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Bit of a tale of woe this, no real point to this post other than looking for people who have also failed miserably to ride to the top.
I generally fancy myself as a reasonably competent climber, as much as anyone living and riding in Surrey can be at least. I’ve just gotten back from a family holiday in Lake Garda, as I often do, I hired a bike for a day to go out and see the local area. I had hoped to visit Stelvio Pass, but the chap in the bike shop pointed out it was 130km away and at least a couple of hours by car – so that plan was out.
He rather helpfully suggested Mount Baldo, which is on the eastern side of the lake – just north of Garda itself. He enquired about my fitness levels; to which I responded they are pretty good (I guess that means something different to an Italian cyclist who lives in the Alps..)
He suggested I ride around to Assenza, and then head up from there to Prada. What I should have done was to have scouted out the climb on the net (and then chosen to ride up from Garda which was twice the distance but half the gradient), what I did do was go out for a Pizza and beer(s) before getting up early the next day to head out for a ride.
Once I got to Assenza I probably should have listened to the voice in my head that pointed out it looked a bit steep. I definately should have heeded the sign once leaving Assenza, which stated it was a “black” climb, with gradients of 12-20% for 10km. I started up anyway, I was there already and didn’t have the time to dramatically alter my route. The first km wasn’t too awful, a mix of steep stuff and some spinny bits, but then the hairpins started.
For those of you who know the Surrey hills well; there are a couple of fairly well known nasty climbs which will get 95% of people out of the saddle crawling up, White Down and Crooknorth. Those climbs are 14% or so and go on for maybe 3-400m; this climb (https://www.strava.com/segments/4169471) was similar, albeit over 5km long…
The road ramped up sharply and I ended up doing the usual out of the saddle hauling the bike up the hill. I got to the second hairpin and was already struggling, the sign on the corner said “17°” which I had assumed was the gradient. I struggled on to the next corner, the sign said “16°”. At this point I was on my last legs so I decided to push the bike for a bit, which became rather more than a bit as the gradient ramped up even further and I realised the signs were designating the number of the corners… Rather than the gradient.
All in all I ended up pushing the bike for about 3-4 km up this damn thing, before it finally leveled off in a far more pleasant 5-7% for the final couple of km into Prada. All that pushing didn’t do a great deal for my mood, nor for my cleats which were completely worn away by the rubbish road surface on the ascent. I now found myself riding through a few snowy fields with cleats that wouldn’t engage – looking forward to descending on an unfamiliar bike with little ability to keep my feet on the peddles.
Just to make things interesting, Italy then threw one of its sudden torrential storms into the mix (which of course I was dressed completely inappropriately for). Needless to say a very cold, very wet and extremely careful ride back down the mountain and over to our hotel followed.
I have to say, I’m not sure how anyone gets the fitness to ride up something like that; it was a monstrous climb compared to anything I’ve seen before.
Oh well, I hope this is of use to someone – It’s been cathartic to write at least. Time to go and replace my cleats and find a route to explore tomorrow as Ride London will close off all my usual routes.
Cheers!
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