Strava KOM on one of Britain’s HARDEST Climbs! // 3km at 14% GRADIENT!!!

[@edlaverack]

One of the hardest climbs in the U.K. and there ain’t many that would disagree. The Cowlyd climb, 3km at almost 14% with nearly 30% gradients is a relentless stretch of tarmac. Here’s the Strava segment - strava.app.link/uorNHjIsmjb Know a climb I need to try? Pop it in the comments!

[@adammorris6348]

Plenty, but they're here in Christchurch NZ

[@haveagoharry4999]

Savage strength, my knees are hurting just watching those gradient changes. It's a shame the camera doesn't show how steep that climb actually is in places, mega effort Ed.

[@tonystrange7224]

You know a climb is steep when there are Grit bins at the side of the road 😀 great video and commentary Ed

[@simon_mlyx]

Pleasure to meet and ride back with you for a bit after to TTT today! Another cracking video as always

[@edlaverack]

Thanks for coming over and saying HI Simon!

[@peterparkingmeter4764]

Good video,Simon Warren gave this an 11/10 so must be good,well done for blasting up it you made it look easy.Definitely on my radar

[@edlaverack]

Simon told me it was mental. Worth doing though!

[@lorddilego6805]

Oof, what a climb! I can't believe you did even the steepest parts in the same gear. I guess that's what being able to casually hold 400W is like. xD We need to get you to North Wales more often for these regional KOM excursions. :P One con though, these North Wales hill climbers really need to stop at the bathroom before attempting it. The state of that road in places... Better not have rolled that bike indoors without washing the tires off first, Ed. ^^'

[@mrt.7146]

That's some Radio Tower IRL climbing right there :-) And yes - fancy a return and re-shooting please :-)

[@alanseim9801]

Man that is an amazing climb with tons of scenic and technical variety! Well played sir!

[@johnevans8353]

Grate effort Ed, impressive spead.

[@stevenfreeman7798]

Brilliant video Ed. Would love to see the true gradient if possible. Definitely an evil climb well done incredible performance.

[@simonrees776]

Cracking Vid Edd think I'll give this one a miss next time I'm up North. Or until I lose 2 stone. 😂😂😂😂😂

[@nicksidell4797]

Nice one Ed well done 👍

[@kialjackson6593]

Well done on this climb👍👌

[@nickbrownbill3413]

Top quality content as ever Ed. Since watching this hill climb series I've been trying the more power on steeper sections, micro recovery on shallower sections up my local climbs and been getting some great (personal) results with it. I'll never be KOMming top 100 climbs but still it helps a lot. Great tip I'd have never known if not for your content.

[@ad9898]

Top content Ed.

[@Spikey_Mikey]

30% and you still keep your cadence up👍 looks like an epic climb

[@SteveNinetyski]

Awesome. I'd be interested to see you try Blch y Groes if you haven't already. I remember riding it as an 11 or 12 year old on an event called Wild Wales back in the late 90's. I have fond memories of how steep it was...25% for parts if I remember correctly.

[@SteveNinetyski]

Haha I just googled it and see you have the KOM. How did this climb compare to that climb out of interest?

[@martinandrews2860]

Nice one Ed. Sure I saw a 31 pc gradient for a short while in that. Don’t know what gear ratio I would need in order to not grind to a halt at that point but whatever gear ratio I would reference would be for my Landy winch not for my bike……..

[@stuartmclean3843]

Reminds me of Mende or Mont Jalabert whatever you want to call it in Tour de France

[@dougsmith17]

Very interesting. Thks.

[@kevstephen9393]

Absolutely flying m8

[@abedfo88]

Those hairpins through the trees are majestic.

[@jonathanbirch3679]

Gems cafe at the bottom of the hill is a must for coffee and cake 👍

[@glennicol1361]

Great stuff!

[@tednruth453]

Hadn't heard of this, looks Brill ! Have you explored the Lake District much? Hardknott, Wrynose, Kirkstone etc

[@edlaverack]

Havent done any of those, people tell me I need to though!

[@tednruth453]

Then there's always the Fred Whitton 👍

[@paulwong4946]

please tell us more tips about climbing faster. Short and Long climbs.

[@johndc498]

Great video - awesome climb. What camera editing tool to overlay power onto video please .

[@edlaverack]

The power overlay is done with the Garmin VIRB software

[@matthewbird2678]

I tried that a couple of years ago and it’s just relentless and brutal. Harder than Hardknott in my opinion. Another really nasty one is in Llangollen - “Gwernant”. Ed - I’d be interested in knowing which climbs you think are worse than The Cowlyd? I dread to think!

[@beeble2003]

5:52 Cattle grid to keep the mountain goats out of town?

[@derekevans1932]

Ed - have you looked at Strava for this recently - someone with the surname Feather had a go 1st May 2023 and you are still KOM as he is 23s behind. Hope he messaged you.

[@edlaverack]

No message, but I did see!

[@luxsasha]

haha looks super flat and even a bit of a downhill in certain sections. Solid power. Do you find the low cadence due to the really steep hills impacting your total time? So if you had super low gearing and were able to spin 90 but still at 400W+ that you’d do better overall power?

[@edlaverack]

Doesn't bother me too much, the climb is still short, if it was over 30min, that's where having that larger gear range would be more useful

[@jacobet11]

You may have covered this before, what page do have on your wahoo Do you have the live segment as mentioned but do you also have speed and power ? Also were you wearing long sleeves Cheers graham ( my son's account I'm old I'm not allowed one)

[@edlaverack]

If you search my name and “my bike computer data fields” you should find my video 😃

[@ethangodridge6833]

Should have this as the national hill climb championship course one day.

[@tunaficiency]

Taking a minute out of Dan evans unbelievable, have you tried allt y gwernant in Llangollen or church street up from glyn ceiriog both super steep not as long as this though about 1 mile and up to 25%

[@edlaverack]

I'll defo try them soon!

[@KOMHuntTV]

3:28 I fancy that

[@nearlee2000]

It's a great climb, it was everested 2 years ago 🥵

[@xandershawvlog]

That made me throw up in my mouth a bit. ;)

[@MrSimplesimon007]

The road to Applecross around Loch Kishorn is a lengthy thing and you climb from sea level, I think it's around 5 miles long, yes miles not klm.

[@edlaverack]

😍😍

[@GiorgioCoppolaCycling]

30% @ points and GoPro still making it look fairly flat 😂 one hell of an effort though 🙌

[@edlaverack]

Tell me bout it! GoPro, fix this😂

[@beeble2003]

Yeah, wide-angle lenses make it hard to judge things like that. You'll also notice that even when he slows down to 7km/h, the sides of the road still look like they're flying past. Another example of the weird perspective.

[@daniboi4067]

I've been on climbs at 18%+ Avg at 50+Miles left to go on the climb 😅

[@tiiimmmaaayyyy3616]

I've been pronouncing Betsee Co Ed wrong my whole life! :)

[@edlaverack]

Easily done!

[@lorddilego6805]

First Edit: Might've missed the insta livestream earlier today, but I'm on fire when it comes to first comments :D

[@dewindoethdwl2798]

Don’t do it, don’t do it …… oh, too late it’s in your mind. You’ll have to have a go now 😎

[@richardnewton3358]

Made it look ridiculously easy

[@edlaverack]

Inside my head, it aint lol

[@252Scooby]

This was the hardest climb until mr 100 climbs said he found a new one in Wales “the afon ddu” I think it is , yet there it no footage of the climb on KZbin yet

[@patthewoodboy]

you going to need a lower gear , brutal . 🙂