Zoiks!! Hill!!! Whoa!!

[Dr Luxurious]

Do a google image search for Ffordd Pen Llech

:eek:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/archive/d/d0/20131101085107!Ffordd_Pen_Llech_-_geograph.org.uk_-_3284594.jpg

[coffeecake]

Is it a Strava segment?

:banana:

[makoti]

Is it a Strava segment?

:banana:

Of course.
http://www.strava.com/segments/ffordd-pen-llech-3615085

[malbecman]

Pretty short, though....60 to 90 seconds of pain

[ultraman6970]

200 meters, you have to sprint the heck out of the flat before taking the climb and shift like the gods while going up. I would ran outta stem after the 1st 50 meters, then probably walk the next 150 meters :D

[tv_vt]

To quote Wikipedia:
"Ffordd Pen Llech is popular with cycling enthusiasts seeking extreme slopes. Its popularity is limited by the one-way system requiring downward travel only (UK law treats bicycles as vehicles and requires riders to observe all traffic signs), meaning that a cyclist would have to defy the regulation to attempt the ascent or make the upward journey via the adjacent road, Twtil, which has a gradient almost as steep at 25%."

[leftyfreak]

To quote Wikipedia:
"Ffordd Pen Llech is popular with cycling enthusiasts seeking extreme slopes. Its popularity is limited by the one-way system requiring downward travel only (UK law treats bicycles as vehicles and requires riders to observe all traffic signs), meaning that a cyclist would have to defy the regulation to attempt the ascent or make the upward journey via the adjacent road, Twtil, which has a gradient almost as steep at 25%."

If anyone thinks 25% is almost as steep as 40%, I have to doubt whether they've ever ridden a bike up anything steep at all! I certainly wouldn't say that 16% is almost as steep as 25%. Regardless, that's one crazy road.

[Ti Designs]

a 40% grade brings up a few questions:

First, who's idea was this? Are they so pressed for real estate that they needed to do this? Do they also build castles in swamps???

Second, how do you pave this? What idiot is going to get into a steam roller at the top of that? And what do the people who live at the bottom think when they see the steam roller??

Third, I can see the draw to cyclists who want to ride up it, but what if you don't make it? Is there a small hospital at the bottom that specializes in road rash and steam roller accidents?

Fourth, why don't we combine this thread with the one about the french idiot and his rocket bike and see if we can't put the first cyclist into orbit!

[druptight]

Not the best perspective on the level of steepness, but here's a video of a person climbing it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqnpWnGt-RI

[Dr Luxurious]

I know what ~20% feels like

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXHE5AZPfOE

40 on a road bike has to be ridiculous...

[false_Aest]

That sign in bullsh


Ffordd Pen Llech is one of two roads surrounding Harlech Castle World Heritage Site, and linking the higher town centre with the Cambrian Line railway station, housing and camping areas close to sea level. Its descent of the rock spur to the north of the castle gives it a tangentially measured gradient at its steepest section of 1:2.73.[4] Whilst this translates to the vertical rise being 36.63% of the horizontal going, it is normal practice for UK highway authorities to round gradients to a nominal figure to avoid confusing road users with excessive precision;[5] hence the warning sign gives a slope of 40%.

[Dr Luxurious]

http://www.bike99.com/images/2801.jpg

http://www.bike99.com/images/2806.jpg


from:
http://www.bike99.com/28.html

[chiasticon]

i wish we knew more detail about these things. for example, how does this compare (http://www.strava.com/segments/7481487?filter=overall) to canton ave (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canton_Avenue) in pittsburgh? it's difficult because we know that gradients and elevation differences aren't measured in a super fine detail. and especially not on a twisty hill. so maybe strava is the best way to judge it? well...yeah but what do they do? do they collect all the garmin data where an altimeter was used and average it? that could be good but anyone who has done a ride with a buddy and had his garmin read hundreds of feet more elevation than yours knows that these things aren't 100% accurate.

so what can we do?

[Waldo]

To quote Wikipedia:
"Ffordd Pen Llech is popular with cycling enthusiasts seeking extreme slopes. Its popularity is limited by the one-way system requiring downward travel only (UK law treats bicycles as vehicles and requires riders to observe all traffic signs), meaning that a cyclist would have to defy the regulation to attempt the ascent or make the upward journey via the adjacent road, Twtil, which has a gradient almost as steep at 25%."

If one complies with the regulations, how hard would you have to brake descending a 40% grade? I feel mighty uncomfortable descending Marin Road in Berkeley and its ~25% grade on a road bike.

[Hawker]

That's cool, who wouldn't at least want to try?

[ceolwulf]

If one complies with the regulations, how hard would you have to brake descending a 40% grade? I feel mighty uncomfortable descending Marin Road in Berkeley and its ~25% grade on a road bike.

This is why everyone should have disk brakes on their road bike.

[choke]

Do they also build castles in swamps???https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU2y6ztlMAQ

[Dr Luxurious]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU2y6ztlMAQ

DANG! I was sooooo gonna post that!
But alas, it's not right for my idiom.

[macaroon]

Alot of climbs local to me are between 25% and 35%, definitely a challaenge to climb or descend!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Hardknott_Pass_-_geograph.org.uk_-_527753.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Hardknott_climb.JPG

[Dr Luxurious]

JINKIES!!!! Is that ^^^^ really a public road??

[josephr]

I had enough trouble hiking up the road from the Waipio Valley...sure as hell not going to try it on a bike!!!

http://www.dangerousroads.org/north-america/usa/394-waipio-road-usa.html

[macaroon]

JINKIES!!!! Is that ^^^^ really a public road??

Yeh, although it's best off avoided if you're an inexperienced driver or cyclist.

Here's the descent off another hill on the other side of the valley. Disc brakes would be useful. Sadly, a woman crashed and died on this descent a couple of years ago.