Kilmashogue lane

vintcerf

Has anyone here completed this climb? Looking for tips as it's local to me.

I found this video on youtube and it looks nasty

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmFIiHkUP-A

https://www.strava.com/segments/631099

Raam

We had the hill climb champs there a few years back. Tis a good one. Steep all the way.

daragh_

It's horrible.

I remember once Andras from Thinkbike did it 9 times in a row.

magicbastarder

i have been up there i think three times, have not managed to do it without stopping.

i'd disagree with Raam though in the sense that it's not 'steep all the way', it's not consistent in how steep it is - the middle section is a breeze compared to the kick for the final half kilometre.

wanderer 22

My ex used to live in the house at the very top so I'm waay too familiar with it!

easygoing39

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120405983#Comment_120405983

At least you could get away from her house quickly!!

spudpicker2022

it's one of the harder climbs for sure. one to take on when legs are good. the bit between the last 3 houses at the end hurts but you're almost at the top so it's one last dig (for a good two mins!)

Macy0161

I thought I had done it gravelling, but turns out it was only part of the way and then into the Forest/ Wicklow Way.

Raam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120405358#Comment_120405358

steep for me :-D

Plastik

POST THE PIC!

68 lost souls

I too have done it 3 times. It’s a killer, I’ve fallen once on it when it kicked it up a bit on gravel and I just stopped moving forward. I say I fell it was that steep I just leaned over and was touching the rising ground :pac:

it’s a good one to test yourself on. Having climbed every single hill in the 5km radius of there to city west over lock down it is the tougher of them all in my opinion.

wanderer 22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120407241#Comment_120407241

I've done some digging but no luck yet...

vintcerf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120407577#Comment_120407577

i did this bit last week and thought it was quite steep but it's only 14%!. what tyres and cassettes do people use for Kilmashogue?

retalivity

Ive done it 5 times, but not since 2021...need to rectify that soon. The final bit after the bend is the killer, trying not to let the back wheel slip when getting out of the saddle.

The only climb that compares to it on the dublin side of the mountains is cunard imo. Although that starts hard straight away and gets easier.

magicbastarder

the couple of times i've done it (i thought i'd done it three times, but it's only twice) were on my bike i used to commute to work on; i headed out from work at lunch to have a crack at it. so it was on a steel bike where the granny gear was 36x28, with mudguards and i think a pannier too... not the optimum choice.

Citizen2011

Finish every cycle off by going up and down. Quick count there on Strava. 126 times. Never gets easy but a lovely climb. A real slog. Have to watch the back wheels if anyways damp. A warm day even better.

Wishbone Ash

According to Strava I've done it 6 times but not since 2018. It's the last climb on this year's Boards Evil Ride so it should be fun with 200k and 4,500 metres in the legs.

It's not ideal in the wet as the rear wheel will slip when you get out of the saddle on the steep part near the farmyard. It's not a particularly pleasant descent either as there's too much to go wrong if you open up.

It's tough but there are tougher climbs out there IMO - Glassavullan Lane comes to mind. There's also another one in the Tallaght vicinity the name of which I can't recall now but I was going so slow on it that I simply fell over against a grass bank.

crosstownk

I did Kilmashogue once a good few years ago. As I was struggling up the hill a car coming in the opposite direction waved me to stop and then enlightened me with the fact that it was a cul de sac (I already knew that!). I'm not sure if they were taking the p1ss or were genuine but it was difficult to get going again.

I've no desire to try it again. I cycle for fun - not for torture. 😉

Wishbone Ash

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120409045#Comment_120409045

Funny, the same thing happened to me on Tibradden Lane a good few years ago. A local resident was coming down in her car and pulled diagonally across the road forcing me to stop. She asked me what I was doing cycling up a cul de sac. When I responded that was a public road, she declared that cul de sacs were private and for 'residents only'.

The first time I went up Kilmashogue Lane, an elderly man ran after me for a bit waving a very large wrench above his head. I don't think he was offering mechanical assistance. Some strange folks in those Dublin lanes!

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120409443#Comment_120409443

Is there any route or track to connect the two, to allow you to go up Kilmashogue and down Tibradden?

retalivity

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120409473#Comment_120409473

Short answer, no.

You could maybe go offroad through ticknock and around the houses to tibradden mountain and back down to join back up with the road, but having only ever been up there on a road bike, i've no idea what the paths/rights of way on the hills are once you get on the gravel

68 lost souls

Glassavullan Lane has a harder gradient and tricky to manage the wheel lifting/slipping but the length of Kilmashogue with no letup I think makes it harder.

500m at 13.3% topping out at close to 30% vs 3.4km at 7.9% topping out at about 20%.

magicbastarder

kilmashogue is about 2.4km though (the part on tarmac at least)?

strava says 2.47km at 9.7% average.

https://www.strava.com/segments/631099

Dipsomaniac

Ah memories.

Back when I was fit (2015) I did 4 repeats of Kilmashogue, met some lads I knew on final decent and then went over with them to do Ticknock once.

Also did the Boards Evil and Raid Pyrenean that year.

I wouldnt be able for Kilmashogue at all now.

smacl

It's close to me and I've done it quite a number of times, though only twice without having to stop at some point and that's with 34/34 as my low gear on the gravel bike. Horrible descent too making it a pretty bleak ride. You used to be able take a gravel bike in the top gate handy enough to get to Ticknock but like so many places over Covid it got sealed off with no entry signs. These days I'd prefer taking a left into the woods after the first bit and cycling up to the mast. The alternative way to the masts via Buckley's Fireplaces is probably a bit steeper but much shorter.

smacl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120410083#Comment_120410083

Yep, I'm in the final dregs of the leader board as expected, you're over 4 minutes faster than me MB.

68 lost souls

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120410083#Comment_120410083

My mistake I was looking at the "Off-Road" version on Strava. Steeper gain than I thought but not as long. So its 5 times longer but not quiet as steep overall I think its a harder climb.

I've been on a compact 50/34 with a 12-32 cassette when I've done it

fat bloke

Can't remember the last time I was up it. According to strava there my pr (11.59) was back in 2018. I wonder how my 5 years older and 5kg heavier self would do now! I don't have the paid Strava so I can't see leaderboards and what not. I must give it a go some evening again for the..... (well not really).... "laugh"....

Plastik

10.08 for me, but 7 years ago. I wonder if I could knock 30 sec off and get into the top10. Will have to see what sort of power that would need, and then, like fat bloke, just avoid it for another 7 years 😃

fat bloke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120411332#Comment_120411332

That's a fair difference. You'd time for an espresso and a cigarette while you'd be waiting for me! :D

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120410753#Comment_120410753

yeah - 14:50 for me - that was with a stop to catch my breath.

MangleBadger

I've only attempted it the once. And I remember it being disgustingly tough. Especially considering the first two thirds is 8% average and the last third is 12.8%. Looking over my effort my speed was down at 6.5kmh for portions but I did manage to get back up to 11.2 for a final push before collapsing.

magicbastarder

interestingly, only two of the top 25 times have been set in the last 5 years. nine of the top 50.

magicbastarder

whoops, that's not true; i was looking at the boards.ie leaderboard, not the full leaderboard.

daragh_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120411458#Comment_120411458

Still a few Boardsies in the top 10

loyatemu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120410952#Comment_120410952

for the cheapskates - at least one Boardsie in the top 10.

according to the venerable Boards steepest climbs spreadsheet, Kilmashogue is the toughest in Dublin or Wicklow.

retalivity

Might it be time for a new boardsie hill climb challenge to reacquaint everyone with the climb??

6 years since the last one!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2057708919/boardsie-hill-climb-challenge-dublin-2017-sat-25th-march-9am-stocking-lane

wanderer 22

11:11 here..best of my 54 efforts!

Raam

9.31 is my best. Eleven years ago and probably the last time I tried it.

magicbastarder

i really need to get back to it on my lighter bike, with (slightly) easier gearing. and about 50% more fitness.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120409443#Comment_120409443

i was curious whether i was going to be stopped on my quest to cycle every road in NCD, as i was including rural cul de sacs too (albeit obviously ones with only a tiny fraction of the cycle traffic kilmashogue would see); i got one hard unfriendly stare near the naul once, with the lady stepping out into the road, presumably to stop me, as i went past; and a friendly 'hey mate, you know this is a cul de sac?' near the airport - and he seemed perfectly happy with my 'i'm just getting creatively lost' response.

daragh_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120411673#Comment_120411673

At least 3 but I'm not saying who they are. I don't even make the top 300 :-(

68 lost souls

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120411908#Comment_120411908

On my version of this in my 5km radius I had a great experience on what is probably a very little known tough hill/cul de sac where the lady of the house came running out to me before I turned around to descend to warn me about an animal feed truck coming up said lane so I didnt get flattened as neither of us would have been able to stop. She then had a chat and offered me some water. Very kind person.

vintcerf

zig zagged my way to the top in 18:37. the bit from the farm is nuts. Not sure I'll be back up there again haha

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120411673#Comment_120411673

Three that I know of

CramCycle

Just checked, I'm in the top 400. Fastest time was on my commuter with a hub dynamo that I rocked upto my first ever hill climb TT on. The dynamo and the descent disagreed and I got into what felt like a speed wobble and ended up in someone's driveway as they trimmed hedges. I apologised and left promptly, buy more slowly.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120409443#Comment_120409443

Country people have some fuking cheek when it comes to "privacy".

Bout time we declared all roads into the city as residents only and make them close their eyes every time they pass a house on the roadside.

Gerry

seems I've only been up it once, 17:50 8 years ago. I'm lighter and fitter now so I think I give it another go. I was mixing it up with the offroad version like another person on this thread.

Wishbone Ash

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120411673#Comment_120411673

I count 4 Boardsies in that top ten.

saccades

I went up in a group race to the top. I came so far back from the front lads that one rider said commiserations on the puncture.

Never been back.

Thud

I did the 5 hills a few years ago Ticknock, Kilmashogue, Tibradden, Cruagh and Stocking...1,300m in about 40kms...was pretty slooow though