The Beacon Message Board

Matthew (who some of you may have met) will be heading off to Assen again this year. Target (being small and light) is the VAMberg stage, allegedly up a hill in Drenthe made entirely of household rubbish.

Web site showing the climb is here:
https://climbfinder.com/en/climbs/vam-berg#p

Is there anywhere similar near Birmingham, please? For those that don't want to follow the link, it is a 34m climb over 350m, maximum gradient of 12%, but above 10% for over 50% of the climb.

Have looked at Windwood Heath Road and Hagley Wood Road, both have the necessary steepness, but climb almost 100m, with no option of chickening out half way up. Icknield Street it is claimed maxes out at 8%, Gay Hill only 7.5%.

Any thoughts?

Try the Gt Farley Wood climb as used for Beacon club championships.Initial steep part,easy middle and steep last equals good interval training.Do it full bore,after the top turn right to return to bottom and repeat for a total of 6 laps.Do it several times a week. This worked well for club members Colin Purdy and myself 50+ years ago--and I was over 6ft and 12 stones! Although this is longer than your proposed event what you need to do is improve your arm and leg strength , VO2 max and watts/kg.This regime will!

Bear Hill/Scarfield Hill out of Alvechurch could be worth checking out. The average gradient's a bit less than you're looking for, but there might be a section that fits the bill and it's easier to stop and turn around than Winwood Heath Road. Here's the whole thing, but the steeper part is the bit beyond the railway station: https://www.strava.com/segments/824883.

The length and profile of Weatheroak Hill has some similarities, from the pub car park entrance up to where it starts to level off just before the top, apart from it doesn't ease off and kick up again. I think you're doing Icknield St a bit of an injustice too, it feels steeper than Weatheroak to me for approx 100m. Gravel Pit Lane at Rowney Green has about 200m which is around 10-15% and is similar in that the steepest section is towards the bottom.

I was intrigued by this post, since I've cycled in Drenthe a number of times, and can't recall ever seeing a gradient there more challenging than the gentle ramps you get where a minor road bridge crosses a river, motorway or railway. But yes, indeed, it turns out that VAM is a waste processing company, and this 'range of hills' is a former dump. I suppose you can compare it to the repurposed slag heaps in a few parts of this country near former coal mines. The bike path laid at VAM appears to snake around quite a bit and to undulate quite a bit. The surface looks pristine.

Published gradients can be very misleading. No route planner I have ever used has consistently given gradients that match either what the published data on a hill says, or what the road signs say. That makes it very difficult if you are comparing, say, a gradient stated in the published data on Hill A and a gradient you have measured on a route planner for Hill B.

I've tried measuring various sections of the VAM bike path using Ride With GPS, and I can't find a 350m section that RwGPS thinks is more than maybe 5 or 6 per cent. Of course, it may very well be that the info you've been given is right, and RwGPS is wrong. But it suggests to me that you need to be looking for a hill that RwGPS (or similar route planner) thinks is less than 10%. Especially given the immaculate surface at VAM, which will make climbing feel easier than on a hill of a similar gradient on a grotty back lane at home. (Remember how the times fell at Great Farley Wood when they resurfaced it?)

I'm guessing that the hill will be tackled as part of a circuit, potentially more than once? If so, I think I'd be looking to find a short circuit where Matt can simulate making a big effort of maybe one or two minutes during and/or at the end of a longer ride done at a brisk pace. I'm inclined to think that replicating the context of the effort is more important than exactly matching the length and gradient of the hill. What about somewhere in the Tanworth area, including Tom Hill?

Thank you for your advice, everyone. Will look into those options.

And yes, the hill will be tackled several times (6 or more), so we will be looking for repeats and short recovery between.

Gradients have come from the link that I sent, but note your comment about them not being as advertised.

Of course there is Lea End Lane! 60m of climbing, signed as 14%, but RidewithGPS has it just over 10%. Can be included in a loop with Wast Hills Lane.

We were there last night. I managed 3 laps, he did the hill one more time. Only problem is that Redhill Road is a bit hairy. Had one incident where a car coming towards us gave a load blast on the horn as the car behind tried to overtake.