Florida's biggest hill! Summiting Sugarloaf Mountain
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ต.ค. 2024
- Alex and I decided to drive out to Clermont to climb Florida's biggest hill, known as Sugarloaf mountain. This would be a pretty average hill anywhere else, but we couldn't resist the novelty. Surprisingly it's almost a 15% grade in some places, and goes on for about a half mile. If you've been to Florida you'll find this pretty amusing.
Transcript:
If you spend enough time on Wikipedia, it’s easy to get sucked into the wormhole. Recently I came across a list of the biggest hills-in Florida. This is only interesting because Florida is known for being flat everywhere.
Alex and I set out to climb the biggest of these hills on our bikes, and naturally treated the whole endeavor like one big joke. The hill in this picture doesn’t look bad at all, but then again, nothing does on the screen of your iPhone.
Sugarloaf mountain is the most prominent point in Florida, at 245 feet above the surrounding land. The elevation at the summit is 312-hardly a snow capped peak, but still pretty unusual for the sunshine state. In fact, it bests the biggest hills in both Louisiana and Delaware.
I’ve shown videos riding the North Shore of Long Island New York, which is known for being hilly. Clermont is hillier than that in most places.
For some reason we decided to tackle Sugarloaf mountain in the wrong order, descending it first before climbing back up. Alex was wearing flip flops and had his arm in a sling, and I was on a 36 pound fat tire BMX.
That was a hill.
Those who live by the sword, must die by the sword. It was time to pedal this monster back to the summit.
The climb took about five minutes, and it wasn’t that bad, but we were still amazed. Imagine seeing a palm tree in Denver, or a snowflake in Miami. Imagine seeing a rabbi at a Nascar race. I guess what I’m trying to say is that some things are interesting because they’re unexpected. Sugarloaf mountain definitely falls under this category, and so does this whole area North of Orlando.
Naturally, you’d wonder if there are any bike trails around these parts, and there are. Mount Dora has trails, and so does Ocala, with over 85 miles of singletrack and a huge freeride section built in an old quarry. As for Clermont, many road cyclists frequent the area for year round riding and a little taste of elevation.
If you’re from Florida and you ride bikes, Sugarloaf mountain should be on your bucket list, just to say you did. As for Alex and I, it was worth the drive just for the laughs. We were definitely not expecting to see a legitimate hill in Florida. Thanks for riding with me today and I’ll see you next time.
![The 12 "Backwards" MTB Basics for Beginners [The RIGHT Way - 4K]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/IfwwgTkrTU4/mqdefault.jpg)
![โรงเรียนดัดสันดาน นักเรียนเถื่อน..!! [โรงเรียนไดเม่]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vRKPeXn4Fl4/mqdefault.jpg)
I think that is the only time I've ever ridden the MTB with sandals on.... and I remembered why when I saw the massive holes all over from my flats afterwards XD
oh, and of course, because it's not safe
Wow, i didn't notice you were wearing sandal lol!!
Once did a century in flip-flops, can confirm, it's not that great.
I love this goofy stuff, never stop doing it!
BKXC I love your vids
I thought this said gooey stuff, and was suddenly concerned about completing the video.
Bring back some goof!
I live near there and have ridden that hill hundreds of times in both directions. That hill aint no joke!!! Kudos to you for busting it out on the Fat Ripper! That's hardcore man!
The Adventure Biker biggest hill in flordia, smallest hill in the US
Lol go to California, steepest mountains
Since the one-uppers won’t be able to help themselves in the comment section today, let’s flip the joke around on them. Some great example replies would be: “wow your town has bigger hills than Florida? Impossible!” or “Wow, you must be really big and strong!”.
Anyway, it was great to ride with Alex this weekend. He should be back on the trails by February, and with a little luck, out of his sling in a few weeks. In the meantime he can still do stuff like this just fine!
Seth's Bike Hacks hi
Seth's Bike Hacks i live in colorado and i walk higher to get to my garage
Seth's Bike Hacks you're*
Seth's Bike Hacks I live over in the Catskill mountains in New York I do this every day
Townsend Pritchard no it is not wow you are town has bigger hills
All the non-Floridians: "I don't get it.....where was the mountain." Floridians: "That WAS the mountain."
Lmao!
To Coloradans this is a sorry excuse for even a hill. Colorado hill is at least 3x larger at minimum
@@nk6197 here in PA a hill is 2x the size at the minimum.
You guys haven't heard of The Netherlands..
@@nk6197 same in Massachusetts.
Basically a pimple for those of us who live in the Rocky Mountains.
cool! enjoy those blizzards in april and snow until may!
Christian Burrell FACTS
@@marketqueue7236 you're wrong
At least in Florida we can go to MTB trails year round
@@illuforce We have other sports like snowmobiling, skiing, snowboarding. And best of all, we dont have to deal with all the crazy crackheads of Americas sweaty asscrack.
As someone who lives in Colorado. Calling that sugarloaf “mountain” is kinda funny
Same bro Colorado bills are 3x as large
That's the joke
As someone who lives in Alaska. Calling those Rocky Mountains a “mountain” is kinda funny.
@@YTAccount82825 lmaoooo
As someone who lives in Colorado and has "everested" sugarloaf it is quite funny to call it a mountain, though it's legit steep. 135 reps on this "Mountian" is no joke.
I can only imagine the faces of the other bikers who watched you descend.
Nipple
on a bmx
This is a fantastic Video!!! I grew up in Lake County and we are proud of Sugarloaf being the tallest hill in Florida. I've driven it, know people who live on it but never ridden, I would like to one day. Thanks for showing that FL has great places to ride!!
Also I don't think that most people know that Clermont is where world class triathletes train and they climb that hill a lot.
I'm not sure if I love your vids because of the bike content or because I grew up watching and loving the wonder years.
In 1991 I did my first century ride during the Mount Dora Bicycle Festival and rode Sugar Loaf Mountain.
It was awesome.
That’s not a hill.....that’s a speed bump.
Andrew Bratcher a very awsome & larhe speedbump too :)
@@AmusementVision r/wooooosh
@@-73- r/woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooosh, it no speedbump or hill, it be a mountain ;)
moves to florida cuase it has no hills. ends up living on that road
I live in a really hilly area, south wales (in uk) so this is like everyday ride for me
Forest of dean for me just down the road
I really like your videos, it's just about the love of bikes and riding them and not about having the latest gear. Great job and thanks for all the videos.
What I love about riding in my area is we have a lot of hills like that, get a little shorter as one moves north, a little taller as one moves south; encourages one to go into the red more often, knowing that a respite is just ahead, unlike other places where one just climbs for a long time so ya can't blow your top or you're done. Can't convince myself that going hard into a headwind on flats is just as satisfying as climbing either!
For people asking, the average grade for the whole climb is 8.4 percent.
I can't believe I just watched you guys climb a road... yet here I am. Healing vibes to Alexander!
It's call the Wall.
I remember the 1st time I rode it, I had to get out of my bike and walk it up hill. Next time I did it (a couple of months later) I was gassed out, but I refuse to get out of my bike and did it at 3 mph... But Felt like a Champ
This video was awesome! My college cycling team used to go to Florida every spring for training because riding in NH in February and March sucks. I clocked my highest ever maximum speed of 50.7 mph down that hill and that record held for 3-4 years!
Alex is always smiling, that's so awesome, dude. PRETTY COOL VIDEO, Seth. Thanks a lot, and kudos!
A True Mountain Biker Never Quit. Love Your Videos!
love your videos keep up the good work
ps. can you do an in depth review on the diamondback hook im looking for a good budget bike and nobody does videos on it
Hey seth you should make a trip here to bc, tons of trails everywhere, and quite different from the dry sandy stuff in florida.
I live in Suffolk, UK and I know how you feel!
Our highest point is 100m or so, which is about 330ft but those few hills get me every time!
As someone who grew up in Clermont and recently moved to upstate New York, I find this amusing. One of my best friends lived right at the top of sugarloaf. For me, the area I live now feels like less hills than Clermont, even though a quick ride down to Lake Ontario has a more demanding climb than sugarloaf.
This is interesting. My school bus when I was a kid used to go down sugarloaf. I know it’s been a few years since this was posted though lol. I’ve lived in clermont my whole life and I’m just now getting into cycling, so I’m looking at this stuff from a different perspective for the first time.
I was looking at the thumbnail and realized i literally live on that fucking road xD
The narradation always on point.🔥🔥
Love the pads on the BMX, brings back childhood memories :)
Also that Fat tyre BMX looks HUUUGE with you riding it hahaha (btw that wasn't me mocking your stature just the bike itself is a beast)
The hills on US 90 around Madison are surprisingly steep. San Felasco Hammock Preserve in High Springs is another good place to ride trails. Not so sandy like a lot of places around FL.
Always love watching your videos Seth!
Mount Seymour in Vancouver is absolutely crazy for climbing. To go up it's like 6.5 miles of very steep incline, but it's fun getting low in the hairpins coming down.
Dude!! I can't believe you guys, always up for some shenanigans. Keep charging and remember to Live-Life-Loud!!!
Clermont trips are always a blast
The area of hills is called the Ocala up lift. It’s just a small ridge of decent sized hills. There’s a decent hand full of caves out there as well. Because caves in Florida makes as much sense as hills.
hey Seth you should do another hill bombing video but this time you should do it with one of those companion bike seats from Amazon that allows you to have a passenger ride behind you and have it where you test out the seat and what it's like bombing a hill with a passenger behind you and switch riders just saying
So much of Florida is flat that the hilly sections are an enjoyable relief. Brooksville toward Ocala and a bit more north has a little ridge.
The people chiming in about bigger hills/mtns elsewhere miss the whole point. Yea I know where you live in the Himalayas is steeper and higher.
It's so fun how earth's biomes are so different from one another. My house is a little bit above the elevation you were on and i have this kind of view everyday!
Good video Seth! All of them are great IMHO! When you come back north give a heads up I'd love to do stillwell or even glacial ridge with you!
Keep posting
Lol props for climbing in a bmx, and the other person with one arm!
Clermont also has the NTC national training center, and there is a multi million dollar facility being built now. Claremont is the cycling capital of Florida
Imagine passing these guys in your car. You got a hippie with one arm riding a full spec trail bike in flip flops and Seth's oompa loompa lookin ass just mashin his way along with a fat tire bmx. Ultimate Florida man shit.
I just got my first flat today
Oli Lee First of many! I got one too just today :P have fun changing!
A minute of work
I live on a mountain and the hills about that long, but much steeper, yet Seth is better than me at climbing.
I drove by here this past weekend on my way to orlando airport, it really is funny to see this place in florida, I would love to live on this road.
”Imagine seen a rabbi on a nascar race”😂
pfft I have to do that every day to go to school
Polny Vlogs same
Polny Vlogs same
same
You must all be very proud of yourselves
Hermeez yes yes indeed
We just went yesterday for the first time!! This was so nice!
The biggest hills at the trails in Baton Rouge, Louisiana come from clay mining and silt that was dredged up from a nearby canal. Erosion and the steepness makes climbing them no small feat.
That whole area looks like it came straight out of where I'm from, Northeast Ohio! That's really something for Florida though!
0:30 I love how he mocks apple
5:05 My home town. I love the trails here
Clermont and the surrounding areas (part of the Lake Wales Ridge) is about as good as it gets for hilly terrain in Florida. North Florida and the Panhandle have a bit of relief as well as parts of west Florida, around Clearwater/North Pinellas County up to eastern Pasco/Hernando Counties. Keep in mind, these are all ancient sand dunes or part of ancient seabeds when sea levels were higher. There is a bit of lift created from geologic processes, but nothing like you'd get elsewhere in the world. Florida is assuredly flat by and large.
I live in Clermont I love this area you're riding in
Respect for doing that on a ss bmx fat bike! my coach had us do a monster hill like that twice every friday on our mountain bikes and it was brutal.
I just love it when a person on a bicycle smokes a car, nice.
Awesome video almost to 200k keep it up Seth
Oh my gosh this is insane!! I get winded just going up the stairs!
Summit and Mountain are obviously loose terms🤣🤔
I've longboarded down this! So much fun
I grew up near here.... Climbing it on our bmx bikes to bomb it every few weeks.... Bombed it on my long board once (half way down I made a deal with God that if I lived then I'd never do anything that stupid again) was in tears of fear by the bottom..... But at the end of the day that hill is no joke and props for doing that on the fat tire......
there's a hill this size outside my grandparents house in maine, it's a nice little warmup for a trail ride
Finally early to one of your videos I love your channel Seth it's dope
Love your uploads pal, Florida looks like an awesome place to live from a cyclists perspective and the awesome weather, so much better than the UK!
Take a drive up State road 41 in Florida, or many of the back roads between Zephyrhills and Dade City/Brooksville. These are legitimate rolling clay hills that also look out of place to most of Florida.
You blew Granny's doors off...on a BMX bike! lol
One of my buds lives on that road. Havent ridden it yet, but I will.
Yikers, that looks painful, I should know, as I live in flagstaff arizona, and hills like those, around the 300 foot range are hell, but going down is fun.
LOL, when we were kids we used to hit 70-75mph on our bicycles flying down much bigger "hills" in western Pennsylvania.
I climbed this today for the first time. No stopping. It was exhausting.
In my state, the highest point- at 1,257 ft above sea level, has a fifteen foot prominence. You would never know it's what it is if you saw it. It's just a little hill with some trees.
I’m guessing you’re talking about Hoosier Hill in eastern Indiana? Not the most disappointing state high point in the country, but disappointing nonetheless
What Happened to Jesus arm?
th-cam.com/video/TeW6D5VGsbY/w-d-xo.html this!
My parents live in the house near the top with all the gas station stuff and coke signs. The camera definitely flatten this hill out quite a bit. I've seen lots of experienced riders walking their bikes up that hill. I once tried to ride my skateboard down it as a kid. Got speed wobbles about half way down and looked like the Terminator (at the end of the movie) for about a month after I fell going about 30+ MPH.
Sup! In Copper harbor Michigan, there was this one road that climbed to the top of a 1,200 foot tall mountain/hill. I rode trails down to the bottom then rode back to the top on the road. That was a crazy climb. It looked like this but about twice as long and it curved to the left. Definitely the biggest climb I've ever done. My dad was with me and he was dying on that climb.
i climb 300 feet of stairs up to my garage
Wow, you must be really big and strong!
thatIlluminati _ your reply has more likes than his comment
Hunter Eriksen lol
Hunter Eriksen prescott Arizona???
me too
I'm so glad to live in southern Germany. Mountains/Hills everywhere!
Wow. That is crazy. Never knew Florida was that flat. You guys should try Cali.
This is exactly how my area looks everywhere
Same Contra Costa county
Holy hell Seth, you got some Endurance sir. i would not be able to Pedal that uphill on a single speed.
We have a Sugarloaf Mountain in New Brunswick Canada and it has some single tracks it's mainly more most people in New Brunswick go for some downhill singletrack action
I live about 15 miles from Sugarloaf, and rode up and down it hundreds of times over the course of a 25+ year road racing career. The fastest I've ever gone on a bicycle is down that hill. 56 mph.
Wow, I didn't realize Florida was so flat! How do you do much elevation on a MTB ride? Living in southern California I'll typically do 1000 to 3000 ft on a single ride. Is it even possible to do this kind of elevation on a single ride out there?
I've climbed Sugarloaf many times...even at my peak (pun intended) it was always a challenge. A buddy of mine climbed it one time...he said he was moving so slowly at the top that a butterfly flew through his spokes without being touched...said it was the most disheartening point in recent memory.
Wish I had known you guys were in the area, I am over in Citrus City. I would have come out to meet and ride with you. I will be hitting Santos the next 2 days, hope I see you guys out there. cheers.
The mountain was the friends we made along the way
Seth your BIKENESS is awesome , this is a new word to band around that I've invented! It just sums up all that is good about bikes and the people on them! So with that in mind everyone check out this mans BIKENESS Glitchy Pics !!
Hey I got a question I can't wheelie that well can u make a vid about some tips and tricks to wheelie better
Dev-Destroyer Rules he either has some or check out gmbn
Seth has done this
I climbed a mountain called sugarloaf mountain and it's in Wales and it one of the top 5 mountains in wales
Tekkloop hey brother you from wales
Nice. That looks fun
Keep up the great work Seth!!
This is my favorite channel
Yeah man in PA you have to bike a hill that size to go anywhere. You should see some of the climbs up here, easier 2-3k foot assents. MILES of uphill that steep or greater.
I ride that hill every weekend and I love passing people barely breathing and how they people look at me is funny af
if you guys are ever in New Mexico, Albuquerque has a 9 mine hill. I not sure what the elevation change is but it still a long hill climb.
While Delaware will never be a downhill destination it does have some hilly XC trails in the northern part of the state. Iron HIll just off I-95 has a very similar prominence (220 ft) as Sugarloaf mountain but has actual trails to ride. Other well crafted trails with plenty of rolling hills are nearby. Please accept this as a formal invitation to stop by the First State for a ride on your next trip north.
+RongGearRob that's pretty sweet! I'm glad the builders are making the most of the elevation.
I really hope they build a mountain bike trail in Clermont. It has a large biking community and it seems like there's plenty of land out there. It definitely has potential and the dirt there is consist of clay. Not the usual Florida sand. It would also give us Florida riders some elevation.
Go build it yourself !
Thats like the "little" hill that i have to do before starting to climb the mountain in my town hahahaha 😂😂
I live in Newfoundland. My town (CBS) is one main road following the curve of the bay and roads go down toward the bay or up they go the other way which every every road (Except one) is almost as steep as that with my road being the second steepest (The steepest connects to my road). I delivered papers and it was the best workout you could get. in high school I weighed 165lbs but could squat about 280lbs simply (never tried any higher lol couldve probably done 350) because I biked like 10k uphill everyday!
Riding with one hand while standing is pretty easy.
Btw awesome videos keep em coming