traction before all else. if you skid the momentum's gone.
27.5 or 650b wheels to reduce the weight and rollout from a 700c, 30t chainring, 11t-46t cassette (lighter than a 51t), carbon everything. 8 weeks of serious training of doing climbs 3 times a week. That should do it.
Felt the same way. I'm sure it still would have been ridiculous, but having a 1:2 ratio bailout gear would have given him more of a chance. Here, he's was in 1st gear the entire time. He needed like a 24t on the front, giving him a 24x42 for those 40%+ sections. He still may have fallen over the bike, but he would have had the ability to get enough RPM's to pedal at least. I'd also think he needs a smaller wheel on the front, or an extremely slammed aero frame as well. If he went with no front brake, he could rig a 24" wheel on the front, making the angle better for riding. And maybe even larger rear tire for more traction.
Thanks for doing this. I have felt this exact way on much, MUCH less impressive climbs, being nowhere near gelato as could as you will find there - which, let's be real, that the real heart break. I think it's impressive that you kept going and rode whatever you could. I'd like to see you guys in the U.S. for something like this as well.
38/42 gear ratio? Mate, Ollie here has really strong legs! The lowest climbing ratio on my MTB is 0.667. At the at the average gradient of 15% & peak gradient of 30%, I'm already totally ruined! Lots'a love, cheers, & Mabuhay, from tropical Philippines! #KeepBiking
@@256shadesofgreyYou can finally get low enough gears to where the gear inches would be too low to keep a bicycle upright. For that, you'd need a trike with super low gear inch gearing.
You should go for MTB gearing. 28-32 front, 52 back. Maybe even 24 front if it's supposed to be made specifically for climbing and not anything else. When I was trying to build a bike with 38x52 in the easiest gear, people told me I'm crazy for having such difficult gearing (I went for 34x50 instead) but yours is 38x42, so no wonder you're struggling.
It never ceases to amaze me the stuff cycling journalists come out with. Wow, use a big cassette!, who would have thought it?? Tourers have been using triple chainsets for years. You could easily go to 22x42 if needed for a one off attempt like this.
@@danjames4086 don't even need to go much bigger in the cassette, they just had to use a small chain ring. I swear GCN employs idiots though, like this setup he negated most of the gains by going bigger in the wheels. If anything I think this whole video is paid promotion by Campagnolo, and co because you'd get significantly better ratios with Shimano GRX if you wanted to stay on a road based groupset.
Easy answer, everybody would do it by walking, you can climb faster than riding a bike. In the past anquetil used to do that on muro di Sormanno (the hardest climb on giro di lombardia).
Great vid. Big respect - not for attempting this climb but for getting past the whole ego thing, getting off and pushing - and being honest, positive and happy. I reckon you can do this Ollie - get more tech and go back with Andrew Feather. You already have the geometry and grip sussed with a gravel bike and plenty of rubber BUT you need lower gears imo. Speaking as a HOG (Heavy Old Git) that lives in the South Lakes I face 20%+ on most of my favourite rides - I ride Shimano GRX 2x with 48/31 at the front and 11-40 at the back - or even 11-42. No special gizmos, it works fine and I can winch my 92kg up most stuff.
I think that the gearing on a MTB Hardtail and the added grip could be beneficial, a 30-51/52 ratio is way easier. Granted it is heavier, but you could really make a frankenbike and change the forks to carbon forks like the orbea alma. Maybe the fellows from GMBN, specifally Neil could help you out.
@@mx2000 only if it's mtb 2x and you don't need the big ring in the front for this climb. I'd go with1x 34 front x-52 back I think that way he would have made it up.
~630W! This is what you would need to climb up a 40% road at a speed of about 7km/hr. If you interested, see breakdown below. At this speed and gradient, mechanical power lost due to wind resistance and rolling resistance is only very small compared to power lost due to gravity (gain in potential energy) and is hence omitted. The power lost to gravity alone is: P_g = m*g*v_z, with m the mass of rider+bike (let's assume 80kg), g = gravitational constant (-9.81m/s^2) and v_z the bike speed in vertical direction. v_z = v*sin(slope), with slope defined as sin(slope) = change in vertical meters / distance travelled along road and v = speed of biker. Let's assume that the bike speed is just over 7 km/hr (2m/s), this brings v_z to sin(0.4)*2=0.8m/s. The mechanical power needed to climb 40% at 2 m/s equals minus the power lost to gravity, thus P_req = - P_g = -80*-9.81*0.8 = 628W!
Ollie, Scanuppia isn't in Sud Tirol, it's in Trentino; the two are conjoined as a region but are completely diffenrent provinces (Sud Tirol is German-speaking, whereas Trentino is Italian). It's like saying Glasgow is in England, the locals won't be impressed. Good effort anyway, I don't think road or gravel gears are enough for these sort of gradients
Easy gear is even harder then you off the saddle at low speed. Peak torque of body weight is too high, you compensate it with other leg, doing negative work without relax. Frame geometry not apropriate these climb conditions.
"It's so hot...25 degrees" *laughs in Australian* seriously you are a beast Ollie. That climb sounds like a monster even to a hiker, I think you might be taking over Hank's position as GCN's Suffering King.
@@gcn Here in bucharest last weekend it was 30 degrees... but get this: "real feel", in other words how the outside actually felt, was 35 degrees. That is most likely due to high humidity. Imagine: another 16% extra temperature from just not being able to cool off.
Big respect, Ollie! Harder distance-wise is Hilo, Big Island, Hawaii to the volcano Mauna Kea. About 70 km, 17 % in some sections, but of course never 43 %. Worth a try are chainrings 32 and 22 teeth and a cassette 11-46 or 11-50/51/52 teeth. 22 to 50 teeth might too extreme, but a big cassette like this offer plenty of mountain gears. It is also good to ride snake lines. But another problem are stones and wood right before the shoulder/thexedge of the road. Yes, it would be nice to see the worldwide best climber riding gradient-wise the hardest climb.
We had some fairly steep roads back in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. I got pretty good at going up them by going back forth in zig-zag fashion so as to make the effective slope less. On the turns I could take just a little pressure off my legs, and it helped sustain me so that I could reach top. The thing is you need a road wide enough to use that strategy.
Yeah, I can't tell if this is due to paid promotion or just to roadie brain but a lowest gear of over 25 gear inches is pretty far from the "right tool" for this kind of climb. Kudos for Ollie for making it even harder on himself than it needed to be.
@@JoshKablack I think you are right. When he started he said that he was already in his lowest gear. Obvious sign that, though well-chosen, gearing hadn't been chosen well enough.
I'd say a Christini. They are a very advanced form of 2wd. You could literally stand up the whole climb if you wanted to, and you'd still have plenty traction with good tyres like the ones he'd chosen, but in FRONT as well as back.
My thoughts exactly. When I saw the bike I thought, “No, no, no mate. You’ve done it all wrong. You need a mountain bike with an ultra-low ‘granny gear’.” Yes, it would be more weight, but like Ollie said the gearing and grip are what you really need. Also, it would be much safer and easier should you need to walk sections in mountain bike shoes than in roadies. Huge kudos for taking this on!
Dr Ollie. Top effort and no grounds to be embarrassed…my Wahoo goes to ‘pause’ on many an easier climb👍🏽. The old cyclist saying ‘so slow a butterfly flew through my front wheel’. Quality. Love you 🤗
Bring Andrew. Also bring Simon and the other kids too. It is not often that suffering becomes comical but this, is one of a kind. We laughed so hard watching this video, it was hysterical.
I'm at 4m33, just before the start, and I'm thinking "Of Course, Ollie will make it up !" - BTW, Ollie should get a special Polka Dot GCN kit for all the climbs he has tackled, he definitely deserve it. Bring on Andrew !
There have been a few times that I was going on a ride with a steep climb so I rode my hard tail mountain bike for traction and gearing, 26x36 up front and a 11-40 in the back. The extra 2 kg of weight are meaningless compared to the gearing and traction.
I found the opposite, see my comment above. My theory is that if you can still turn the crank then weight trumps gearing….at least on my rubbish test 😂
I have an easy 15% gravel road of 1 km behind my house for training, but this climb is at least 20x harder. I am so happy to see I'm not the only one that has to walk the bike sometimes. This climb even makes Alp du Zwift look wimpy. Great attempt and you definitely had a nice set-up for climbing.
I did this climb on a mountainbike (32 front - 36 back), and cycled it entirely. I rather once had to get a grip on the railing because of the fact that a 4x4 jeep came downhill towards me, and there simply wasn't enough space to pass eachother without touching. After my unexpected pauze I wanted to go further by pushing myself, using the railing. After pushing I found myself on the wrong side of the road (pushed to hard and entered the inner corner) and fell backwards with my mountainbike above me.. That was the only point I had to start up again. As anyone can see it wasn't easy at all, but I made it! Riding it on a racebike without interuption seems inpossible to me.....unless you have mountainbike sprockets!
Precisely what I thought when Ollie presented his gears. Impossible. With some proper gears (30 at the front and 50+ at the back) he could, without a doubt, do it :):). Time to build a frankenbike dr. :)
Impressive performance by you, lots of talking and less cycling by the guy in the video. Couldn't believe he didn't use a mountainbike for something like this.
As a mountain biker I was watching this video and he spoke about the gears and I thought the same thing. I am 30/51 and I am old, fat, and out of shape, but routinely ride 30% grades when biking (not for that long, I am nowhere near this level and am not a keyboard warrior). But with the low gears and wide handlebars it is pretty easy to just go very slow for a long period of time (again I could not go that long maybe a day or two with some camping. sleeping time). Amazing climb, you are awesome. But why not a mountain bike or at least mtn bike gearing?
@@khchoi2012 I agree but 2x is really needed otherwise riding on the road stinks with 30x10 as top speed. Point of a gravel bike is to be able to ride to the mountain as well as up it, 2x with mtb cassette seems obvious. Built grx di2 2x11 monster gravel with my old 29er hardtail. 45/55mm gravel tires, 38/26 chainrings (38 is biggest frame can fit) and 10-42 sram cassette in back gives ~612% range - can go up hill like mtb, but still have decently fast top speed for going back down. Rode some singlet track with it recently and its still fun / feels sketchy with drop bars but its fast (have other mtbs). Surprised nobody sells a real adventure do everything bike that is similar, all these wide tire clearance gravel frames are 1x only. Personally I love 2x for hilly roads, quick change for come up to or going over them.
I presume, that the distance could be a little off with a speed sensor due to slaloming. However, if I remember correctly from DCRs comparison, Garmin/Karoo provide better data pages for climbing. Not that it adds any additional watts 😀
Here in Athens,Greece , i have found 3 parallel roads , which are very steep, they are located in a municipality named Ilioupoli. They have a gradient of approximately 35%, 41%,37% at their steepest point .I want to make a video with a measurement and a climbing attempt one day.
In my country the bike vloggers just casually climbed up this 20-41% gradient mountain... ruclips.net/video/vJcWceeem3g/видео.html the steepest part is at 16:16 lol they didn't even get out of their seat yet
A GCN presenter race up the hill would make top viewing. obviously, handicap it to make it all fair. It does look like a killer of a hill! Superb location aswel. Well done Ollie 👏
I've only encountered one hill on MTB that I've never quite been able to make it up. Took a picture and it barely looks like an incline. This looks steep even on camera. That's wild.
Probably already mentioned but Campagnolo EKAR does have a 10-44 cassette (not just the - 42 as seen in the video). I use the 10-44 Ekar on one of my bikes. I'm not sure that would have succeeded for Olly to climb the entire way up, but I thought the extra two teeth cassette would have been helpful.
everyone makes a 46t cassette. And there's 50t and 51 and 52t that's meant for single speeds. 12 speed mtb cassettes don't work well on derailleurs because it requires some bikeshop modding to get the chainline to work on the front derailleur.
It's really amazing for me that there is a village like at the half way. How people are able to travel through such a steep road, also I'm wondering how this road was built.
So glad you finally did this! This climb is very well known for being pretty much the hardest in the world. Did you get special permission to ride it? I thought it was closed to bikes.
Permission to ride your bike. My God. How much more are people going to willingly give up??? Health and safety is on THE WORST kind of steroids, EPO and opium that would make Lance Armstrong blush
@@Sionnach1601 Keep your hair on, I asked because this ride is closed to bikes. There is a an official sign at the bottom forbidding cycling due to the dangers of encountering cars. Unless they had clearence from the local authorities, they would be breaking the law riding up this.
A gear ratio of 25 gear-inches is way too high on a ⁴³% asphalt climb. As a Touring Cyclist I use 18 gear-inches and can easily carry a 30kg payload up an Alpine road. Great effort by Ollie
That was nice, I really enjoyed that one and even though you found it a nightmare I think you enjoyed it too Ollie. Would love to see Andrew trying it out but also other members of the GCN teamq
I just got back on a bike last week for the first time in years, and my knees were weak and shaky after cycling up the big hill near my house. I was feeling a bit ashamed at the time because I had just forgotten that hills are hard. But after watching, and seeing somebody else struggling, this I don't feel so bad about myself. I guess misery loves company..
If there's ever a time you should not be ashamed of yourself is when you are out on a bike. The world needs more people on bicycles. Be proud and keep riding!
Pike's Peak in Colorado in the US is also very steep, long, and gravelly in parts. In addition, it is at 14,000 ft. so low on oxygen. I've seen some road cyclist struggling up that. This could be your next climb challenge. :)
I thought Mt. Evans was tough. 2 days later we did Pike's Peak. Same elevation gain in roughly half the distance. Two absolute beasts. I'd love to tackle the Scanuppia with my 24- 42 gearing. But only if there was gelato at the top, served by Ollie.
Geez, my calf muscles hurt just by watching this! You did a great job! I would love to see if you could make the climb with an E-Gravel like the Canyon Grail:ON.
Calf muscles? Nvr mind the muscles i had second hand heart attacks from watching this. Especially since he mentioned heat... i d would genuinely be dead or at least fainted half way through that hell.
Mtbs can have gearing as low as 28 on the front and 50 on the back. For the steepest road in the world with 30 to 40% pitches wouldn’t you want and need the lowest gearing available? I don’t know at what point the gearing gets so slow you can’t keep the bike up right, that’s your job to figure out but I do know you have to go with gearing significantly lower then what you brought to this crazy road. You didn’t stand a chance. PS: to say you’ve climbed a road on a bike you have to actually climb it on the bike, not walk sections. You can stop, recover and continue but you can’t walk, that’s called hike-a-biking. 😉
Did it with a Downhill bike... Hard af but beautiful once u are on the top! I also come from there and the street is usually cosed for bikes due to the descending part which could be really dangerous if it s raining. Nice video and good motivation As always!👊💪
I’d chip in for feathers costs to get him over there to see him take on this. Surely there’s not many people who have completed this without unclipping ? Strava segment ?
Its difficult to imagine how hard this is unless you've tried to bike uphill for long periods of time, It gets seriously demoralizing when you hit a corner and see another stretch of road straight up. The worst one in terms of intensity that I've done was in Belgium. The gradient was probably only 10-15 percent, but it persisted for kilometers on end, and worst of all, I had a bike cart with me worth about 25kg of baggage. I had to stop very often.
@@amedeohembersin3182 I tried looking up the exact location for you but I don't remember. It was on the way back from Houffalize to Maastricht. So definitely in the Ardennes.
I have a rule. Once it hits double digits, it is going to sting. But over 40% is insane. Great equipment selection for the steep sections, but it is really long also.
Would love to see Feather try it. When I first saw Ollie's setup my immediate thought was that 1x chain ring is still way too big. Maybe a 30 or even 26. Not sure how small you can actually go.
with some 90's tech, you can have a 19 up front. It's an adapter which allows you to screw an end cog of a really old style cassette (70's) to your crank. It was needed back then because cassette's weren't bigger than 32.
Great video. On July 2020 I biked from Andalo to the start of Zanna Bianca, a trail in the Dolomiti Paganella Bike Park, climbing along a concrete service road straight up a ski slope ("straight up" meaning maximum gradient, no switchbacks). Never again, and it was way shorter than the Scanuppia, and I had a 50t cog.
I took part in two races in my hometown, and they both went up an infamous steep and narrow piece of road outside town, so naturally everyone was preparing for that. The irony was that a few hundred meters before that there is a piece of road that is almost as steep but also right behind a tight bend and five times as long, so I and many others had to get off the bike while having way less issues with the “infamous” part after it (because you could build up speed which you couldn’t for the first part).
I'd say a Christini. An American brand specialising in 2wd for bikes and motorbikes. The US army have contracted them for long distance scouting excursions. They are a very advanced form of 2wd. You could literally stand up the whole climb if you wanted to or as much as you like, and you'd still have plenty traction with good tyres like the ones he'd chosen; but one would leave the front gravel tyre on as well obviously. Look it up folks. It's very interesting
This is really neat. I think a cool video idea would be to: A: find your peak & sustained power output, and what pedal speed is best for this B: figure out what speed that means you can go on this hill C: make custom gears for your bike to allow you to achieve this speed on this hill And D: go up the hill with the custom gears.
@@Goriaas batteries wouldn't be an issue, Here is the easy math proof: Total elevation difference: 1,515meters say, rider+ebike = 90kg, then the energy required to climb (without air and rolling resistance) is 1515*90*9.8 = 1337kilojoules or around 373wh. Most ebikes have around 625 wh, no problem there. Also, since ebike in the EU are limited to 250w continuous power, it would take about (373wh/250w)= 1.5h= 90 minutes to deliver the energy that compensates the climb. Since the length of the climb is 7.5km, you'd need to ride at 5 km/h. TLDR: At 5km/h on an ebike runing at full 250W power this climb would be aquivalent to riding on a flat. In practice I think 7.5km/h would be realistic to finish it on one hour.
It would be great to see Andrew do the climb and to see Ollie do it at the same time on an E-gravel bike for comparison. Now that would be an entertaining video.
Great video as always. Question: since you're on the easiest gear from the first meter basically, in order to save some grams, wouldn't a fixed gear be better? :D
That was my thinking as well. Going 34/42 single speed and getting rid of the RD, cassette, shifters, cables would probably save close to 1kg and yield nicer gearing.
I mean yes but it's still going to be absolutely brutal and that 1gram prob won't make it any easier up a freaking 45% climb. You would need full MTB gear ratios to try and tackle that section
One idea from a keyboard warrior: the trick I have been using on REALLY steep stuff (in my standards, but with camping gear on the bike) is to use the full width of the road and go in a S-line! That way you reduce the climbing angle slightly. On a very slim road like this one it won't help very much, however.
A rim brake road bike with a 46/30 crankset and a 36 up front. Just standard ultegra, dura ace or 105 would work. The RD7000/8000 and 9100 all fit a 36 cassette. The cranks all fit a 46/30. That would give you a +6 gearing. Ollie only had +4 and his bike would have been nudging 9kg. Want a +10 gearing? Then run a 40 on the back with a GS type RD7000/8000. Also running a 23mm tire will give you even lower cadence. Bigger tire on the back means harder gearing. Id ABSOLUTELY flog that climb on my Winspace SLC rim brake 6kg whip with proper hill climb race ratios. I DONT walk tarmac ever!
just use a XC carbon hardtail with 51t cassette and 32t or smaller MTB chain set. swap out the suspension fork with a rigid fork and perhaps use a smaller 26" from wheel??
![Kodak Black - Versatile 4 [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/VcP_1Ua__vY/mqdefault.jpg)
What other roads and climbs would you love to see us ride?
The scam phising comments are finally here guys
the slab
Come to Ireland well find you some!!
Lots of climbs in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana.v
Mt Washington (New Hampshire, US) hillclimb.
On his way down Ollie met an Italian granny on her old steel framed granny bike with the weeks shopping hanging on the handlebars pedaling up the steepest part.
😂👍 I genuinely expected to see that !
This actually happened to me cycling in the Appenines. Every road there seems to be a horrible climb, and I pass a granny on an old steel bike cycling up to a village. I was dying. She wasn't breaking a sweat.
Once I was struggling on a extremely steep climb, and suddenly I saw this old lady on a rusty steel bike, carrying a big load of firewood for her stove, and she wasn’t even breathing hard, she just smiled at me with her mouth closed.
She was going down.
@@Ok_Rouleur Haha :). The one I passed was going up slowly, of course. :)
🤣🤣🤣🤣
I'm pretty confident that if I trained as HARD as I could, I could watch this video again.
We know listening to Ollie is hard work, but we didn't realise it needed such intensive training 😂
My Garmin watch hit 150 bpm watching it too.
🤣
Great comment
🤣
Love to see Andrew Feather give that a shot. A beast takes on a beast. :)
Totally agree
Do not reply to the scam above.
Put Feather on a cross country mtb and he'll smash it.
Congrats you have been Pickled amongst my winner's(sic) 🥒🥒
10K likes are in already :)
I've done climbs like this before many times.
We generally use ropes when climbing like this thought not push bikes!
After trying to ride up it, that would make more sense
Hi GCN team!
this video is a dive into my youth!
I know Salita Scanuppia very well, I used to go as a child with my father to look for mushrooms and from the top you could enjoy a wonderful view..!
Great climb man💪
Hi, could I please ask for an advice ? I’m planning to give this a try next week but I’ve read that bikes are officially not permitted there. Do I risk being fined when entering with my bike or is it only a precaution ?
@@milanspanko241 Last I knew, Italia was still a free country.
Now, unless there's been a hundred deaths due to vehicle-bike collisions up there every year, I'd go up it. Authorities are after getting WAYYYY too much authority in the so-called Free World.
Take BACK your power
@@milanspanko241 This climb is officially not open to bike from 2009, yes you risk a fine. they made it illegal to bike cause there's a risk, and even think it happened, that when you're going down you gonna crash in cars coming up
@@Sionnach1601 Thanks, I'll think about it :-)
@@Lorenzo-vz6mj I would really like to try the climb myself but I also understand why it's officially forbidden. Thanks for your answer :-)
No matter how steep the hill is, it always look like 3%-4% mild hill on camera, EXCEPT this 😬 Now this is the hardest climb I've ever seen!
Yep, it's a beast! The thumbnail _isn't_ rotated to look steeper - it's just THAT steep!
It makes Ollie walk in an low aero position
I live less than 10km from this climb, it is INSANE! I did it 4-5 times by foot and I never seen nobody doing it on a bike 😂
@@gcn you need to pack a spirit level with you next time
Yeah I've had a GoPro with me on a few rides, and afterwards wanted to show someone a climb I thought was insane only to find out, that on camera it just looked like a flat stretch of road.
I don't usually (if ever) leave comments on RUclips videos, but I felt I needed to on this one. Ollie absolutely killed it! This climb is insane!!! Good job to the entire GCN team that worked on this video. You guys look like you went through hell to get up this thing. This video made my day!
Did Ollie just lay down a challenge to ALL the other GCN presenters & Andrew Feather? 😉 That would be great film to watch.
Be careful the guy commenting above is a scammer
@@oayysz8909 Make sure you're reporting every comment as I am.
It's exciting to see Andrew feather climbing that
Doubt any other GCN presenters could do better 😬 maybe Andrew give it a good bash 🙏
Isn't it amazing how much suffering Ollie will do for our entertainment 🤭😬😂
They finally did the Scanuppia.
As a climbing aficionado myself, who has done Mauna Kea, Alto de Las Animas and Etna (the full climb), I can’t recommend MTB gearing enough for this.
I am a 100% for drop bar guy, but a hard tail Mountainbike is just far superior on such a climb.
A wide slick tire on the rear will give more traction than these narrower tires.
The 30/51 gearing is significantly lower than anything on a Gravel bike. That’s the difference between grinding 60 RPM over threshold all the way and being able to ride 80RPM sub threshold.
Also, the suspension and wide handlebars makes the descending significantly more enjoyable. Riding down 30 or 40% on bad asphalt or even gravel is a terrible experience on a stiff fork.
I was thinking the whole time, MTBers do climbs with this grade all the time (not as long mind you), It would be interesting to see a hardtail XC race bike tackle at least the steapest section.
I think 28/52 MTB gearing would be more to the point, but that is just splitting hairs.
What ever gearing works for you is fine. Just saying he talked a whole lot about the gearing choices and traction, and then had to push the bike for like 20% of the climb.
Roadies are obsessed with large gears and always tend to choose to high rather than too low.
Maybe its time to use gcn''s endurallgroad 😆
@@paulwujek5208 27.5 or 650b wheels to reduce the weight and rollout from a 700c, 30t chainring, 11t-46t cassette (lighter than a 51t), carbon everything. 8 weeks of training of doing climbs 3 times a week. That should do it.
This is how I feel going up a gentle incline on a bike. Incredible endurance on display in this video.
Love getting up in the morning, drinking my coffee, and watching the struggle before heading out for my easy ride!
(insert yao ming meme)
Do not reply to the message above, its a scam.
@@malcombe7001 thanks for looking out for us.... "Scammer up!"
@@arrayedwoodcraft
I fell for it, it cost me £150 in bitcoin, I don't want someone else to be as pi55ed off as I was that afternoon. I'm up on things, I didn't think for one minute, id be scammed, but they caught me at the right time.
@@malcombe7001 sorry that happened. I got exited for a moment as well. But then saw everyone was getting the same reply.
Strava shows it passing 52%, probably depending on which line you take through corners. I'd still love to see a GCN Does Science episode where you take a grand tour climb like Alpe d'Huez and ride it once straight up the center line, and once choosing your line, so we can see the measurable effect that spectators blocking the road have on performance. I'm betting riders lose a significant amount of time on a long climb if they are denied the opportunity to clip the inside corner on curves or take the shallower outside line on steep switchbacks.
Cool suggestion!
" I'm betting riders lose a significant amount of time on a long climb if they are denied the opportunity to clip the inside corner on curves or take the shallower outside line on steep switchbacks."
Like a lot of climbers , I've considered this a time or two. I think it might be possible to alleviate the pain, slightly; but ultimately you have to raise x amount of pounds a certain amount of vertical feet, and I suspect the quickest line up, will also be the hardest.
@@henseleric I am a hobbyist at best, so my experience certainly isn't a proxy for what it's like for a racer. I just noticed that when I watch riders going up a climb that isn't blocked by spectators, they do appear to take either shorter or shallower lines through curves and corners rather than going straight up the middle, and I guessed that they were doing so because it was either easier or faster.
I remember a post on a czech cycling forum and I found it now again to get details, a czech rider, Jiri Fikejz (an ex no. in czech enduro, later took to road cycling). In 2019 he got KOM there, 53 minutes 54 s. He made it mostly on his lightest gear 30x42.
m.ruclips.net/video/KVT565djfvo/видео.html
One of the best days ever. 😁👍 This climb is so brutal. Overheating, balance and motivation for suffering. 90% with 30-42T on 7,5kg Canyon Grail. Probably the hardest thing i've done on a bike.
@@JiriFikejz the man himself commenting here - love those youtube moments! This comment should be pinned 😀
Btw, as I saw Ollie showing his EKAR 38-42 gearing (could have used the 44 tooth cassette which would give him 186cm instead of 195cm per revolution), i thought - this is nice and better than most roadbikes use, but clearly not enough for a mission like this! 😅
@@JiriFikejz I have tried climb it using road bike but 34 at front and 11-36 cassette. And 50mm carbon tubular wheels to make it funny. I covered it all but fell over twice, don't know if it counts :D I'm going to try it again with a monster gravel bike and Eagle cassette - just need an opportunity to get to Italy. However, for me there is another (conquered by you :D) climb, for me even harder, not that far away. I mean Esine -> San Glisente climb. I failed to climb it on 40x46. Twice. I must try it again as well... just a bit far from my place, but still. I can't die without climbing this thing.
@@JiriFikejz A to ještě málokdo ví, že měl za sebou na gumicuku žlutou pandu!
I’m impressed by the fact that he is still able to talk while climbing at 20% and more
Also fun fact: the fastest average speed on this segment on strava is 7.9 km/h
It's faster if you run
@@sachieltromp6129 Try running up that grade! :D
He was really fast, indeed. I did 6,4 km/h and 12 minutes more than him 😂
@@sachieltromp6129 your poor achilles ...
@@sachieltromp6129 when it gets that steep even running is useless. Your heart rate goes through the roof almost immediately, I remember because I tried to run up a 27% gradient once.
Outstanding effort attempting this climb! Beyond the power and riding skills required for it, the mental strength to keep pushing and keep back on the bike is just amazing! Bravo Ollie! You absolutely legend! Hope you didn’t ruin your cleats on the walking parts…
It's not so much his cleats, more his knees and his back!
@@gcn yes obviously…poor Ollie…that was truly savage!
Would absolutely love to see another attempt on this, especially by Andrew Feather.
Hats off, Ollie. This was great to watch.
I would love to see Andrew Feather do this climb. More Power GCN 💪🏼🙏🏼
There are numerous roads like this in the Philippines. There are what started as footpaths leading out of the Taal Volcano caldera to the rim. There are access roads to remote villages in the Cordillera in Northern Luzon that ascend cliffs. Most of these are nominally called roads because, with the massive rains that fall there, they get washed out. A gravel bike is the minimum requirement; MTB is better. And all of that is made more challenging by 35C temps and 85% humidity. If you start at dawn, you might be able to knock the temp down to below 30C but the humidity remains. It is a huge challenge, particularly for a pasty lowland foreigner.
You gotta factor in the fact that there's less oxygen at higher altitudes
@@kobe5952 dependa in my country (Bulgaria) we have places with 2000m elevation that give your body natural doping by bringing more blood cells to your blood from the air it all depends on whats the hight
I can only speak out my greatest respect for anyone trying this and even getting as far as he did (even though he seems to be pushing the bike a good part of the climb ;-)).
I got into a bit of XC biking recently - being a beginner, I consciously chose a 2x12 drive train with a lowest gear of 26 front - 45 rear (29" wheels) - which translates to a 0.57 ratio, or 16,8 gear-inches, or 1.3 meters development. I often enough already struggle at the (short) ~15% gradients in my area while seated (somehow, for me, climbing out of saddle does not work well for me, rear tire starts slipping on the gravel or dirt forest roads/paths/trails , or I am already going to slow to keep a stable balance and usually my legs are already burning at that point) . He said he has a 38 front - 42 rear as his lowest gear (didn't get the wheel size, but I am guessing some 29") - which translates to a 0,9 ratio, or 26,4 gear inches or 2.1 meters development and he considers this as a quite easy gear.
Thanks, I feel like a total wuss now. :-D
(His gearing is roughly equivalent to my 36 tooth front chainring and the second lowest 40 tooth rear sprocket, so my goal is now to try my ~15% climbs with this gear).
Yeah, for road cycling that's a very easy gear, typical bikes come with 50/34 cranks and 11-28 cassettes. Wheel is prob 700c, so the same as a 29". I'm also surprised by how high a gear he's using, he could've fitted a smaller chainring or ran those 11-50 SRAM cassettes.
There's about 150 meters long 50% cobblestone road in Estonia, Kadrioru park, called "A. Weizenbergi". Probably not the hardest in the world, but quite the challenge for local MTBs.
Coordinates: 59°26'16.7"N 24°47'53.3"E
I love a good climb but if I see 43% at the bottom I’m turning around 🤣 you’re insane mate
I’m glad you’ve discovered the Scanuppia. I’m amazed that so few people know of this utter monster of a climb.
I really think the GCN team should do a time trial up it, and also shoot a video with an e-bike too.
Certainly need an e-bike to get up!
Recently i was very close but totally ignored the insanity even though i'm curious by nature. Doing those straight pieces at Passo Fedaia and Passo Pampeago is about what i can and am willing to handle
You’d have got up that Ollie with a 30 front 52 rear, also switch the seat post round and put your saddle full forward and nose down 25% so you can limb most of it seated.
i say it'd need a very odd frame, like one of those old pursuit track frames, with a very agressive forward offset, including near vertical a saddle post, and a giant soft rear tyre. problem is going to be traction before all else. if you skid the momentum's gone.
@@comethiburs2326 Like OP said, if you have a seatpost with setback, you can turn it around and have negative setback.
27.5 or 650b wheels to reduce the weight and rollout from a 700c, 30t chainring, 11t-46t cassette (lighter than a 51t), carbon everything. 8 weeks of serious training of doing climbs 3 times a week. That should do it.
Felt the same way. I'm sure it still would have been ridiculous, but having a 1:2 ratio bailout gear would have given him more of a chance. Here, he's was in 1st gear the entire time. He needed like a 24t on the front, giving him a 24x42 for those 40%+ sections. He still may have fallen over the bike, but he would have had the ability to get enough RPM's to pedal at least.
I'd also think he needs a smaller wheel on the front, or an extremely slammed aero frame as well. If he went with no front brake, he could rig a 24" wheel on the front, making the angle better for riding. And maybe even larger rear tire for more traction.
Huge props for this climb. I know I couldn't even walk up this without having a serious medical crisis.
O I know I'd die.
Thanks for doing this. I have felt this exact way on much, MUCH less impressive climbs, being nowhere near gelato as could as you will find there - which, let's be real, that the real heart break. I think it's impressive that you kept going and rode whatever you could. I'd like to see you guys in the U.S. for something like this as well.
38/42 gear ratio? Mate, Ollie here has really strong legs!
The lowest climbing ratio on my MTB is 0.667. At the at the average gradient of 15% & peak gradient of 30%, I'm already totally ruined!
Lots'a love, cheers, & Mabuhay, from tropical Philippines! #KeepBiking
I was thinking the same thing, he should get a smaller chainring
Now that would be a challenge for GMBN. Can their 28/52 gearing beat the climb?
Uy may pinoy...
@@256shadesofgreyYou can finally get low enough gears to where the gear inches would be too low to keep a bicycle upright. For that, you'd need a trike with super low gear inch gearing.
I didn't think you'd make when you said you had 38-42. I was expecting you to use 30-42 at least!
You should go for MTB gearing. 28-32 front, 52 back. Maybe even 24 front if it's supposed to be made specifically for climbing and not anything else. When I was trying to build a bike with 38x52 in the easiest gear, people told me I'm crazy for having such difficult gearing (I went for 34x50 instead) but yours is 38x42, so no wonder you're struggling.
There's no such thing as a hill that's too steep. Only gears that aren't low enough.
Yeah they keep making it hard for no reason. If they just used sensible gearing it'd be fine.
It never ceases to amaze me the stuff cycling journalists come out with. Wow, use a big cassette!, who would have thought it??
Tourers have been using triple chainsets for years. You could easily go to 22x42 if needed for a one off attempt like this.
@@danjames4086 don't even need to go much bigger in the cassette, they just had to use a small chain ring. I swear GCN employs idiots though, like this setup he negated most of the gains by going bigger in the wheels.
If anything I think this whole video is paid promotion by Campagnolo, and co because you'd get significantly better ratios with Shimano GRX if you wanted to stay on a road based groupset.
Can you imagine them sticking this climb on week 3 of the Giro, 120km into the race? We will see a lot of sprinters quit.
I was thinking of how it would be to see this on the giro...
Easy answer, everybody would do it by walking, you can climb faster than riding a bike. In the past anquetil used to do that on muro di Sormanno (the hardest climb on giro di lombardia).
Great vid. Big respect - not for attempting this climb but for getting past the whole ego thing, getting off and pushing - and being honest, positive and happy. I reckon you can do this Ollie - get more tech and go back with Andrew Feather. You already have the geometry and grip sussed with a gravel bike and plenty of rubber BUT you need lower gears imo. Speaking as a HOG (Heavy Old Git) that lives in the South Lakes I face 20%+ on most of my favourite rides - I ride Shimano GRX 2x with 48/31 at the front and 11-40 at the back - or even 11-42. No special gizmos, it works fine and I can winch my 92kg up most stuff.
Can't wait to tell Ollie we need to send him back to try again
I think that the gearing on a MTB Hardtail and the added grip could be beneficial, a 30-51/52 ratio is way easier. Granted it is heavier, but you could really make a frankenbike and change the forks to carbon forks like the orbea alma. Maybe the fellows from GMBN, specifally Neil could help you out.
Even just going with a 2-by would have helped
How is MTB gearing better than the 9-52 on the back of my Eagle gravel bike?
I came here to say exactly this! You need mountain bike gearing. Can the @GMBN guys make it up?
Oh, and 7.5 km long makes this a proper climb!
@@kidShibuya ? 9-52 is most definitely a mtb cassette. there just isn't such a thing as gravel cassettes. what's the size of your chainring?
@@mx2000 only if it's mtb 2x and you don't need the big ring in the front for this climb. I'd go with1x 34 front x-52 back I think that way he would have made it up.
I agree with you about changing perceptions. To me, 25C is a longed-for, lovely, cool day. Respect for making it to the top.
~630W! This is what you would need to climb up a 40% road at a speed of about 7km/hr. If you interested, see breakdown below.
At this speed and gradient, mechanical power lost due to wind resistance and rolling resistance is only very small compared to power lost due to gravity (gain in potential energy) and is hence omitted.
The power lost to gravity alone is: P_g = m*g*v_z, with m the mass of rider+bike (let's assume 80kg), g = gravitational constant (-9.81m/s^2) and v_z the bike speed in vertical direction. v_z = v*sin(slope), with slope defined as sin(slope) = change in vertical meters / distance travelled along road and v = speed of biker. Let's assume that the bike speed is just over 7 km/hr (2m/s), this brings v_z to sin(0.4)*2=0.8m/s.
The mechanical power needed to climb 40% at 2 m/s equals minus the power lost to gravity, thus P_req = - P_g = -80*-9.81*0.8 = 628W!
Ollie, Scanuppia isn't in Sud Tirol, it's in Trentino; the two are conjoined as a region but are completely diffenrent provinces (Sud Tirol is German-speaking, whereas Trentino is Italian). It's like saying Glasgow is in England, the locals won't be impressed.
Good effort anyway, I don't think road or gravel gears are enough for these sort of gradients
I feel like even that gearing is a bit too high for this climb, mountain bikes usually go quite a bit lower than 38/42 for a reason
Yup
Totally agree. Fat rear tyre ups the gearing much more than you'd think too. I get the reason for a fat rear tyre, but gear down appropriately.
Do not reply to the telegram post, its a scam.
Easy gear is even harder then you off the saddle at low speed. Peak torque of body weight is too high, you compensate it with other leg, doing negative work without relax. Frame geometry not apropriate these climb conditions.
You can get 32/52 on a mountain bike groupset
Mate, I felt your every pedal stroke, awesome effort Ollie!!
"It's so hot...25 degrees" *laughs in Australian*
seriously you are a beast Ollie. That climb sounds like a monster even to a hiker, I think you might be taking over Hank's position as GCN's Suffering King.
Well, even for Italy's standards that's not very hot :p
laughing in 32 degrees
It's hot for a Brit! 😂
@@gcn Here in bucharest last weekend it was 30 degrees... but get this: "real feel", in other words how the outside actually felt, was 35 degrees. That is most likely due to high humidity. Imagine: another 16% extra temperature from just not being able to cool off.
Big respect, Ollie! Harder distance-wise is Hilo, Big Island, Hawaii to the volcano Mauna Kea. About 70 km, 17 % in some sections, but of course never 43 %. Worth a try are chainrings 32 and 22 teeth and a cassette 11-46 or 11-50/51/52 teeth. 22 to 50 teeth might too extreme, but a big cassette like this offer plenty of mountain gears. It is also good to ride snake lines. But another problem are stones and wood right before the shoulder/thexedge of the road.
Yes, it would be nice to see the worldwide best climber riding gradient-wise the hardest climb.
We had some fairly steep roads back in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. I got pretty good at going up them by going back forth in zig-zag fashion so as to make the effective slope less. On the turns I could take just a little pressure off my legs, and it helped sustain me so that I could reach top. The thing is you need a road wide enough to use that strategy.
I know it comes to the sister channel at that point, but Id love to see how easy it could be to spin up with a 28/52t on a rigid MTB
Yeah, I can't tell if this is due to paid promotion or just to roadie brain but a lowest gear of over 25 gear inches is pretty far from the "right tool" for this kind of climb.
Kudos for Ollie for making it even harder on himself than it needed to be.
@@JoshKablack I think you are right. When he started he said that he was already in his lowest gear. Obvious sign that, though well-chosen, gearing hadn't been chosen well enough.
I'd say a Christini. They are a very advanced form of 2wd. You could literally stand up the whole climb if you wanted to, and you'd still have plenty traction with good tyres like the ones he'd chosen, but in FRONT as well as back.
My thoughts exactly. When I saw the bike I thought, “No, no, no mate. You’ve done it all wrong. You need a mountain bike with an ultra-low ‘granny gear’.” Yes, it would be more weight, but like Ollie said the gearing and grip are what you really need. Also, it would be much safer and easier should you need to walk sections in mountain bike shoes than in roadies. Huge kudos for taking this on!
Dr Ollie. Top effort and no grounds to be embarrassed…my Wahoo goes to ‘pause’ on many an easier climb👍🏽. The old cyclist saying ‘so slow a butterfly flew through my front wheel’. Quality. Love you 🤗
Kudos to the cameraman it’s very difficult for someone to rely just how steep something is on camera, 👏 great 👍 job
This is one of those climbs that is so steep that a camera does do it justice!
Definitely looking forward to part 2 with Andrew, but bring Blake from GMBN on a mtb too 😀
Bring Andrew. Also bring Simon and the other kids too. It is not often that suffering becomes comical but this, is one of a kind. We laughed so hard watching this video, it was hysterical.
Oli, I bow down to you, that climb makes the Zoncolan seem easy! Much respect. Did you get the KOM? Yes, put AF to the test!
I'm at 4m33, just before the start, and I'm thinking "Of Course, Ollie will make it up !" - BTW, Ollie should get a special Polka Dot GCN kit for all the climbs he has tackled, he definitely deserve it.
Bring on Andrew !
There have been a few times that I was going on a ride with a steep climb so I rode my hard tail mountain bike for traction and gearing, 26x36 up front and a 11-40 in the back. The extra 2 kg of weight are meaningless compared to the gearing and traction.
I found the opposite, see my comment above. My theory is that if you can still turn the crank then weight trumps gearing….at least on my rubbish test 😂
I have an easy 15% gravel road of 1 km behind my house for training, but this climb is at least 20x harder. I am so happy to see I'm not the only one that has to walk the bike sometimes. This climb even makes Alp du Zwift look wimpy. Great attempt and you definitely had a nice set-up for climbing.
I did this climb on a mountainbike (32 front - 36 back), and cycled it entirely. I rather once had to get a grip on the railing because of the fact that a 4x4 jeep came downhill towards me, and there simply wasn't enough space to pass eachother without touching. After my unexpected pauze I wanted to go further by pushing myself, using the railing. After pushing I found myself on the wrong side of the road (pushed to hard and entered the inner corner) and fell backwards with my mountainbike above me.. That was the only point I had to start up again. As anyone can see it wasn't easy at all, but I made it! Riding it on a racebike without interuption seems inpossible to me.....unless you have mountainbike sprockets!
Precisely what I thought when Ollie presented his gears. Impossible. With some proper gears (30 at the front and 50+ at the back) he could, without a doubt, do it :):). Time to build a frankenbike dr. :)
Impressive performance by you, lots of talking and less cycling by the guy in the video. Couldn't believe he didn't use a mountainbike for something like this.
As a mountain biker I was watching this video and he spoke about the gears and I thought the same thing. I am 30/51 and I am old, fat, and out of shape, but routinely ride 30% grades when biking (not for that long, I am nowhere near this level and am not a keyboard warrior). But with the low gears and wide handlebars it is pretty easy to just go very slow for a long period of time (again I could not go that long maybe a day or two with some camping. sleeping time). Amazing climb, you are awesome. But why not a mountain bike or at least mtn bike gearing?
It's a mountain road after all. Mountain bike is called for.
@@khchoi2012 I agree but 2x is really needed otherwise riding on the road stinks with 30x10 as top speed. Point of a gravel bike is to be able to ride to the mountain as well as up it, 2x with mtb cassette seems obvious.
Built grx di2 2x11 monster gravel with my old 29er hardtail. 45/55mm gravel tires, 38/26 chainrings (38 is biggest frame can fit) and 10-42 sram cassette in back gives ~612% range - can go up hill like mtb, but still have decently fast top speed for going back down. Rode some singlet track with it recently and its still fun / feels sketchy with drop bars but its fast (have other mtbs). Surprised nobody sells a real adventure do everything bike that is similar, all these wide tire clearance gravel frames are 1x only.
Personally I love 2x for hilly roads, quick change for come up to or going over them.
32T on the front instead of that 38T. Use a Garmin (or other brand) Speed sensor on the front wheel. Turn off auto-pause.
I presume, that the distance could be a little off with a speed sensor due to slaloming. However, if I remember correctly from DCRs comparison, Garmin/Karoo provide better data pages for climbing. Not that it adds any additional watts 😀
Credit to you Ollie ..... great effort mate
Here in Athens,Greece , i have found 3 parallel roads , which are very steep, they are located in a municipality named Ilioupoli. They have a gradient of approximately 35%, 41%,37% at their steepest point .I want to make a video with a measurement and a climbing attempt one day.
In my country the bike vloggers just casually climbed up this 20-41% gradient mountain...
ruclips.net/video/vJcWceeem3g/видео.html the steepest part is at 16:16 lol they didn't even get out of their seat yet
Olimbionikon
Kennedy (35%)
Panagi Tsaldari (41 %)
Olymbionikon (37 %)
A GCN presenter race up the hill would make top viewing. obviously, handicap it to make it all fair.
It does look like a killer of a hill! Superb location aswel.
Well done Ollie 👏
I've only encountered one hill on MTB that I've never quite been able to make it up. Took a picture and it barely looks like an incline.
This looks steep even on camera. That's wild.
Probably already mentioned but Campagnolo EKAR does have a 10-44 cassette (not just the - 42 as seen in the video). I use the 10-44 Ekar on one of my bikes. I'm not sure that would have succeeded for Olly to climb the entire way up, but I thought the extra two teeth cassette would have been helpful.
everyone makes a 46t cassette. And there's 50t and 51 and 52t that's meant for single speeds. 12 speed mtb cassettes don't work well on derailleurs because it requires some bikeshop modding to get the chainline to work on the front derailleur.
It's really amazing for me that there is a village like at the half way. How people are able to travel through such a steep road, also I'm wondering how this road was built.
Road was built with blood, sweat, and tears for sure.
Beer stop Peroni
So glad you finally did this! This climb is very well known for being pretty much the hardest in the world. Did you get special permission to ride it? I thought it was closed to bikes.
Permission to ride your bike.
My God. How much more are people going to willingly give up???
Health and safety is on THE WORST kind of steroids, EPO and opium that would make Lance Armstrong blush
@@Sionnach1601 Keep your hair on, I asked because this ride is closed to bikes. There is a an official sign at the bottom forbidding cycling due to the dangers of encountering cars. Unless they had clearence from the local authorities, they would be breaking the law riding up this.
Why did he not try one of the 1x12 mountain bike drive trains? You can never climb anything that steep that long standing on the pedals.
A gear ratio of 25 gear-inches is way too high on a ⁴³% asphalt climb. As a Touring Cyclist I use 18 gear-inches and can easily carry a 30kg payload up an Alpine road. Great effort by Ollie
Manon "The road bike is the only bike you'll ever need"
Ollie the next day "About that...."
Hahaha!
Xc Mtb hard tail with a wide range 1x12 and 30t sprocket would’ve definitely been the right tool for the job.
1 x 12 not neccesarily required. All that matter is that it has a 46t rear and a small sprocket regardless if triple or double or single.
If we get 100,000 likes Dan has to go up!
And 200K and Lasty will go too!
That was nice, I really enjoyed that one and even though you found it a nightmare I think you enjoyed it too Ollie. Would love to see Andrew trying it out but also other members of the GCN teamq
Waipio Valley road in Hawaii. Steepest road I’ve climbed. 1000’ elevation in 3/4 mile. New challenge!
I just got back on a bike last week for the first time in years, and my knees were weak and shaky after cycling up the big hill near my house. I was feeling a bit ashamed at the time because I had just forgotten that hills are hard. But after watching, and seeing somebody else struggling, this I don't feel so bad about myself.
I guess misery loves company..
If there's ever a time you should not be ashamed of yourself is when you are out on a bike. The world needs more people on bicycles. Be proud and keep riding!
@@jeflemaire5294 wow. I actually needed this message today. Never know who you'll inspire. Thanks!
@@cmoss95 I needed it too, thanks!
Invite Feather to give it a go!!
Be careful the guy commenting above is a scammer
@@oayysz8909 thanks! It wasn’t a convincing effort anyway!
5k thumbs up to go for Andrew 🪶! On a light hardtail with a 30x52 gearing it must be possible. Love to see Feather fly up this killer climb.
Can't wait to see Andrew destroy it.
Pike's Peak in Colorado in the US is also very steep, long, and gravelly in parts. In addition, it is at 14,000 ft. so low on oxygen. I've seen some road cyclist struggling up that. This could be your next climb challenge. :)
I thought Mt. Evans was tough. 2 days later we did Pike's Peak. Same elevation gain in roughly half the distance. Two absolute beasts. I'd love to tackle the Scanuppia with my 24- 42 gearing. But only if there was gelato at the top, served by Ollie.
Pikes Peak is huge and long, but nothing on Pikes Peak is anywhere near as steep as this. Not even close.
These "steepest climb" videos are very fun to watch. 👍
13:01 Ed Laverack 👑 SA CALOBRA KOM HOLDER
Geez, my calf muscles hurt just by watching this! You did a great job!
I would love to see if you could make the climb with an E-Gravel like the Canyon Grail:ON.
Calf muscles? Nvr mind the muscles i had second hand heart attacks from watching this. Especially since he mentioned heat... i d would genuinely be dead or at least fainted half way through that hell.
Mtbs can have gearing as low as 28 on the front and 50 on the back. For the steepest road in the world with 30 to 40% pitches wouldn’t you want and need the lowest gearing available? I don’t know at what point the gearing gets so slow you can’t keep the bike up right, that’s your job to figure out but I do know you have to go with gearing significantly lower then what you brought to this crazy road. You didn’t stand a chance.
PS: to say you’ve climbed a road on a bike you have to actually climb it on the bike, not walk sections. You can stop, recover and continue but you can’t walk, that’s called hike-a-biking. 😉
Did it with a Downhill bike... Hard af but beautiful once u are on the top!
I also come from there and the street is usually cosed for bikes due to the descending part which could be really dangerous if it s raining.
Nice video and good motivation As always!👊💪
Props for the camera guy, he didn't complain at all, not even breathing heavily, I bet he didn't break a sweat.
Congratulations on making the first GCN video with a presenter who is walking more than cycling ;-).
A landmark achievement for us
That road should be a time trial stage at the Giro!
One for Chris Froome with his bike running experience! 😂 Or Vlasov after this performance! 👉 ruclips.net/video/eoD9tcfloCg/видео.html
I’d chip in for feathers costs to get him over there to see him take on this. Surely there’s not many people who have completed this without unclipping ? Strava segment ?
Its difficult to imagine how hard this is unless you've tried to bike uphill for long periods of time, It gets seriously demoralizing when you hit a corner and see another stretch of road straight up. The worst one in terms of intensity that I've done was in Belgium. The gradient was probably only 10-15 percent, but it persisted for kilometers on end, and worst of all, I had a bike cart with me worth about 25kg of baggage. I had to stop very often.
Where was it if i may ask? Somewhere in the Ardennes i guess
@@amedeohembersin3182 I tried looking up the exact location for you but I don't remember. It was on the way back from Houffalize to Maastricht. So definitely in the Ardennes.
You're a beast. It would make an excellent video to find any rider, professional or whatever, who could fully conquer this climb.
I have a rule. Once it hits double digits, it is going to sting. But over 40% is insane. Great equipment selection for the steep sections, but it is really long also.
Yeah, think a mountain bike might be needed for that climb! Well done Ollie!
Why? Same gearing as gravel bikes just heavier.
Would love to see Feather try it. When I first saw Ollie's setup my immediate thought was that 1x chain ring is still way too big. Maybe a 30 or even 26. Not sure how small you can actually go.
with some 90's tech, you can have a 19 up front. It's an adapter which allows you to screw an end cog of a really old style cassette (70's) to your crank. It was needed back then because cassette's weren't bigger than 32.
Can you get 11 at the front?
@@RoScFan you'd have to make an adapter, but sure, why not?
I would think if you did some digging, you could find a 20t ring or smaller then throw a 52t cassette on the rear
Smart with the gearing and lighter front wheel.
Great video.
On July 2020 I biked from Andalo to the start of Zanna Bianca, a trail in the Dolomiti Paganella Bike Park, climbing along a concrete service road straight up a ski slope ("straight up" meaning maximum gradient, no switchbacks).
Never again, and it was way shorter than the Scanuppia, and I had a 50t cog.
I took part in two races in my hometown, and they both went up an infamous steep and narrow piece of road outside town, so naturally everyone was preparing for that.
The irony was that a few hundred meters before that there is a piece of road that is almost as steep but also right behind a tight bend and five times as long, so I and many others had to get off the bike while having way less issues with the “infamous” part after it (because you could build up speed which you couldn’t for the first part).
Another choice could be the zoncolan and then "la stentarie". Both start from the same place: Ovaro.
Enjoy the pain 🤣
If you put a grx crankset (and front mech) on you road bike the 30x34 is an easier gear than your 38x42. No chunky boy fitting though.
Why not go all the way to 11×52? Or 14x52 whichever is physically possible.
An XC bike would be perfect for this: really low gearing possible and the geometry is made to go step.
I'd say a Christini. An American brand specialising in 2wd for bikes and motorbikes. The US army have contracted them for long distance scouting excursions.
They are a very advanced form of 2wd. You could literally stand up the whole climb if you wanted to or as much as you like, and you'd still have plenty traction with good tyres like the ones he'd chosen; but one would leave the front gravel tyre on as well obviously.
Look it up folks. It's very interesting
This is really neat. I think a cool video idea would be to:
A: find your peak & sustained power output, and what pedal speed is best for this
B: figure out what speed that means you can go on this hill
C: make custom gears for your bike to allow you to achieve this speed on this hill
And D: go up the hill with the custom gears.
That would be interesting, although at this kind of gradient, traction, upper body strength and balance all come into play too!
I would love to see this with an e-bike and see if it really makes a difference. Strong work Ollie. You should be proud of yourself.
It would make a huge difference. At least if your batteries had enough watt-hours to make it to the top
@@Goriaas batteries wouldn't be an issue, Here is the easy math proof:
Total elevation difference: 1,515meters
say, rider+ebike = 90kg,
then the energy required to climb (without air and rolling resistance) is 1515*90*9.8 = 1337kilojoules or around 373wh.
Most ebikes have around 625 wh, no problem there.
Also, since ebike in the EU are limited to 250w continuous power, it would take about (373wh/250w)= 1.5h= 90 minutes to deliver the energy that compensates the climb.
Since the length of the climb is 7.5km, you'd need to ride at 5 km/h.
TLDR: At 5km/h on an ebike runing at full 250W power this climb would be aquivalent to riding on a flat. In practice I think 7.5km/h would be realistic to finish it on one hour.
It would be great to see Andrew do the climb and to see Ollie do it at the same time on an E-gravel bike for comparison. Now that would be an entertaining video.
Great video as always.
Question: since you're on the easiest gear from the first meter basically, in order to save some grams, wouldn't a fixed gear be better? :D
That was my thinking as well. Going 34/42 single speed and getting rid of the RD, cassette, shifters, cables would probably save close to 1kg and yield nicer gearing.
I mean yes but it's still going to be absolutely brutal and that 1gram prob won't make it any easier up a freaking 45% climb. You would need full MTB gear ratios to try and tackle that section
One idea from a keyboard warrior: the trick I have been using on REALLY steep stuff (in my standards, but with camping gear on the bike) is to use the full width of the road and go in a S-line! That way you reduce the climbing angle slightly. On a very slim road like this one it won't help very much, however.
Feather not only completed the climb, he destroyed the KOM! GOAT!
Imagine the future races on this climb when we have the next generation of supercyclists
A rim brake road bike with a 46/30 crankset and a 36 up front. Just standard ultegra, dura ace or 105 would work. The RD7000/8000 and 9100 all fit a 36 cassette. The cranks all fit a 46/30. That would give you a +6 gearing. Ollie only had +4 and his bike would have been nudging 9kg.
Want a +10 gearing? Then run a 40 on the back with a GS type RD7000/8000. Also running a 23mm tire will give you even lower cadence. Bigger tire on the back means harder gearing.
Id ABSOLUTELY flog that climb on my Winspace SLC rim brake 6kg whip with proper hill climb race ratios. I DONT walk tarmac ever!
was glad to see this pop up in the comments
love watching Ollie, funny guy, 🤣
That phising comment finally here guys.
just use a XC carbon hardtail with 51t cassette and 32t or smaller MTB chain set. swap out the suspension fork with a rigid fork and perhaps use a smaller 26" from wheel??