It's a shame that you (or one of your team) had to aggressively scream 'hold your lines' right in my ear at the bottom of Honister. Very obnoxious. There were only a couple riders weaving (not me, I must add). Maybe you could be more sympathetic to how much effort those people were making, rather than probably making them feel pretty bad about it! It's a Sportive, not a race! Or, you could have set off at 6 to be in front of everyone. Even so, impressive effort and a good channel.
This is a fair point (and I was one of the ones weaving on Honister, albeit later on) but I don't really think it's something to feel bad about; 'hold your line' is about all that there's time/breath to shout in these circumstances and it's a pretty common thing to hear on the track, for example. I knew most people would be faster than me, but equally I would have been annoyed if I was forced to walk because of someone not being aware of what was going on around them. If we're all considerate, we all win, and whilst I agree it's not a race there are people for whom a good time on the Fred is a big deal.
Elis Gomer, I'm new to cycling, it was my first Sportive. Maybe I misread the situation. However, it was more the volume and tone which annoyed me. It wasn't a polite request, more of a demand! I was nervous about taking part in the event because I felt like I would have been out of my depth, I was nervous at the start of Honister because I wasn't sure I would make it up without pushing. The shouting at other riders didn't do anything positive for me and I wouldn't have expected it from someone whose job relies on being 'liked'. Absolutely everything else about the event was supportive. It was a superb day out.
Hardest ride I did was The Great Notts Bike Ride. It's not a difficult ride and it was only 56ish miles, however when you're in a full length dress on a 1950's step though iron monster with a three speed sturmey archer and flowers in the basket, it does become somewhat of a nightmare. I would like to point out I did it for charity, it's not my usual weekend attire.
Has to be LBL 2016. 9.5 hours of hard rain and little more than 4 degrees. Standing up to do Cote de Roche with screaming legs meant a spinning back wheel. Then in the last 40 minutes, frozen through and completely sodden the sun came out and I rode the last 20km to the finish in the beautiful sunshine. I sat at the finish line steaming away in the sunshine with Belgium beer waiting for the shivering to stop!
Hi Ollie, congrats on another great Vlog! I am a Portuguese guy living in Switzerland, and the toughest ride I ever done is a GF called The Alpenbrevet Platinum, its 290km with 7000m of climbing all in one day...I have done 2 times and this year am going to do it again...tall about liking to sufer :) Miguel Cordeiro
My hardest ride - probably the Peak District Punisher sportive I rode in 2016. My bike was equipped with a 53-39 chainset and 11-28 on the back. I weighed about 16st at the time and I was reasonably fit, but not prepared for the brutal inclines. I managed to get up the Sir William Hill climb relatively unscathed, though I was definitely grinding, my cadence can't have been higher than 50-60rpm. A few gentle miles later when we hit the business end of Wynatts Pass I was defeated. First time I've resorted to pushing during a sportive, with my head hung in shame. Safe to say it served as brilliant motivation to lose weight (and buy a compact!) and I'm now 3 stone lighter. I will return and defeat the climb that beat me! Great video Ollie - thanks
Hardest event I've ever done was the Mallorca 312! Not only is it a savage event but one of our mates was blowing big time 2/3 of the way through. As true mates do we got him round and finished the full 312, a proper achievement! On the ride back to the hotel he then proceeded to drop us all to make sure he got home for dinner in time, unbelievable!
Hi Ollie, My hardest ride was in the National 24 hour challenge , Michigan USA. I managed 311 miles at age 50+ in the 24 hours, but what made it so hard was the desire to get some sleep. Afterward, waiting im a food line, I overheard the gentleman behind say he would have cracked 360 miles if he had continued one more lap. I was shocked when I turned around and could see he was over 70 years old. Kept my complaints to myself ;-)
By far the Giant Rutland CiCLE tour 2018 sportive took me to some dark places I’ve never been before. Rode it with two mates who were better than me so didn’t want to hold them up. We climbed over 6500 feet with most of that in the second half with climbs over Terrace hill, Harby hill into the wind and some brutal climbs around Launde abbey. My thighs seemed to double in size and it felt like I was always out the saddle leant over the front wheel trying to keep traction. Totally epic ride over 100 miles and a burger to finish. This is what cycling with pals is all about
My hardest ride was "The Climb to Kaiser", a 155 mile ride with 15,000 feet of elevation gain, in Fresno, California. While the distance and the elevation gain was certainly difficult, it was even more hard because I had done my FIRST EVER 100 mile ride only 6 weeks before. I went into the Climb to Kaiser with no idea what was in store for me, but I finished! And now a bunch of my buddies have also done the ride since then because they knew that if I could do it, well so could they.
Definitely the Etape du Tour in Querétaro, Mexico. You may not have heard of it, but it features 2000 mts of elevation gain over a 145 km route in the central mountain pass in Mexico. That by itself is a brute, but it gets even harder when you consider that we began the route at 2° Celsius, and by the 4 hour mark we were already at 30° C. Not a single metre of the route was on flat roads, and a lovely block headwind welcomed you to the "70 kilometres to go" mark, and followed you for the next 20 kms. There were several vultures literally circling around us, and you could see people cracking everywhere. It was TRULY an EPIC ride. Thanks for the vlogs, I love them!
I did the Fred this year too for the first time, and was by far the most demanding ride I’ve ever done. But the marshals and support, weather and amazing scenery made it too enjoyable to be called brutal, what an amazing day. So the most brutal was a downhill ride from the hills to the west coast of wales into a massive headwind, toughest 10miles ever 😖
London to brighton 2017. Only 5r miles but at the time my longest ride had been 45 miles and it was the hottest day of the year on 18 June. I had to start aiming for shade to keep going and avoid overheating. It reinforces how much care you need to take with cold and hot weather- respect nature, it can catch up with you and must not be underestimated!
The Rob Roy challenge. Never has someone so violently under prepared for an event as i did that day. 14 mile hike into a 55 mile ride in the scottish highlands. I made it around after 11 and half hours and some unfinished business with the return over the Schillalion mountain. This year i go back to tackle the mountain again and finish without the walk of shame!
As always loving the vlog - have ridden a few times in the Lakes - amazing place. Hardest ride ever was this year in the Alps - went back after having been there 2 years ago and loved it - and let's be honest we were all probably a little bit complacent. Had planned Alpe D'Huez as the big finale for the week. Our soon to be ex-route planner suggested Col De Sarenne from Bourg as a warm-up 'steady at about 7% with a bit of kick at the end' was how it was described.Half-way up this wall of a climb he announced that at the top we would drop DOWN into Alpe D'Huez and the last 3K were 8, 9 and 7% respectively. There followed a great deal of swearing - a great deal of cramp (mine bruising so badly the following day I was out of action for the rest of the week), and the hunt for a new route planner following his untimely death. Some rides hard seem easier with time - others necessitate a of lot of counselling just to get you back on the bike - funnily enough not going to the Alps this year and we've confiscated his maps.
Fascinating analysis. But these events are not really about the tyres; they are all about doing the event on whatever you can afford -- and taking the time to help people when they're stuck.
LBL 2018. I did all my training on the rollers except for 3 rides outdoors before the event. I didn't exceed 150 km. I signed up for the 274km. At 183km I was suffering from back and knee pain. I was on my own and I had to shout at myself to keep going. This was just after the voices in my head were telling me to give up which was just before I was nearly crying with the pain. To be honest, shouting and giving out to myself was the best medicine I got. The last 90km after that was a doddle :-)
Have to agree with a lot of other people and say the Fred Whitton Challenge. When I did it a few years back it wasn't just the distance and the brutal gradients, but added to that in true Lake District style there were all four seasons in one day. After a chilly start, followed blazing sun, then on the descent of Hardknot came the rain. By the time I got to Wrynose everyone was struggling for traction, especially on the final kick towards the top. Two guys in front of me weaving across the road to try and keep going collided and by the time I'd helped them pick themselves up I couldn't get going again, even with a 32t cassette. I ended up walking the last bit (wasn't much slower than riding it!). By the time I got to the top of Wrynose the temperature had plummeted and the rain had turned to sleet. My gilet was no defence and I could hardly feel my hands, which made the descent of Wrynose a continuous chain of moments when I nearly soiled my shorts. By the time a got back to Grasmere I was blue from the cold, but I'd made it.
Fun fact: I've run a Dura Ace rear mech with a 32t cassette for months now and it works like a charm. If you're really worried about the capacity you can easily take the long cage from an Ultegra mech and mount it to the Dura Ace one. Just a small weight penalty compared to the smaller/lighter Dura Ace cage
For sure my everesting ride last year on winter hill in Lancashire. Lived up to its name and doing it late on in the year didn’t really help. Started at 6am and didn’t get much easier when it went dark at around 7pm and the thick fog rolled in. Couldn’t see 10m in front, pitch black on my own in the middle of no where, the cattle grids didn’t help. Finished around 1am but all in all loved it regardless and hoping to do another later in the year !
We were on a road cycling holiday in the Pyrenees a few years ago with a friend who lives there and he suggested hiring mountain bikes for two days to do a bit of a backpacking adventure across the France/Spain border. We picked up the bikes and started the ride with a 'warm up' on Col de la Cor. This was when we realised it was going to be a proper ride. We then spent the next twelve hours riding (I'm sure we spent most of the time carrying our bikes) down scree slopes and up stupidly steep hillsides. When we were finally on the valley floor with about five km to go it started raining, we all looked at each other and decided it was going to be an every man for himself race to the hostel. That was day one. The next day we put on the same pair of shorts (with some chamois cream from a freezer bag) and got on our bikes, which was when we realised that hire bike saddles are probably as comfortable as a brick. We set off and eventually got to the top of the mountains on the border, realising that we were completely lost. One of our mates went and looked over the edge of a boulder field, turned around with fear in his eyes, and just said no. He will literally do anything, so we knew it was bad. It turned out to be a sheer drop off the side of the mountain. We considered going back the way we came at one point, but realised we didn't have our passports, so border control would probably go badly. Then in some sort or miracle, one of our gamins turned on for literally twenty seconds, which meant that we could see where we were, so we found our way back across the border and down the mountain. As we descended, we met a guy in first place on a xc running race across the whole of the Pyrenees, which was when we realised that we were whimps. We then descended the most bumpy mining track I have ever been on for about an hour, where at the bottom we decided that it was the worst decent we had ever done. My dad then proceeded to get to the bottom and say "that is the best decent I have ever done". Couldn't make it up. 140 km, 5100 m climbing, definitely the hardest riding I've ever done but would go and do it again tomorrow.
As a club charity fundraiser for Maggies Cancer Centres 8 of us (6 finished) rode a ~350km coast to coast ride from Newcastle to Liverpool via all the Centres en route. Generally hard as a simple endurance event but add in a day at uni and then starting the ride at 23:00 meant a wonderfully accumulated 40 hours no sleep and riding across the country. It also pissed it down over the peaks, because England.
The hardest event that I've done, was the 2016 Scott MTB Marathon on Exmoor. I was persuaded to enter by a friend. I did this with very little preparation, on my first Fat bike a Voodoo Wazoo, not a light bike. 65k 3000+ metres of elevation on a very hot day.
For me the hardest ride was on a bike packing tour. On Corsica, I went through the centre of the island and the ride in question was only 90 km with a little over 2000 altitude meters (with 18kg extra weight of my tent, etc.). What made it hard was the temperature, which was near 40 degrees. Hiding in the shade would have been nice, but there wasn't any. On the last climb, when the heat was most intense, I was surrounded by white (reflecting) cliffs and every gap was taken up by large cows. That evening was very nice however, as I slept on one of the highest points of the island, that can be reached by bike.
Le Classique 2017. Up at 3am to board a ferry at 7:30. Was due to rain all day so everyone had planned for the worst... It was 20 degrees all day, glorious sunshine! Fantastic 15mph tailwind all the way from Calais, 30 miles covered in an hour and change.... Needless to say, it was a 20mph headwind all the way back to Calais in 20 degree sunshine! It was an interesting day on the bike!
Hardest I've ever done is La Marmotte. last year, prepared and ready for a glorious sunny alpine ride in July, it was freezing, and like riding in an ice cloud. Did a little cry at the top of the Galibier when my legs realised I had 50km still to go and 13 of those were up Alp D'huez. Its a beast of a ride, missed the 7 hour dream time by a few minutes, which means i have to do it again now!
The hardest sportive I have done was 3 weeks ago, I had injured my back 9 months ago and it took alot longer to recover that I first thought and didn't want to miss the event. After blowing up to 17 stone and having next to no fittness this turned out to be the hardest day out on the bike I have had, but was determined to finish in a very slow but rewarding time. Sometimes it's all in the mind.
Hardest even I’ve ever done is Les Cingles which is Mont Ventoux 3 ways. I suffered a knee injury 2 months before the event which meant I couldn’t train until a couple of weeks before, I used a very heavy old bike and to add insult to injury the temperature was 38’C on the day! I ran out of water halfway up the 2nd climb and used limited French to borrow some from a fellow cyclist. I had raised a few quid for Charity though so there was no way I was going to quit. 8 hours, several buckets of sweat and 2 severely cramped legs later and it was done. It was the hardest but most definitely the best ride I’ve ever done.
A couple of years ago I decided to tackle Wrynose and Hardknott on my way to meeting some friends in Ravenglass.... A nice warm up before riding hadrians cycleway I thought! Oh and I completely underestimated it on my 10kg boardman with 11/28 it hurt A LOT 😁 🚲
Hardest single day ride for me is a summer solstice ride. Me and my mate started our new tradition of dedicating the summer solstice day to do an all day ride (booked day off work etc). 145 miles last year, hoping for double century this time round!
After watching a certain CW presenter's video about riding in Nice I decided to rent a bike and climb Col De La Madone whilst me and my girlfriend had a short break there. The bike was a beautiful Victoire but no lightweight and a little small for me. The same presenter :) had also recommended a boulangerie which just happened to be across the road from our apartment. Made the climb but used every gear and sweat lots.....Next time definitely less pastries!!!
On Sunday I completed the American Zofingen Duathlon. Over 800m of climbing in 44km. The runs had over 200m of climbing in 7km. Just under 4 hours of racing. Bloody tough, bloody great and cold beers at the finish.
Solid stuff there as usual, Ollie! toughest ride for me was actually a commute. I used to work in Bristol years ago but lived in a little Somerset village named Shepton Montague. Riding home from work one night in the dead of winter I wiped out on an icy corner about 15 miles out from home. Nailed my shoulder but got on with it - not the wisest choice. Live in Florida now, think I just remembered why!
The Etape Caledonia 2010 was the toughest thing I have ever done. My first long ride in a mass of cyclists having done some training but not enough due to time spent caring for a terminally ill relative. The sensible thing to have done would have been to pull out, do something easier as first sportive, but I was being sponsored for cancer charities, it could not be that bad....It was tough. 7 hours to do 85 miles. Three stops for food and drink. The crowds on the route cheered me on. 800 quid in sponsorship. A renewed determination to get fitter so I could enjoy more sportive. It turned out to be a special day.
Fun vlog as usual, Ollie. Hardest ride was up Haleakala on Maui. 3048 metres of climbing over 57 km. Virtually no respite, just grind grind grind and hate yourself. After the obligatory cold rain shower midway up, I was treated to headwinds that required out of the saddle max strength efforts to maintain forward progress. WHAT FUN! You really oughtta treat yourself to this delicacy, on video of course.
SO.... Stage 2 of the 2014 TDF York to Sheffield... did it with a few mates... caught the train up to York... got going, bout 30 mins in it started raining heavy!!! It didn't stop until the following day!! Brutal day!!!
Hardest ride in recent memory - a day in the Peak District last October with some good friends. day 3 of a 4 day trip so we were all fairly knackered from all the climbing. 30-40mph winds and pissing rain most of our stay. Spent half an hour climbing the Cat and Fiddle out of Macclesfield in torrential rain with articulated lorries buzzing past. The only thing that kept me going was the thought of a pint in the pub at the top. 25 minutes of climbing later we break through the mist and see the pub........is shut in October. Heartbreak.
Hardest event was my first ever group ride. Having never ridden more than 40km on flat bike paths, I bought myself a fancy carbon cyclocross bike to try to get into cycling a bit more and promptly got dragged on a 90 km, 1780m climb up the local mountain. Bonked on the way up, ran out of food/drink, cramped on the way down, had a sore bum (new saddle), and ended up sunburned. Then napped for 3h when I got home. Learned more on that ride than anything since and have never suffered more either.
The hardest ride I’ve ever done was a day two of an Alps trip, after 2 HC Cols the evening before straight off the plane and very little sleep, we set off for 100km then the Col du Telegraph followed by Col du Galibier. A normal holiday for most cyclists however I was still carrying a full season’s worth of front row rugby and beer weight - 94kg at 5’8”. My quads were absolutely shredded after grinding up the Galibier with inadequate gearing and cadence under 20 rpm the entire effort. Absolute euphoria after reaching the summit and then again when eating a pizza and two deserts washed down with ten ‘mineral waters’ in the evening after.
Most difficult ride... back in the day (1988) when I’d just joined the CTC - went out for my first Sunday ride with them.... Across the Pennines and up to Lancaster, didn’t know about nutrition (no gels or anything in those days) so bonked HARD after 70 miles and spent the last 40 miles desperately trying to hang onto my soon to be girlfriend’s wheel as we rode back across the Pennines to Yorkshire. The agony was only matched by my embarrassment! I hasten to add that I got better quickly and after 3 weeks was keeping up fine :-)
The hardest event that I have done so far was really a ride with friends on a large loop. On a 95 trek mountain trek converted to single speed. With weight loss in mind.
I weigh in at 270 lbs and over 60 years old I did a 28 mile gravel ride with 100 degree plus heat index it took me 7 hours of leaning over my bike, walking 50 to 100 feet and repeat for most of the ride. A month later I had a similar experience at another event. I don't ride events during July and August in Texas anymore
My hardest ride was in New Zealand. I'm from the UK and cycled the Motu Old Road that goes from Opotiki to Gisborne. Part of a trip in 2016. 10000ft of climbing on a gravel road on a mongrel of a bike that I built myself and with a hangover that lasted 3 days! Brutal.
Hardest event was a 100 mile TT. I had a 30 mile drive to be at the hq for around 5am for my start time of just after 6 if I recall correctly. It was my first ever 100 miles and hurt immensely. My knee started seizing up, the rain was on and off and the wind gusty. To top it off the route was a loop of a circuit 3. 5 times. It was relentless but the satisfaction of completing a 100 miles solo going all out was amazing... I've never done one since!
It was my first centruy, in the Yorkshire Dales on a sportive. The weather closed in; pouring rain turned to hail, headwinds howling in our faces as we were grinding up Fleak Moss. What was meant to be an early autumn sportive turning in to a battle with the elements and braving close to freezing temperatures, 30 percent gradients a head winds (not to mention the 90kg body weight).
Just rode the Trafalgar Way this weekend gone. Falmouth to London 312.5 miles 22,496 ft of climbing. From Truro to Exeter it just hammered down with rain and the wind was blowing in my grid the whole way. At one point on Bodmin moor I was 1.5 miles away from my parents house when the thought crossed my mind "Just go and get a cup of tea" but I allowed the wind and rain to keep on slapping me in the face.
Ollie, very nice setup! My hardest ride to date has been the King of the Downs sportive I did in June 2017. It was my first ever Sportive, first ever 100 mile ride (115m / 184km / 9100ft Climbing) and by far the most climbing I've ever done. It was a long day in the saddle, took me just over 7 and half hours. Looking forward to doing the London Ditchling Devil (205km) at the start of June. Wish me luck!
My hardest event was the ride London last year. I am not one for hill and this was most definitely the longest and hillest event I have done. Loved every minute of the pain so much so I'm doing it again this year
Maybe a bit of a busy question, but super keen to understand how you fulled for an event like this, and the difference ( if any) between the fuel ( pre, during,post) for this event and a road race or time trail effort! 👍🏼 thanks Ollie
Mont ventoux this last summer on a touring bike, was savage as it came 4 days into a 2 week tour of the alps with big climbs everyday, 20kg of kit on the bike, 30’C temps and lucky sods on lightweight race bikes pinging past
My toughest ride was the Mallorca 312 at the end of April 18! All 312km and 17000 feet was completed with about 15 minutes to spare. I had 3 incidents all before 80km. The final incident was the worst! Another cyclist cut me up at speed, my FFWD R4 front wheel contacted somewhere on his bike sending me out of control across the road. I managed to stay on the bike and safely brought it to a stop for a damage check. One snapped spoke and severe buckle! The mechanics were unable to assist and there were no spare wheels! I decided to carry on with fear on all the descents just waiting for disaster to strike! I have only been cycling for two years and was determined to complete come what may!
The hardest ride I’ve ever done was coast to coast in France from Le Touquet to Marseille in 6 days. Day 4 was the hardest for the simple reason of eating to fuel for the ride. At this point gels were sickly, energy bars were just not cutting it and it was becoming difficult to eat anything. We ended up stopping in a little French village, sitting on the pavement outside a Carrefour metro eating croissants with cheese and ham. Plus devouring ready salted crisps as a craving for salt kicked in. The other lasting memory was how tender the backside got spending 6 days a countless hundreds of Km’s sat on a saddle 😕
My hardest ride was last year on the Dunwich dynamo, then back to Milton Keynes on my steel fondriest. 260+ miles in total with no sleep. Legs were ok (ish) but my shoulders and feet were on fire for the last 100 miles. Not one drop of rain though! 👍🏻
I've been running 11-32 on my Ultegra 6800 short cage mech without any issues. As long as you adjust the B screw to give it enough room on the 32 it should be fine. The optimum chain length (going from 28 to 32) was a couple of links longer though so beware of the tension and don't cross-chain (big ring, small cog or vice versa) if you're using the same chain.
Doing Lands End to John O'Groats a few years back. We (foolishly) sent our winter gear 90 miles up the road to pick it up later because it had been extremely hot and sunny for 3 days, and guess what, over night it snowed heavily. This left us with 90 miles to do in nothing but bib shorts and long sleeve jerseys. it was very tough, and cold day.
For me my hardest ride was a little "gravel" loop in February near my house which was only about 10 miles long, but everything (and I mean everything) went wrong. It wasn't much of a physical challenge, but it was just such a nightmare that I very nearly packed it all in and sacked off cycling. Firstly it turns out that the soil round me when it's dry looks exactly the same as a proper gravel track, so google maps lied about the bridleway. Then it was icy as all hell, and muddy, which went about as well as you'd expect. Then I took a wrong turn as the byway sign was ambiguous in it's direction, and had to drag my bike around/over a felled tree, skirt around a sheep field and get back onto the path, where I passed some "stick to the path, trespassers will be shot" signs (no joke!). I then got stuck at a point where the signs pointed at each other (so completely useless), got a puncture, wheeled the damn bike to the nearest village (had to climb through a ditch to get there), propped it on a bench and tried to fix the puncture. It took me 10 minutes to get enough mud off that I could actually see what I was doing, by which time it had started sleeting, so my hands were completely frozen. Got the puncture fixed, set off back home (on the road this time, but into a sleety headwind) decided to take the slightly longer road way back as the rest of the ride was a complete mess. Rode past the short turn for home, got to probably the point where it would be most awkward to have a puncture. Got a puncture. Had no spare tubes having used my spare before, ended up trudging a mile home, with the bike, still in the sleety rain. Then got home to find out the dye in my new overshoes had run & stained my new shoes slightly pink. Had a shower then spent the rest of the day wrapped in all the blankets as it took best of a day to properly warm up again. "F@ck that" just doesn't quite do it justice.
200 8 was the first year I visited a mountainous area with a friend: the French Vosges. We were smart enough to ask the local hostel owner, who also was a avid cyclist himself, for advice. He recommended that when not well trained, our first day we should make a big ride, and so we went off with a piece of paper supposedly sending us over 90 km of hilly terrain. The first 500 meters of the first climb felt good, after that sitting on my steel Koga Miyata with downtube shifters became less pleasant as we lost the route, and perhaps the legs, only to cover a gruelling 140 km. Enough to be the last trip of the cycling holiday, and make my legs hurt for over a week.
My hardest ride: Over the summer (January, here in Australia) me and 4 friends did an overnighter on our gravel bikes, carrying our stuff in frame bags for a night in a hotel before the ride back the next day. 150k / 2600m elevation / about 25% rough gravel roads. It wasn't the distance or climbing that did me, it was the heat - 38c degrees. I drank loads of water, almost collapsed from heat stroke, 2 friends (A/B Grade racers) cracked 10k from the destination and got their wives to drive and pick them up, and then after a night sleeping at a pub, had to ride back the next day. I lost 3kgs in 48 hours.
Did a 300km ride with my teammates to say goodbye when I finished university and had to leave the region around Greifswald /Germany back in 2016. It was supposed to be a 250km ride, but when we came back I decided to do another 50 km. Also had a puncture in the rain with 5 to go. Next day I switched apartement. So it was a hard time to carry all my stuff downstairs 😁
The hardest thing for me was riding up the struggle in the Lakes on my 10 Speed bike with an 11-25 cassette, and not having much training as I’d just become a dad! Still loved the feeling of accomplishment, despite swearing pretty much the whole way up! The view was worth the pain.
The IOW Randonee this May bank holiday, it was far to hot and under prepared. A circle route around the Isle of Wight with lots of varying terrain, short sharp climbs, longs climbs, great views, some lovely country lanes. This was my 5th time doing it but started to cramp with 20 miles left to go, still managed to finish despite this and some lovely bank holiday weather. Booked in to do the South Downs Way in July... 100miles, 4000m of climbing and all off road! Should be a good 10-12 hours on the bike.
Cradle mountain peaks challenge ride in Tasmania. 240k with 4000m of climbing, first 80k in the rain! It was my first ever ride over 200k - it was awesome to see that number tick over.
Hardest climb was my first ever sportive that rode up Whitedown Lane in the North downs, Surrey. Lack of fitness, bad fueling and hydration with cramp in both legs, i eventually got up and over in 16.18mins. 3 years and lots of cycling later, my PB is 4.19min. Going for sub 4 this summer!
The dirty dozen in Pittsburgh is the toughest ride I've ever done. 13 of the steepest roads around the city. With the devil that is Canton Ave being 37% and cobbles. It may not be the longest event in the world but those gradients certainly add up after a while.
Toughest ride was my first ever road ride over 40km. I had not long moved from UK to Sydney. The ride was Sydny to Canberra. 330km in mid summer. My only bike was my Halfords special Saracen mountain bike with commuter tyres. Had to borrow a jersey. Took a camelback. Must have drunk at least 15 litres of water in well over 35'c temperature. Took 14 hours. On the highway. Became very familiar with the stench of dead kangaroos festering in the sun !!!. Bike was nicked the following week. Bought a road bike and never looked back.
Did the TDY Ride a couple of weeks ago! That was nails! Ended up mashing my way around Yorkshire with Mr Simon Warren! 127km and 2300m of climbing at 30km/h. Took us about 4h and 10minutes! We got a KOM as well! Madness!
Leadville 100. It is a mountain bike race that is in Leadville Colorado. It starts at 10,000ft and peaks at 12,500ft. The total climbing is approx 11,000ft. I was rolling for an approx 12hr finish. Weather was beautiful, i was gassed but still moving. At mile 90 a storm rolled in, rain/hail and a temp drop from 70 to 50deg turned me freezing. Sadly myself and the 5 others caught in the small squall had to bail due to freezing. Lesson learned and i plan to finish the event next August.
Hardest ride for me? Fred Whitton 2018. What an event, though. Beautiful scenery, lovely weather, excellent and charming support (from riders and spectators) and hard, hard, hard.
Hi mate Hardest ride I've ever done was my first Ride London. I hadn't trained enough by a long shot. Half way round had the worst cramp ever which made me scream. No option but to suck it up and carry on hard lesson. completed it twice since then with no problems.
To be honest, I did the Amys ride which is mostly a flat ride with 1 big hill and only 100K's and just hit a wall because at the beginning of the race i hooked onto a nice 42 k/ph peloton and didn't eat anything and just burnt out at around the 70k mark and crawled to the end. But I did finish the race!
Hardest ride I done - recent ride in the Yorkshire Dales. Not a long ride, approx. 60miles but it had everything - sun, rain, wind, all the well know climbs around the dales (Buttertubs, Park Rash, Grinton Moore, Tan Hill etc) and a snapped rear mech hanger in the middle of nowhere with no phone signal. Somehow managed to convert to a single speed and find some old rope from a farm gate to secure rear mech to the frame. Was about 25miles from where I was staying, no food or drink left but managed to guide it home. Longest and most testing ride I've done. The views made up for it tho!
The ultegra 8000 gs mech will handle a 34 cassette. I put a set of Pirelli p zero tires in a 25. They run a bit large and I use a Continental race light tube. I’ve had these on for 3 weeks and a little over 600 miles with no flats and only a couple of very small superficial cuts. I’m very impressed with their durability for such a light tire. They’re very supple and fast!
Hardest ride i've done is called the 12 days of xmas. It is a ride my college friends and I do, normally in december to celebrate the end of the semester and winter break. The ride includes the 12 steepest hills around our college, most peak above 20%, the ride can range from 70-100 miles depending on where we start. The hardest time we did it, was in july "because xmas in july is a thing right?"-quote from the friend who planned this. This day it got very hot and there aren't many places to refill water, get more food, etc.. around. By the 9th hill most of us were struggling due to the heat. It got to the point were our best climber was getting passed by our sprinter up the hill.
Hardest cycle was last weekend. Bealach Beag, going up the Bealach Na Ba, the longest road ascent in the UK. Then this weekend is the Peaks Tour sportive. This has got to be put in perspective that I'm 49, 95kg and pretty new to cycling. It's all relative, for me this was/is an immense challenge!!
Last year i did my first Century ride it was 28th Annual NYC Century Ride, and it was brutal!!! I was fairly new to cycling, I started biking last May :) but, I figured if i'm biking to work 24 miles a day, I can do a century... all nature forces were against me! I had a crush that landed me in emergency clinic 3 weeks before the century ride, I was in bandages and limping for over a week... i was off my bike for almost two weeks, got back on it a week before the century, i was going back and forth in my mind if to ride or not... I did go on to ride the century... on my 45th mile I had another crush... another cyclist didn't break in time before a sharp turn and slammed into me from the left, grabbing my handlebars on the left side and dragging me with him, i landed on his bike breaking his frame in 4 places, that was my first breaking point where I was about to quit... but, i took 10 min to shake off and get back on my bike... on my 75th mile was my next breaking point, my body were giving up, my legs were hurting, i was starving, my brain was basically telling me to stop and call a cab... but, again, i took 15 min to rest, drink some water have my protein bar, got back on my bike and completed the century!
Hardest ride... I did London to Southend charity ride, but to make it more fun I rode from home to Southend, then to London to start the London to Southend, and home again. I chose to ride a Brompton 2 speed wearing a suit jacket and tie, and about 10 miles in I broke the rear tensioner so had a hanging chain and 1 speed all day! It was hard... 100 miles... and I was numb downstairs for a week ✌️
tour de fjords, Fondo 2013. pissing rain for 5 hours and 32mins in the poring rain in Vest of Norway., first rode nike race after only cycling for 2 weeks. and it got me hooked. last year my time for the same race was. 3 hours and 50 mins.
Toughest event I’ve done was the Stelvio Santini 2017. Lack of training leading upto it due to suffering from depression and also the first event I’ve taken part in where altitude played a part. Had to have a good few rest stops on the accent of the Stelvio but took pride that I cycled every foot of the climb itself and didn’t walk any of it. A rest day afterwards and an assent of the Gavia a few days sealed a perfect but tough week in Italy.
I did the Fred a couple of years ago and was happy to pass 'the test' by staying on the bike on Hardknott. But the most brutal was the 160km Fizik Marostika Granfondo, held in unpredictable April weather in the Dolomites. Although 15C in the valleys, it was sub-zero and hammering with rain on top of the final mountain. The final 30km was all downhill and as close as I have come to hypothermia, trying to brake with numb stumps. Shaking like a sh*tting dog at the finish.
Tour of the Peak Ollie it’s brutal. Basically it hits every big climb in the Peak District. 115miles and about 12,000 ft of climbing. It’s a long day and the weather was scorching when I did it last year. Many people said afterwards that it’s on a par with the FW.
most short cage casettes should be able to run 11-32 despite being out of spec, it is just a matter of tightening B-limit screw all the way in and if that is not enough you can reverse the bolt or use longer bolt
My hardest ride ever was as a 16 year old me and a friend racked up and rode from Cambridge to Edinburgh in 4 day averaging 90 odd miles a day. We were totally unprepared with my longest ride ever being 50 miles before we set out and it rained all day every day we only had cheap kit and just ended up wearing bin bags to keep warm. And it was totally miserable but we raised a bunch for charity and was the start of my total obsession with cycling.
My hardest ride was about 30 years ago. Riding my brothers old Sears and Roebuck 5 speed. We called it a 10 speed back then:) Out of the blue I decided to ride to the neighboring town 30 miles away. All rolling hills. 2 hours later I got to my friends and he laughed at me as half my body was sun burned. I went out to the club that night like that but not to worry. I my ride back I burned the other side so I was evened out.
Hardest bike ride (and favourite) I've done was South Downs Way, CX Century - (Winchester to Beachy Head), 161kms, 3300ms of climbing... Absolutely brutal because I was on a cyclocross bike - my arms and hands were numb from the vibrations of riding single track with no suspension. On top of that I still have the sunburn tan lines 10 months later... Still my best achievement and really enjoyed it.
My toughest wasn’t that long. I’d only got back to riding for a couple of months and my son (Jacob, who was 20 at the time) similar. We entered a Sportive in Cheltenham, only 60 miles with 2 real climbs, but we’d never ridden more than 20 miles before. We set off with a guy who’d ridden for a while and he dropped us after 5 miles. It then started to rain and it rained for the remaining 55 miles. My son dropped me at the 2nd climb and I then ended up riding solo for the final 15 miles, trying to get my average speed up to qualify for the ‘gold’ time. I can’t remember what it was, but i think less than 17mph and I failed... I arrived back at Cheltenham race course, handed in my tag and then got back to my car, cold, wet and as it was our first sportive...no towel or food. We were both soaked through and then drove the 30 minutes home. When we got home my wife asked ‘had fun?’....
The Tour de Manc was pretty hot and hilly the other Sunday, and made slightly harder by having cycled from Glasgow to Manchester via Kendal on the Friday and Sat.
Has to be the Fred Whitton from 3 days ago - The climbs, roads and 11-28 Mid Compact were partly to blame. Seeing Ollie in Grasmere and thinking i could shed a few kilo's didn't help either... Best event in the UK and amazing support from the marshals and people around the course!
Haha, fellow fan of Dr.Buckles I see! Hardest ride? Hmm, either the 170km from my house into the mountains I did the other week or the first (and only other) 160km ride I did a few years back. Both times, it got very dark (figuratively) when it got very dark (literally). That first ride was pure exploration - was clawing my way home along a riverside in a block headwind - it was getting very cold, I was knackered and my lights were entirely insufficient for the road I was on. I finally get to civilization and cower in a convenience store hugging a coffee. The last ride was a lot more planned - first bikepacking trip! I'm a lot fitter (and better equipped - still no gps though) now than I was then but as I neared my destination, the sun went in. Like a fool, I had only managed to get an hour's sleep before setting off on this adventure. I "only" had 30km left to go - 'just like my commute' i thought to myself. Apart from, my commute is flat and I had to chop between beach resort and mountain pass about 5 times. It was the longest 30k of my life. My destination disappeared from the road signs and i had to stop and call a mate to make sure i hadn't passed the bloody place! The final kick in the nuts though was the hill to where i was to be camping, or rather, the wall. wrenching through 34/32 stood up, i had to stop every 30 secs and hold onto the fence - i couldn't even sit on the front brake because the front wheel simply had no traction. I pitched my tent like a good boy and the next day, i went back over those hills in the blink of a friggin' eye. Hey, good luck on your ride though, it looks pretty fuggin' beasty!! edit: from the looks of the comments, looks like you did just fine on that ride!
Hardest ride for me was my first time riding actual climbs. I live in the Chicago are and there are no real climbs to speak of (just rolling hills in river valleys), so I decided to visit my friend in West Virginia to ride in the Appalachian Mountains for a week long vacation to see what climbing is about. The first day we rode 30 miles with 2500 feet of elevation gain. I averaged 185 bpm for 10 minutes on the last climb of the day (avg gradient of 4.7%; steepest pitch was 13%) and nearly bonked in the 95°F heat (35°C). Then we went to a local German style restaurant and had fried pickles that were to die for. I still dream about them. It was so worth it. And I'm a better rider for it.
The hardest ride was one of my first rides with the university cycling club. We headed out into the peak district on a cold, rainy, windy winter's day, despite better advice. Soon we were in the midst of a deep fog that had settled over the whole of the national park, unable to see more than 10 metres in front of us. Having no GPS computer with me, I was forced to keep on the wheel of those in front of me (who were far fitter then me), as I otherwise had no way of finding my way back, destroying myself up climbs (Scapegoat is now etched into my head as a memory full of pain and suffering) and having to take proper risks on the descents. Over the next 3hrs, we continued to cycle into a full-on headwind (afterward I found out the winds were going at 35km/hr!), with all of us gradually getting colder and on the verge of hypothermia. I soon ran out of food, and I soon began to feel the tell-tale signs of hitting the wall. We couldn't just turn back, as the way back was almost as long as the way in front of us, so 80k later, we all slowly grinded our way into Oldham. By this point, we had all decided there was no way we could make the full ride back, and so we tried, in vain, to get one of the trams going to Manchester, only to be told we couldn't use them. Finally, in utter defeat, we made our way on, until someone in the group realised we could just take a cab back. To this day, this ride is how I compare all my subsequent rides to, to the annoyance of my fellow club riders who have had the story of "that ride into the peaks" been told to them over and over again. And yes, I still ride my bike. No ride, not even this one, could stop me loving being outside, in the freedom of the countryside, on the country lanes, with my bike.
On my first year of cycling(in 2011 or 2012), I went with a friend to ride a few of the "Liege Bastogne Liege climbs", we had around 86km, 2000m of elevation, at a not really good average speed of 23-24km/h, with 7-8°C and rain all ride long...
Small correction the R8000 GS derailleur is a medium cage. I've bodged it a bit furture by running a 34/52 combo at the front. Hardest climb must have been the Agua negra pass (4700mtrs) two days straight up from sea level, totally epic decent on the Argentinain side. I rode well into the night that day, just couldn't stop. I hope you guys can do a feature there some day.
Hardest ride has to be Trois Ballons. 210 kms with a "flat" approach of 45 km to the first climbs. Going off at 40/45 km/h had me cooked when the proper climbing started. Epic sufferfest, especially up the finishing climb of planche des belles filles with a 20+% ramp to the finish!
Hardest ride.... would have to be a Friday commute home when I decided that it would be a great idea to go and try a lane that I'd not been along before. Turns out it was a bloomin steep climb with a couple of ramps of just over 30%! Got to the top and swore I'd never do it again... at least not on the commuter with rack and guard fitted!! 😆😂😂 Planning my next ascent and quite looking forward to it!!
Doing my first 100 35years ago. 52/42 and 13/21 (5gear) with a 9km/1000hm climb in the last 15. Luckily riding with running shoes! Love my new C'dale Synapse, gain some weight but also gears!
I cannot comprehend what doing these events on old-school gearing must have been like. I had a 52/34 and a 32 bailout gear (that got a LOT of use) on the Fred and I still couldn't hack Hardknott. Respect.
212km 'Tour de Burrito' with 3500m elevation. Not only were the climbs challenging, with some horrendously steep pitches in the last 50k, but keeping the 4 large burrito's down was the real kicker!
Chris Hoy 100m 2017.... ate something at the first stop 25-30 miles in which didn’t agree with me. Spent rest of the ride with terrible stomach cramps...to top it off I missed a turn which added 8 miles to the ride. That medals was sweet!!
Hardest ride for me was in 2016, 300km in one day. As we arrived at the start in Dorking, the heavens opened and we cycled up the A24 cycle path which was totally flooded, so wet feet 😓 for the remainder of the day. Around 250km in, had double whammy of Achilles tendon pain and block headwinds 😥. My Garmin crashed with 5km to go, losing the ride 🤬 - it was very nearly thrown in a hedge!
Clare classic just a few weeks back where my Wahoo showed 38 to 39 degrees for a substantial amount of time. I really struggled keeping my temperature down and other people had to get picked up by an ambulance from heat exhaustion, cramping and throwing up!
Tune in next Tuesday for our video from Fred Whitton challenge. Honestly, you will be blown away by Ollie's accomplishment.
Not too fast now.
That was excellent Ollie. How would you bodge a DA rear mech to work with 32-tooth cassette?
It's a shame that you (or one of your team) had to aggressively scream 'hold your lines' right in my ear at the bottom of Honister. Very obnoxious. There were only a couple riders weaving (not me, I must add). Maybe you could be more sympathetic to how much effort those people were making, rather than probably making them feel pretty bad about it! It's a Sportive, not a race! Or, you could have set off at 6 to be in front of everyone. Even so, impressive effort and a good channel.
This is a fair point (and I was one of the ones weaving on Honister, albeit later on) but I don't really think it's something to feel bad about; 'hold your line' is about all that there's time/breath to shout in these circumstances and it's a pretty common thing to hear on the track, for example. I knew most people would be faster than me, but equally I would have been annoyed if I was forced to walk because of someone not being aware of what was going on around them. If we're all considerate, we all win, and whilst I agree it's not a race there are people for whom a good time on the Fred is a big deal.
Elis Gomer, I'm new to cycling, it was my first Sportive. Maybe I misread the situation. However, it was more the volume and tone which annoyed me. It wasn't a polite request, more of a demand! I was nervous about taking part in the event because I felt like I would have been out of my depth, I was nervous at the start of Honister because I wasn't sure I would make it up without pushing. The shouting at other riders didn't do anything positive for me and I wouldn't have expected it from someone whose job relies on being 'liked'. Absolutely everything else about the event was supportive. It was a superb day out.
Hardest ride I did was The Great Notts Bike Ride. It's not a difficult ride and it was only 56ish miles, however when you're in a full length dress on a 1950's step though iron monster with a three speed sturmey archer and flowers in the basket, it does become somewhat of a nightmare. I would like to point out I did it for charity, it's not my usual weekend attire.
I believe you....lol
Has to be LBL 2016. 9.5 hours of hard rain and little more than 4 degrees. Standing up to do Cote de Roche with screaming legs meant a spinning back wheel. Then in the last 40 minutes, frozen through and completely sodden the sun came out and I rode the last 20km to the finish in the beautiful sunshine. I sat at the finish line steaming away in the sunshine with Belgium beer waiting for the shivering to stop!
Hi Ollie, congrats on another great Vlog! I am a Portuguese guy living in Switzerland, and the toughest ride I ever done is a GF called The Alpenbrevet Platinum, its 290km with 7000m of climbing all in one day...I have done 2 times and this year am going to do it again...tall about liking to sufer :) Miguel Cordeiro
My hardest ride - probably the Peak District Punisher sportive I rode in 2016. My bike was equipped with a 53-39 chainset and 11-28 on the back. I weighed about 16st at the time and I was reasonably fit, but not prepared for the brutal inclines. I managed to get up the Sir William Hill climb relatively unscathed, though I was definitely grinding, my cadence can't have been higher than 50-60rpm. A few gentle miles later when we hit the business end of Wynatts Pass I was defeated. First time I've resorted to pushing during a sportive, with my head hung in shame. Safe to say it served as brilliant motivation to lose weight (and buy a compact!) and I'm now 3 stone lighter. I will return and defeat the climb that beat me!
Great video Ollie - thanks
Hardest event I've ever done was the Mallorca 312! Not only is it a savage event but one of our mates was blowing big time 2/3 of the way through. As true mates do we got him round and finished the full 312, a proper achievement! On the ride back to the hotel he then proceeded to drop us all to make sure he got home for dinner in time, unbelievable!
Hi Ollie,
My hardest ride was in the National 24 hour challenge , Michigan USA. I managed 311 miles at age 50+ in the 24 hours, but what made it so hard was the desire to get some sleep.
Afterward, waiting im a food line, I overheard the gentleman behind say he would have cracked 360 miles if he had continued one more lap. I was shocked when I turned around and could see he was over 70 years old.
Kept my complaints to myself ;-)
By far the Giant Rutland CiCLE tour 2018 sportive took me to some dark places I’ve never been before. Rode it with two mates who were better than me so didn’t want to hold them up. We climbed over 6500 feet with most of that in the second half with climbs over Terrace hill, Harby hill into the wind and some brutal climbs around Launde abbey. My thighs seemed to double in size and it felt like I was always out the saddle leant over the front wheel trying to keep traction. Totally epic ride over 100 miles and a burger to finish. This is what cycling with pals is all about
fman nottingham I was contemplating that ride, never got round to booking though. Hoping to do it next year though. It looks great...if rather hard.
Brutal mate! Get some hill training in!
fman nottingham Sweet.
My hardest ride was "The Climb to Kaiser", a 155 mile ride with 15,000 feet of elevation gain, in Fresno, California. While the distance and the elevation gain was certainly difficult, it was even more hard because I had done my FIRST EVER 100 mile ride only 6 weeks before. I went into the Climb to Kaiser with no idea what was in store for me, but I finished! And now a bunch of my buddies have also done the ride since then because they knew that if I could do it, well so could they.
My favourite TH-cam time of the week👍🤙
Definitely the Etape du Tour in Querétaro, Mexico. You may not have heard of it, but it features 2000 mts of elevation gain over a 145 km route in the central mountain pass in Mexico. That by itself is a brute, but it gets even harder when you consider that we began the route at 2° Celsius, and by the 4 hour mark we were already at 30° C. Not a single metre of the route was on flat roads, and a lovely block headwind welcomed you to the "70 kilometres to go" mark, and followed you for the next 20 kms. There were several vultures literally circling around us, and you could see people cracking everywhere. It was TRULY an EPIC ride. Thanks for the vlogs, I love them!
I did the Fred this year too for the first time, and was by far the most demanding ride I’ve ever done. But the marshals and support, weather and amazing scenery made it too enjoyable to be called brutal, what an amazing day. So the most brutal was a downhill ride from the hills to the west coast of wales into a massive headwind, toughest 10miles ever 😖
London to brighton 2017. Only 5r miles but at the time my longest ride had been 45 miles and it was the hottest day of the year on 18 June. I had to start aiming for shade to keep going and avoid overheating. It reinforces how much care you need to take with cold and hot weather- respect nature, it can catch up with you and must not be underestimated!
The Rob Roy challenge. Never has someone so violently under prepared for an event as i did that day. 14 mile hike into a 55 mile ride in the scottish highlands. I made it around after 11 and half hours and some unfinished business with the return over the Schillalion mountain. This year i go back to tackle the mountain again and finish without the walk of shame!
As always loving the vlog - have ridden a few times in the Lakes - amazing place. Hardest ride ever was this year in the Alps - went back after having been there 2 years ago and loved it - and let's be honest we were all probably a little bit complacent. Had planned Alpe D'Huez as the big finale for the week. Our soon to be ex-route planner suggested Col De Sarenne from Bourg as a warm-up 'steady at about 7% with a bit of kick at the end' was how it was described.Half-way up this wall of a climb he announced that at the top we would drop DOWN into Alpe D'Huez and the last 3K were 8, 9 and 7% respectively. There followed a great deal of swearing - a great deal of cramp (mine bruising so badly the following day I was out of action for the rest of the week), and the hunt for a new route planner following his untimely death. Some rides hard seem easier with time - others necessitate a of lot of counselling just to get you back on the bike - funnily enough not going to the Alps this year and we've confiscated his maps.
Fascinating analysis. But these events are not really about the tyres; they are all about doing the event on whatever you can afford -- and taking the time to help people when they're stuck.
For some it's all about shaving off some 5.3 minutes off their total time. For others it's about enjoying every single minute of their total time.
LBL 2018. I did all my training on the rollers except for 3 rides outdoors before the event. I didn't exceed 150 km. I signed up for the 274km. At 183km I was suffering from back and knee pain. I was on my own and I had to shout at myself to keep going. This was just after the voices in my head were telling me to give up which was just before I was nearly crying with the pain. To be honest, shouting and giving out to myself was the best medicine I got. The last 90km after that was a doddle :-)
Have to agree with a lot of other people and say the Fred Whitton Challenge. When I did it a few years back it wasn't just the distance and the brutal gradients, but added to that in true Lake District style there were all four seasons in one day. After a chilly start, followed blazing sun, then on the descent of Hardknot came the rain. By the time I got to Wrynose everyone was struggling for traction, especially on the final kick towards the top. Two guys in front of me weaving across the road to try and keep going collided and by the time I'd helped them pick themselves up I couldn't get going again, even with a 32t cassette. I ended up walking the last bit (wasn't much slower than riding it!). By the time I got to the top of Wrynose the temperature had plummeted and the rain had turned to sleet. My gilet was no defence and I could hardly feel my hands, which made the descent of Wrynose a continuous chain of moments when I nearly soiled my shorts. By the time a got back to Grasmere I was blue from the cold, but I'd made it.
Fun fact: I've run a Dura Ace rear mech with a 32t cassette for months now and it works like a charm. If you're really worried about the capacity you can easily take the long cage from an Ultegra mech and mount it to the Dura Ace one. Just a small weight penalty compared to the smaller/lighter Dura Ace cage
For sure my everesting ride last year on winter hill in Lancashire. Lived up to its name and doing it late on in the year didn’t really help. Started at 6am and didn’t get much easier when it went dark at around 7pm and the thick fog rolled in. Couldn’t see 10m in front, pitch black on my own in the middle of no where, the cattle grids didn’t help. Finished around 1am but all in all loved it regardless and hoping to do another later in the year !
We were on a road cycling holiday in the Pyrenees a few years ago with a friend who lives there and he suggested hiring mountain bikes for two days to do a bit of a backpacking adventure across the France/Spain border. We picked up the bikes and started the ride with a 'warm up' on Col de la Cor. This was when we realised it was going to be a proper ride. We then spent the next twelve hours riding (I'm sure we spent most of the time carrying our bikes) down scree slopes and up stupidly steep hillsides. When we were finally on the valley floor with about five km to go it started raining, we all looked at each other and decided it was going to be an every man for himself race to the hostel. That was day one. The next day we put on the same pair of shorts (with some chamois cream from a freezer bag) and got on our bikes, which was when we realised that hire bike saddles are probably as comfortable as a brick. We set off and eventually got to the top of the mountains on the border, realising that we were completely lost. One of our mates went and looked over the edge of a boulder field, turned around with fear in his eyes, and just said no. He will literally do anything, so we knew it was bad. It turned out to be a sheer drop off the side of the mountain. We considered going back the way we came at one point, but realised we didn't have our passports, so border control would probably go badly. Then in some sort or miracle, one of our gamins turned on for literally twenty seconds, which meant that we could see where we were, so we found our way back across the border and down the mountain. As we descended, we met a guy in first place on a xc running race across the whole of the Pyrenees, which was when we realised that we were whimps. We then descended the most bumpy mining track I have ever been on for about an hour, where at the bottom we decided that it was the worst decent we had ever done. My dad then proceeded to get to the bottom and say "that is the best decent I have ever done". Couldn't make it up. 140 km, 5100 m climbing, definitely the hardest riding I've ever done but would go and do it again tomorrow.
As a club charity fundraiser for Maggies Cancer Centres 8 of us (6 finished) rode a ~350km coast to coast ride from Newcastle to Liverpool via all the Centres en route. Generally hard as a simple endurance event but add in a day at uni and then starting the ride at 23:00 meant a wonderfully accumulated 40 hours no sleep and riding across the country. It also pissed it down over the peaks, because England.
The hardest event that I've done, was the 2016 Scott MTB Marathon on Exmoor. I was persuaded to enter by a friend. I did this with very little preparation, on my first Fat bike a Voodoo Wazoo, not a light bike. 65k 3000+ metres of elevation on a very hot day.
For me the hardest ride was on a bike packing tour. On Corsica, I went through the centre of the island and the ride in question was only 90 km with a little over 2000 altitude meters (with 18kg extra weight of my tent, etc.). What made it hard was the temperature, which was near 40 degrees. Hiding in the shade would have been nice, but there wasn't any. On the last climb, when the heat was most intense, I was surrounded by white (reflecting) cliffs and every gap was taken up by large cows. That evening was very nice however, as I slept on one of the highest points of the island, that can be reached by bike.
Le Classique 2017. Up at 3am to board a ferry at 7:30. Was due to rain all day so everyone had planned for the worst... It was 20 degrees all day, glorious sunshine! Fantastic 15mph tailwind all the way from Calais, 30 miles covered in an hour and change.... Needless to say, it was a 20mph headwind all the way back to Calais in 20 degree sunshine! It was an interesting day on the bike!
Hardest I've ever done is La Marmotte. last year, prepared and ready for a glorious sunny alpine ride in July, it was freezing, and like riding in an ice cloud. Did a little cry at the top of the Galibier when my legs realised I had 50km still to go and 13 of those were up Alp D'huez. Its a beast of a ride, missed the 7 hour dream time by a few minutes, which means i have to do it again now!
The hardest sportive I have done was 3 weeks ago, I had injured my back 9 months ago and it took alot longer to recover that I first thought and didn't want to miss the event. After blowing up to 17 stone and having next to no fittness this turned out to be the hardest day out on the bike I have had, but was determined to finish in a very slow but rewarding time. Sometimes it's all in the mind.
Hardest even I’ve ever done is Les Cingles which is Mont Ventoux 3 ways. I suffered a knee injury 2 months before the event which meant I couldn’t train until a couple of weeks before, I used a very heavy old bike and to add insult to injury the temperature was 38’C on the day! I ran out of water halfway up the 2nd climb and used limited French to borrow some from a fellow cyclist. I had raised a few quid for Charity though so there was no way I was going to quit. 8 hours, several buckets of sweat and 2 severely cramped legs later and it was done. It was the hardest but most definitely the best ride I’ve ever done.
A couple of years ago I decided to tackle Wrynose and Hardknott on my way to meeting some friends in Ravenglass.... A nice warm up before riding hadrians cycleway I thought! Oh and I completely underestimated it on my 10kg boardman with 11/28 it hurt A LOT 😁 🚲
Hardest single day ride for me is a summer solstice ride. Me and my mate started our new tradition of dedicating the summer solstice day to do an all day ride (booked day off work etc). 145 miles last year, hoping for double century this time round!
After watching a certain CW presenter's video about riding in Nice I decided to rent a bike and climb Col De La Madone whilst me and my girlfriend had a short break there. The bike was a beautiful Victoire but no lightweight and a little small for me. The same presenter :) had also recommended a boulangerie which just happened to be across the road from our apartment. Made the climb but used every gear and sweat lots.....Next time definitely less pastries!!!
On Sunday I completed the American Zofingen Duathlon. Over 800m of climbing in 44km. The runs had over 200m of climbing in 7km. Just under 4 hours of racing. Bloody tough, bloody great and cold beers at the finish.
Solid stuff there as usual, Ollie! toughest ride for me was actually a commute. I used to work in Bristol years ago but lived in a little Somerset village named Shepton Montague. Riding home from work one night in the dead of winter I wiped out on an icy corner about 15 miles out from home. Nailed my shoulder but got on with it - not the wisest choice. Live in Florida now, think I just remembered why!
The Etape Caledonia 2010 was the toughest thing I have ever done. My first long ride in a mass of cyclists having done some training but not enough due to time spent caring for a terminally ill relative. The sensible thing to have done would have been to pull out, do something easier as first sportive, but I was being sponsored for cancer charities, it could not be that bad....It was tough. 7 hours to do 85 miles. Three stops for food and drink. The crowds on the route cheered me on. 800 quid in sponsorship. A renewed determination to get fitter so I could enjoy more sportive. It turned out to be a special day.
Fun vlog as usual, Ollie. Hardest ride was up Haleakala on Maui. 3048 metres of climbing over 57 km. Virtually no respite, just grind grind grind and hate yourself. After the obligatory cold rain shower midway up, I was treated to headwinds that required out of the saddle max strength efforts to maintain forward progress. WHAT FUN! You really oughtta treat yourself to this delicacy, on video of course.
SO.... Stage 2 of the 2014 TDF York to Sheffield... did it with a few mates... caught the train up to York... got going, bout 30 mins in it started raining heavy!!! It didn't stop until the following day!! Brutal day!!!
Hardest ride in recent memory - a day in the Peak District last October with some good friends. day 3 of a 4 day trip so we were all fairly knackered from all the climbing. 30-40mph winds and pissing rain most of our stay. Spent half an hour climbing the Cat and Fiddle out of Macclesfield in torrential rain with articulated lorries buzzing past. The only thing that kept me going was the thought of a pint in the pub at the top. 25 minutes of climbing later we break through the mist and see the pub........is shut in October. Heartbreak.
Hardest event was my first ever group ride. Having never ridden more than 40km on flat bike paths, I bought myself a fancy carbon cyclocross bike to try to get into cycling a bit more and promptly got dragged on a 90 km, 1780m climb up the local mountain. Bonked on the way up, ran out of food/drink, cramped on the way down, had a sore bum (new saddle), and ended up sunburned. Then napped for 3h when I got home. Learned more on that ride than anything since and have never suffered more either.
The hardest ride I’ve ever done was a day two of an Alps trip, after 2 HC Cols the evening before straight off the plane and very little sleep, we set off for 100km then the Col du Telegraph followed by Col du Galibier. A normal holiday for most cyclists however I was still carrying a full season’s worth of front row rugby and beer weight - 94kg at 5’8”. My quads were absolutely shredded after grinding up the Galibier with inadequate gearing and cadence under 20 rpm the entire effort. Absolute euphoria after reaching the summit and then again when eating a pizza and two deserts washed down with ten ‘mineral waters’ in the evening after.
Most difficult ride... back in the day (1988) when I’d just joined the CTC - went out for my first Sunday ride with them.... Across the Pennines and up to Lancaster, didn’t know about nutrition (no gels or anything in those days) so bonked HARD after 70 miles and spent the last 40 miles desperately trying to hang onto my soon to be girlfriend’s wheel as we rode back across the Pennines to Yorkshire. The agony was only matched by my embarrassment! I hasten to add that I got better quickly and after 3 weeks was keeping up fine :-)
The hardest event that I have done so far was really a ride with friends on a large loop. On a 95 trek mountain trek converted to single speed. With weight loss in mind.
I weigh in at 270 lbs and over 60 years old I did a 28 mile gravel ride with 100 degree plus heat index it took me 7 hours of leaning over my bike, walking 50 to 100 feet and repeat for most of the ride. A month later I had a similar experience at another event. I don't ride events during July and August in Texas anymore
My hardest ride was in New Zealand. I'm from the UK and cycled the Motu Old Road that goes from Opotiki to Gisborne. Part of a trip in 2016. 10000ft of climbing on a gravel road on a mongrel of a bike that I built myself and with a hangover that lasted 3 days! Brutal.
Hardest event was a 100 mile TT. I had a 30 mile drive to be at the hq for around 5am for my start time of just after 6 if I recall correctly. It was my first ever 100 miles and hurt immensely. My knee started seizing up, the rain was on and off and the wind gusty. To top it off the route was a loop of a circuit 3. 5 times. It was relentless but the satisfaction of completing a 100 miles solo going all out was amazing... I've never done one since!
It was my first centruy, in the Yorkshire Dales on a sportive. The weather closed in; pouring rain turned to hail, headwinds howling in our faces as we were grinding up Fleak Moss. What was meant to be an early autumn sportive turning in to a battle with the elements and braving close to freezing temperatures, 30 percent gradients a head winds (not to mention the 90kg body weight).
Just rode the Trafalgar Way this weekend gone. Falmouth to London 312.5 miles 22,496 ft of climbing. From Truro to Exeter it just hammered down with rain and the wind was blowing in my grid the whole way. At one point on Bodmin moor I was 1.5 miles away from my parents house when the thought crossed my mind "Just go and get a cup of tea" but I allowed the wind and rain to keep on slapping me in the face.
Ollie, very nice setup!
My hardest ride to date has been the King of the Downs sportive I did in June 2017. It was my first ever Sportive, first ever 100 mile ride (115m / 184km / 9100ft Climbing) and by far the most climbing I've ever done. It was a long day in the saddle, took me just over 7 and half hours.
Looking forward to doing the London Ditchling Devil (205km) at the start of June. Wish me luck!
My hardest event was the ride London last year. I am not one for hill and this was most definitely the longest and hillest event I have done. Loved every minute of the pain so much so I'm doing it again this year
Maybe a bit of a busy question, but super keen to understand how you fulled for an event like this, and the difference ( if any) between the fuel ( pre, during,post) for this event and a road race or time trail effort! 👍🏼 thanks Ollie
Mont ventoux this last summer on a touring bike, was savage as it came 4 days into a 2 week tour of the alps with big climbs everyday, 20kg of kit on the bike, 30’C temps and lucky sods on lightweight race bikes pinging past
My toughest ride was the Mallorca 312 at the end of April 18! All 312km and 17000 feet was completed with about 15 minutes to spare. I had 3 incidents all before 80km. The final incident was the worst! Another cyclist cut me up at speed, my FFWD R4 front wheel contacted somewhere on his bike sending me out of control across the road. I managed to stay on the bike and safely brought it to a stop for a damage check. One snapped spoke and severe buckle! The mechanics were unable to assist and there were no spare wheels! I decided to carry on with fear on all the descents just waiting for disaster to strike! I have only been cycling for two years and was determined to complete come what may!
The hardest ride I’ve ever done was coast to coast in France from Le Touquet to Marseille in 6 days. Day 4 was the hardest for the simple reason of eating to fuel for the ride. At this point gels were sickly, energy bars were just not cutting it and it was becoming difficult to eat anything. We ended up stopping in a little French village, sitting on the pavement outside a Carrefour metro eating croissants with cheese and ham. Plus devouring ready salted crisps as a craving for salt kicked in. The other lasting memory was how tender the backside got spending 6 days a countless hundreds of Km’s sat on a saddle 😕
My hardest ride was last year on the Dunwich dynamo, then back to Milton Keynes on my steel fondriest. 260+ miles in total with no sleep. Legs were ok (ish) but my shoulders and feet were on fire for the last 100 miles. Not one drop of rain though! 👍🏻
I've been running 11-32 on my Ultegra 6800 short cage mech without any issues. As long as you adjust the B screw to give it enough room on the 32 it should be fine. The optimum chain length (going from 28 to 32) was a couple of links longer though so beware of the tension and don't cross-chain (big ring, small cog or vice versa) if you're using the same chain.
Doing Lands End to John O'Groats a few years back. We (foolishly) sent our winter gear 90 miles up the road to pick it up later because it had been extremely hot and sunny for 3 days, and guess what, over night it snowed heavily. This left us with 90 miles to do in nothing but bib shorts and long sleeve jerseys. it was very tough, and cold day.
For me my hardest ride was a little "gravel" loop in February near my house which was only about 10 miles long, but everything (and I mean everything) went wrong. It wasn't much of a physical challenge, but it was just such a nightmare that I very nearly packed it all in and sacked off cycling.
Firstly it turns out that the soil round me when it's dry looks exactly the same as a proper gravel track, so google maps lied about the bridleway. Then it was icy as all hell, and muddy, which went about as well as you'd expect. Then I took a wrong turn as the byway sign was ambiguous in it's direction, and had to drag my bike around/over a felled tree, skirt around a sheep field and get back onto the path, where I passed some "stick to the path, trespassers will be shot" signs (no joke!).
I then got stuck at a point where the signs pointed at each other (so completely useless), got a puncture, wheeled the damn bike to the nearest village (had to climb through a ditch to get there), propped it on a bench and tried to fix the puncture.
It took me 10 minutes to get enough mud off that I could actually see what I was doing, by which time it had started sleeting, so my hands were completely frozen. Got the puncture fixed, set off back home (on the road this time, but into a sleety headwind) decided to take the slightly longer road way back as the rest of the ride was a complete mess.
Rode past the short turn for home, got to probably the point where it would be most awkward to have a puncture. Got a puncture. Had no spare tubes having used my spare before, ended up trudging a mile home, with the bike, still in the sleety rain. Then got home to find out the dye in my new overshoes had run & stained my new shoes slightly pink. Had a shower then spent the rest of the day wrapped in all the blankets as it took best of a day to properly warm up again. "F@ck that" just doesn't quite do it justice.
200 8 was the first year I visited a mountainous area with a friend: the French Vosges. We were smart enough to ask the local hostel owner, who also was a avid cyclist himself, for advice. He recommended that when not well trained, our first day we should make a big ride, and so we went off with a piece of paper supposedly sending us over 90 km of hilly terrain. The first 500 meters of the first climb felt good, after that sitting on my steel Koga Miyata with downtube shifters became less pleasant as we lost the route, and perhaps the legs, only to cover a gruelling 140 km. Enough to be the last trip of the cycling holiday, and make my legs hurt for over a week.
My hardest ride: Over the summer (January, here in Australia) me and 4 friends did an overnighter on our gravel bikes, carrying our stuff in frame bags for a night in a hotel before the ride back the next day. 150k / 2600m elevation / about 25% rough gravel roads. It wasn't the distance or climbing that did me, it was the heat - 38c degrees. I drank loads of water, almost collapsed from heat stroke, 2 friends (A/B Grade racers) cracked 10k from the destination and got their wives to drive and pick them up, and then after a night sleeping at a pub, had to ride back the next day. I lost 3kgs in 48 hours.
Did a 300km ride with my teammates to say goodbye when I finished university and had to leave the region around Greifswald /Germany back in 2016. It was supposed to be a 250km ride, but when we came back I decided to do another 50 km. Also had a puncture in the rain with 5 to go. Next day I switched apartement. So it was a hard time to carry all my stuff downstairs 😁
The hardest thing for me was riding up the struggle in the Lakes on my 10 Speed bike with an 11-25 cassette, and not having much training as I’d just become a dad! Still loved the feeling of accomplishment, despite swearing pretty much the whole way up! The view was worth the pain.
The IOW Randonee this May bank holiday, it was far to hot and under prepared. A circle route around the Isle of Wight with lots of varying terrain, short sharp climbs, longs climbs, great views, some lovely country lanes. This was my 5th time doing it but started to cramp with 20 miles left to go, still managed to finish despite this and some lovely bank holiday weather.
Booked in to do the South Downs Way in July... 100miles, 4000m of climbing and all off road! Should be a good 10-12 hours on the bike.
Cradle mountain peaks challenge ride in Tasmania. 240k with 4000m of climbing, first 80k in the rain! It was my first ever ride over 200k - it was awesome to see that number tick over.
Hardest climb was my first ever sportive that rode up Whitedown Lane in the North downs, Surrey. Lack of fitness, bad fueling and hydration with cramp in both legs, i eventually got up and over in 16.18mins. 3 years and lots of cycling later, my PB is 4.19min. Going for sub 4 this summer!
The dirty dozen in Pittsburgh is the toughest ride I've ever done. 13 of the steepest roads around the city. With the devil that is Canton Ave being 37% and cobbles. It may not be the longest event in the world but those gradients certainly add up after a while.
Toughest ride was my first ever road ride over 40km. I had not long moved from UK to Sydney. The ride was Sydny to Canberra. 330km in mid summer. My only bike was my Halfords special Saracen mountain bike with commuter tyres. Had to borrow a jersey. Took a camelback. Must have drunk at least 15 litres of water in well over 35'c temperature. Took 14 hours. On the highway. Became very familiar with the stench of dead kangaroos festering in the sun !!!.
Bike was nicked the following week. Bought a road bike and never looked back.
Did the TDY Ride a couple of weeks ago! That was nails! Ended up mashing my way around Yorkshire with Mr Simon Warren! 127km and 2300m of climbing at 30km/h. Took us about 4h and 10minutes! We got a KOM as well! Madness!
Leadville 100. It is a mountain bike race that is in Leadville Colorado. It starts at 10,000ft and peaks at 12,500ft. The total climbing is approx 11,000ft. I was rolling for an approx 12hr finish. Weather was beautiful, i was gassed but still moving. At mile 90 a storm rolled in, rain/hail and a temp drop from 70 to 50deg turned me freezing. Sadly myself and the 5 others caught in the small squall had to bail due to freezing. Lesson learned and i plan to finish the event next August.
Hardest ride for me? Fred Whitton 2018. What an event, though. Beautiful scenery, lovely weather, excellent and charming support (from riders and spectators) and hard, hard, hard.
Hi mate
Hardest ride I've ever done was my first Ride London. I hadn't trained enough by a long shot. Half way round had the worst cramp ever which made me scream. No option but to suck it up and carry on hard lesson. completed it twice since then with no problems.
To be honest, I did the Amys ride which is mostly a flat ride with 1 big hill and only 100K's and just hit a wall because at the beginning of the race i hooked onto a nice 42 k/ph peloton and didn't eat anything and just burnt out at around the 70k mark and crawled to the end. But I did finish the race!
Hardest ride I done - recent ride in the Yorkshire Dales. Not a long ride, approx. 60miles but it had everything - sun, rain, wind, all the well know climbs around the dales (Buttertubs, Park Rash, Grinton Moore, Tan Hill etc) and a snapped rear mech hanger in the middle of nowhere with no phone signal. Somehow managed to convert to a single speed and find some old rope from a farm gate to secure rear mech to the frame. Was about 25miles from where I was staying, no food or drink left but managed to guide it home. Longest and most testing ride I've done. The views made up for it tho!
The ultegra 8000 gs mech will handle a 34 cassette. I put a set of Pirelli p zero tires in a 25. They run a bit large and I use a Continental race light tube. I’ve had these on for 3 weeks and a little over 600 miles with no flats and only a couple of very small superficial cuts. I’m very impressed with their durability for such a light tire. They’re very supple and fast!
Hardest ride i've done is called the 12 days of xmas. It is a ride my college friends and I do, normally in december to celebrate the end of the semester and winter break. The ride includes the 12 steepest hills around our college, most peak above 20%, the ride can range from 70-100 miles depending on where we start. The hardest time we did it, was in july "because xmas in july is a thing right?"-quote from the friend who planned this. This day it got very hot and there aren't many places to refill water, get more food, etc.. around. By the 9th hill most of us were struggling due to the heat. It got to the point were our best climber was getting passed by our sprinter up the hill.
Hardest cycle was last weekend. Bealach Beag, going up the Bealach Na Ba, the longest road ascent in the UK. Then this weekend is the Peaks Tour sportive. This has got to be put in perspective that I'm 49, 95kg and pretty new to cycling. It's all relative, for me this was/is an immense challenge!!
Last year i did my first Century ride it was 28th Annual NYC Century Ride, and it was brutal!!! I was fairly new to cycling, I started biking last May :) but, I figured if i'm biking to work 24 miles a day, I can do a century... all nature forces were against me! I had a crush that landed me in emergency clinic 3 weeks before the century ride, I was in bandages and limping for over a week... i was off my bike for almost two weeks, got back on it a week before the century, i was going back and forth in my mind if to ride or not... I did go on to ride the century... on my 45th mile I had another crush... another cyclist didn't break in time before a sharp turn and slammed into me from the left, grabbing my handlebars on the left side and dragging me with him, i landed on his bike breaking his frame in 4 places, that was my first breaking point where I was about to quit... but, i took 10 min to shake off and get back on my bike... on my 75th mile was my next breaking point, my body were giving up, my legs were hurting, i was starving, my brain was basically telling me to stop and call a cab... but, again, i took 15 min to rest, drink some water have my protein bar, got back on my bike and completed the century!
Hardest ride... I did London to Southend charity ride, but to make it more fun I rode from home to Southend, then to London to start the London to Southend, and home again. I chose to ride a Brompton 2 speed wearing a suit jacket and tie, and about 10 miles in I broke the rear tensioner so had a hanging chain and 1 speed all day! It was hard... 100 miles... and I was numb downstairs for a week ✌️
tour de fjords, Fondo 2013. pissing rain for 5 hours and 32mins in the poring rain in Vest of Norway., first rode nike race after only cycling for 2 weeks. and it got me hooked. last year my time for the same race was. 3 hours and 50 mins.
Toughest event I’ve done was the Stelvio Santini 2017.
Lack of training leading upto it due to suffering from depression and also the first event I’ve taken part in where altitude played a part. Had to have a good few rest stops on the accent of the Stelvio but took pride that I cycled every foot of the climb itself and didn’t walk any of it. A rest day afterwards and an assent of the Gavia a few days sealed a perfect but tough week in Italy.
I did the Fred a couple of years ago and was happy to pass 'the test' by staying on the bike on Hardknott. But the most brutal was the 160km Fizik Marostika Granfondo, held in unpredictable April weather in the Dolomites. Although 15C in the valleys, it was sub-zero and hammering with rain on top of the final mountain. The final 30km was all downhill and as close as I have come to hypothermia, trying to brake with numb stumps. Shaking like a sh*tting dog at the finish.
Tour of the Peak Ollie it’s brutal. Basically it hits every big climb in the Peak District. 115miles and about 12,000 ft of climbing. It’s a long day and the weather was scorching when I did it last year. Many people said afterwards that it’s on a par with the FW.
most short cage casettes should be able to run 11-32 despite being out of spec, it is just a matter of tightening B-limit screw all the way in and if that is not enough you can reverse the bolt or use longer bolt
My hardest ride ever was as a 16 year old me and a friend racked up and rode from Cambridge to Edinburgh in 4 day averaging 90 odd miles a day. We were totally unprepared with my longest ride ever being 50 miles before we set out and it rained all day every day we only had cheap kit and just ended up wearing bin bags to keep warm. And it was totally miserable but we raised a bunch for charity and was the start of my total obsession with cycling.
My hardest ride was about 30 years ago. Riding my brothers old Sears and Roebuck 5 speed. We called it a 10 speed back then:) Out of the blue I decided to ride to the neighboring town 30 miles away. All rolling hills. 2 hours later I got to my friends and he laughed at me as half my body was sun burned. I went out to the club that night like that but not to worry. I my ride back I burned the other side so I was evened out.
Hardest bike ride (and favourite) I've done was South Downs Way, CX Century - (Winchester to Beachy Head), 161kms, 3300ms of climbing... Absolutely brutal because I was on a cyclocross bike - my arms and hands were numb from the vibrations of riding single track with no suspension. On top of that I still have the sunburn tan lines 10 months later... Still my best achievement and really enjoyed it.
My toughest wasn’t that long. I’d only got back to riding for a couple of months and my son (Jacob, who was 20 at the time) similar. We entered a Sportive in Cheltenham, only 60 miles with 2 real climbs, but we’d never ridden more than 20 miles before. We set off with a guy who’d ridden for a while and he dropped us after 5 miles. It then started to rain and it rained for the remaining 55 miles. My son dropped me at the 2nd climb and I then ended up riding solo for the final 15 miles, trying to get my average speed up to qualify for the ‘gold’ time. I can’t remember what it was, but i think less than 17mph and I failed... I arrived back at Cheltenham race course, handed in my tag and then got back to my car, cold, wet and as it was our first sportive...no towel or food. We were both soaked through and then drove the 30 minutes home. When we got home my wife asked ‘had fun?’....
The Tour de Manc was pretty hot and hilly the other Sunday, and made slightly harder by having cycled from Glasgow to Manchester via Kendal on the Friday and Sat.
Has to be the Fred Whitton from 3 days ago - The climbs, roads and 11-28 Mid Compact were partly to blame. Seeing Ollie in Grasmere and thinking i could shed a few kilo's didn't help either... Best event in the UK and amazing support from the marshals and people around the course!
Haha, fellow fan of Dr.Buckles I see! Hardest ride? Hmm, either the 170km from my house into the mountains I did the other week or the first (and only other) 160km ride I did a few years back. Both times, it got very dark (figuratively) when it got very dark (literally). That first ride was pure exploration - was clawing my way home along a riverside in a block headwind - it was getting very cold, I was knackered and my lights were entirely insufficient for the road I was on. I finally get to civilization and cower in a convenience store hugging a coffee. The last ride was a lot more planned - first bikepacking trip! I'm a lot fitter (and better equipped - still no gps though) now than I was then but as I neared my destination, the sun went in. Like a fool, I had only managed to get an hour's sleep before setting off on this adventure. I "only" had 30km left to go - 'just like my commute' i thought to myself. Apart from, my commute is flat and I had to chop between beach resort and mountain pass about 5 times. It was the longest 30k of my life. My destination disappeared from the road signs and i had to stop and call a mate to make sure i hadn't passed the bloody place! The final kick in the nuts though was the hill to where i was to be camping, or rather, the wall. wrenching through 34/32 stood up, i had to stop every 30 secs and hold onto the fence - i couldn't even sit on the front brake because the front wheel simply had no traction. I pitched my tent like a good boy and the next day, i went back over those hills in the blink of a friggin' eye. Hey, good luck on your ride though, it looks pretty fuggin' beasty!! edit: from the looks of the comments, looks like you did just fine on that ride!
Pratalax yesss! He rides bikes too you know! #blacksquadron
I remember Xavier Disley from about 14 years ago on the Concept2 indoor rowing forum. True story.
Hardest ride for me was my first time riding actual climbs. I live in the Chicago are and there are no real climbs to speak of (just rolling hills in river valleys), so I decided to visit my friend in West Virginia to ride in the Appalachian Mountains for a week long vacation to see what climbing is about. The first day we rode 30 miles with 2500 feet of elevation gain. I averaged 185 bpm for 10 minutes on the last climb of the day (avg gradient of 4.7%; steepest pitch was 13%) and nearly bonked in the 95°F heat (35°C).
Then we went to a local German style restaurant and had fried pickles that were to die for. I still dream about them. It was so worth it. And I'm a better rider for it.
The hardest ride was one of my first rides with the university cycling club. We headed out into the peak district on a cold, rainy, windy winter's day, despite better advice. Soon we were in the midst of a deep fog that had settled over the whole of the national park, unable to see more than 10 metres in front of us. Having no GPS computer with me, I was forced to keep on the wheel of those in front of me (who were far fitter then me), as I otherwise had no way of finding my way back, destroying myself up climbs (Scapegoat is now etched into my head as a memory full of pain and suffering) and having to take proper risks on the descents. Over the next 3hrs, we continued to cycle into a full-on headwind (afterward I found out the winds were going at 35km/hr!), with all of us gradually getting colder and on the verge of hypothermia. I soon ran out of food, and I soon began to feel the tell-tale signs of hitting the wall. We couldn't just turn back, as the way back was almost as long as the way in front of us, so 80k later, we all slowly grinded our way into Oldham. By this point, we had all decided there was no way we could make the full ride back, and so we tried, in vain, to get one of the trams going to Manchester, only to be told we couldn't use them. Finally, in utter defeat, we made our way on, until someone in the group realised we could just take a cab back. To this day, this ride is how I compare all my subsequent rides to, to the annoyance of my fellow club riders who have had the story of "that ride into the peaks" been told to them over and over again. And yes, I still ride my bike. No ride, not even this one, could stop me loving being outside, in the freedom of the countryside, on the country lanes, with my bike.
On my first year of cycling(in 2011 or 2012), I went with a friend to ride a few of the "Liege Bastogne Liege climbs", we had around 86km, 2000m of elevation, at a not really good average speed of 23-24km/h, with 7-8°C and rain all ride long...
Small correction the R8000 GS derailleur is a medium cage. I've bodged it a bit furture by running a 34/52 combo at the front. Hardest climb must have been the Agua negra pass (4700mtrs) two days straight up from sea level, totally epic decent on the Argentinain side. I rode well into the night that day, just couldn't stop. I hope you guys can do a feature there some day.
Hardest ride has to be Trois Ballons. 210 kms with a "flat" approach of 45 km to the first climbs. Going off at 40/45 km/h had me cooked when the proper climbing started. Epic sufferfest, especially up the finishing climb of planche des belles filles with a 20+% ramp to the finish!
Hardest ride.... would have to be a Friday commute home when I decided that it would be a great idea to go and try a lane that I'd not been along before. Turns out it was a bloomin steep climb with a couple of ramps of just over 30%! Got to the top and swore I'd never do it again... at least not on the commuter with rack and guard fitted!! 😆😂😂 Planning my next ascent and quite looking forward to it!!
Doing my first 100 35years ago. 52/42 and 13/21 (5gear) with a 9km/1000hm climb in the last 15. Luckily riding with running shoes! Love my new C'dale Synapse, gain some weight but also gears!
I cannot comprehend what doing these events on old-school gearing must have been like. I had a 52/34 and a 32 bailout gear (that got a LOT of use) on the Fred and I still couldn't hack Hardknott. Respect.
212km 'Tour de Burrito' with 3500m elevation. Not only were the climbs challenging, with some horrendously steep pitches in the last 50k, but keeping the 4 large burrito's down was the real kicker!
Chris Hoy 100m 2017.... ate something at the first stop 25-30 miles in which didn’t agree with me. Spent rest of the ride with terrible stomach cramps...to top it off I missed a turn which added 8 miles to the ride. That medals was sweet!!
Hardest ride for me was in 2016, 300km in one day. As we arrived at the start in Dorking, the heavens opened and we cycled up the A24 cycle path which was totally flooded, so wet feet 😓 for the remainder of the day.
Around 250km in, had double whammy of Achilles tendon pain and block headwinds 😥.
My Garmin crashed with 5km to go, losing the ride 🤬 - it was very nearly thrown in a hedge!
Clare classic just a few weeks back where my Wahoo showed 38 to 39 degrees for a substantial amount of time. I really struggled keeping my temperature down and other people had to get picked up by an ambulance from heat exhaustion, cramping and throwing up!