Toughest Climb in Ireland?

De Bhál wrote: »

Overall mt Leinster is worse for the unforgiving length.

Did Mt. Leinster from Borris to the mast today in homage to the suffering of the big men at the tour.

:eek::eek::eek:

There isn't a chance in hell that anything else in Ireland gets close to that for toughness, it's just relentless. You think it's going to be steadily up to the base from Borris but there's even a little ramp in there that hits 11% before you get to the real climbing.
https://www.strava.com/segments/7310960

Once you hit the bottom it's 3.5km at 7% average and then 2.5km at 13%. I was struggling to keep my Garmin from autopausing at times. You don't really have the same 50-100m ramps at 20% that you do on some of the other climbs but it just never dips under 10% for a realitve breather and the top half seems to stay at 12 to 15% for an interminably long time.

Took me just over an hour to do the 12.8km from Borris to the top and I'm actually pretty pleased with that.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4092329970/

mcgratheoin wrote: »

Did Mt. Leinster from Borris to the mast today in homage to the suffering of the big men at the tour.

:eek::eek::eek:

There isn't a chance in hell that anything else in Ireland gets close to that for toughness, it's just relentless. You think it's going to be steadily up to the base from Borris but there's even a little ramp in there that hits 11% before you get to the real climbing.
https://www.strava.com/segments/7310960

Once you hit the bottom it's 3.5km at 7% average and then 2.5km at 13%. I was struggling to keep my Garmin from autopausing at times. You don't really have the same 50-100m ramps at 20% that you do on some of the other climbs but it just never dips under 10% for a realitve breather and the top half seems to stay at 12 to 15% for an interminably long time.

Took me just over an hour to do the 12.8km from Borris to the top and I'm actually pretty pleased with that.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4092329970/

Truskmore says hello. https://veloviewer.com/segments/1735489
4km @ 10% but with constant ramps hitting close to 20% and one brutal segment of nearly 17% for 200m near the top, aptly named "ohforfuksake"
Veloviewer ranks it as tougher than Mt Leinster. I haven't done Mount Leinster so I can't compare but apart from genuine monsters like the Angliru or the top of Jitu Escarandi, there's nothing else I've done that's close to it.

mcgratheoin wrote: »

Am I sadistic for putting it on the list? What I personally found really tough was the consistency of Mt. Leinster, I'll have to try to get to the other end of the country at some point!

A friend of mine who has done both reckons Mt Leinster is steeper but he could get his rhythm going whereas Truskmore was just multiple ramps that kept knocking him out of his stride plus it's a kilometer longer. There's also a good pull from the main road up to the start of the climb for a warm up.
Funnily enough, there's a short hill not far from my home place that absolutely destroyed me for that same reason. It's 1km @10% but all ramps and every time I looked at the Garmin it was 15%. One of the toughest 5 minutes I've ever done

woody1 wrote: »

does truskmore have a proper road surface on it ,sorry looking at it on streetview now, i can see it does, it even looks steep on that, gate says private, ever any bother with it

There's rarely an issue going up "private" roads that lead to TV masts etc.. Not the same as heading up through a farm for example.

Anyone know the story with Scalp Mt in Donegal - it's marked in the spreadsheet as private.

JazzyJ wrote: »

Did Truskmore a few weeks back. One of the hardest climbs I've done on-road. On paper it doesn't seem that difficult but the steep intermittent ramps just killed me (especially since I'm on the bigger side of average )

It does have a proper surface - a bit cut up in places, and a few cattle grids, but its grand. You'd be fine going up the road - I doubt there'd be any issue once you stuck to that and didn't worry any sheep!

The horseshoe valley has superb views - well worth a visit.

ran a 10k there years ago, seriously tough run , then in the middle of it a farmer decided to take a couple of hundred sheep out onto the road, during the effin race..
anyway . il probably park the car down on the main road somewhere and cycle up around the valley before or after the climb

woody1 wrote: »

ran a 10k there years ago, seriously tough run , then in the middle of it a farmer decided to take a couple of hundred sheep out onto the road, during the effin race..
anyway . il probably park the car down on the main road somewhere and cycle up around the valley before or after the climb

Henrys bar and restaurant is a handy spot to park up and then cycle to Gleniff Horseshoe/Truskmore. It's just under 10km, nice and flat to get the legs warmed up!
Some steep ramps in Gleniff Horseshoe before you get to the gate to Truskmore itself.

TomTomTim wrote: »

Truskmore is the toughest I've tried. I was forced off the bike on two occasions due to the pure brutality of it all. It doesn't help that the toughest gradient is in the last stretch of proper climbing. I real need to try and do it again without coming off the bike.

I naively gave it a go when I wasn't very fit, got up about 1km in bits and turned back.
Next time I successfully got up it was after a few summer of months of solid cycling - it's a brute but great views up there on a nice day!

mcgratheoin wrote: »

It was used for the national hill climb championships at one stage. I only ask because it's the only one of the private roads on the spreadsheet that has a big "PRIVATE" written alongside it.

Unlikely I'll be up that neck of the woods anyway

That private road is different to others which I cycled. It crosses someone's farm, who I was told owns the land.

Anyway, I went there I asked the farmer/owner whether he'd let me cycle up and he said no (for insurance purposes he said) but let me drive up to the top on my car! Odd! In fairness to him, it was super windy that day and it would have been pretty tricky descend.

The private road is all concrete and pretty steep. It is not constant, does have some rests and even a small descend. Some of the ramps looked well over 15%, specially on the corners. I'd also say grip on the wet must be pretty hard on that smooth concrete.

Fratello wrote: »

https://strava.app.link/Wwhr41VkZ9

Sort of road / track up Seefin Mountain to a TV mast. Near Kilbrien in Waterford.

It's on my to do list. Not the hardest but interesting looking.

Highest peak in Monavullaghs and 2nd highest in Waterford.

I actually cycled to the start point on road bike about 12 months ago while going for a loop. Met an old man who grew up at end of boreen, he had let my uncle leave his horse there when he worked for the council in the 60s.

My uncle them "commutted" by bike for a few weeks. Pretty honest 35km round trip commute on a high nelly.

Soft lads were not as plentiful in the 60's I guess!

Really stunning spot especially in good weather

hollowlands wrote: »

Yeah I got the same story from him. He doesn't mind people driving or walking it, but no bikes. Very annoying because I regularly cycle around there. Have to make do with Grianan and Grainne's Gap for climbing

There are also multiple gates which would make it very annoying if all closed while going up on a bike.

Grianan is a toughie one!

Where is the best place to get a gradient map.

I ride Limerick to gallows hill through Moyross and can't find any maps that match it

Cool I'll have a look at those later on

Revisiting this as I'm in Donegal for a few days and went up here again this morning...

They put a few more windmills up there, and they have paved it further up that when I posted this 2 years ago. They also have a separate gate for walkers/cyclists so no more jumping fences or anything, and the road itself is new, smooth tarmacadam. The gradient though, is absolute torture, 2km @ 12.6%, I had to put the foot down and take a breather before the last 400m with pitches up to 21%

I went as far as it was paved, the road continues to the top but is lust loose chippings and stones. I was too bolloxed to take that on, and was already struggling with slipping tyres when trying to climb out of the saddle on the tar, The segment for the climb to the top looks even worse, 2.35k at 14.3%, that's into top of Mount Leinster territory

Good question. I would not be able to tell you - I've no idea. I may come back to this road in a couple of weeks and test my luck. :-)