Adelaide Dirty Dozen???

Hi folks

Been thinking about this for a little while (and bounced some ideas off some of you), but some inspiration from Melbourne's Climbing Cyclist has caused me to explore this idea a little bit further...  He co-organised a social ride last weekend which covered a dozen of the nastiest hills close to Melbourne - see http://theclimbingcyclist.com/the-inaugural-melbourne-dirty-dozen/#... (fantastic website by the way) and had some 50 or so riders participate.  Regroups at the top of each hill, a social atmosphere, and a lot of fun, and about 30 managed to finish.

Basically the Melbourne Dirty Dozen was inspired by the Pittsburgh Dirty Dozen that has been going since 1983 with some 300 riders every year.  12 of the most difficult hills in Pittsburgh and smash them! The Melbourne event contained some 1500m vertical in only 30km of riding....  Brilliant!  And nasty!

I'm trying to see whether there might be some interest in doing something along these lines in Adelaide.  The difficulty being compacting those sort of steep roads required (pitches of a min 10%) into such a small area.  I'm struggling.  So far I have come up with this - http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1187961 - I've got my 12 steep climbs and a central starting point, but it spreads out over 88km in length with about 3300m vertical.  That seems a little extreme to me...or is that what we could / should be aiming for?

Anyone wanting to have a go at it would not have to complete the whole course - there would be no issues with only doing parts of it and meeting up along the way.  Starting and finishing at the Tower Hotel, Magill, the hills in order I have are:

1. Teringie Dve - 0.9km @11.5%

2. Coach Rd - 2.4km @9.8%

3. Haven Rd / Bishop St / Coach Rd / Knox Tce - 1.9km @8.4%

4. Knox Tce - 1.4km @9.4%

5. Kensington Rd - 1.3km @11.5%

6. Ridgeland Dve - approx 1km??? @approx 10% (can anyone confirm?)

7. Woods Hill Rd (Heartbreak Ridge) - 0.8km @8.1%

8. Adelaide-Lobethal Rd (little climb to Burdetts Rd - 0.8km @6%

9. Knotts Hill / Pound Rd - 2.7km @8%

10. Fernhurst Rd / Cherryville Rd - 2.1km @10.8%

11. Corkscrew Rd - 2.5km @8.9%

12. Coachhouse Dve / Woodlands Way - 2.7km @10.1%

I'm just seeing whether there would be any interest in doing something like this for a bit of fun (insert sarcastic comment here...) and if there is interest, comments on improving the route, and anything else you might like to constructively throw in to the mix.

Cheers, Adam

Tags: climbing, event

Views: 2653

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by MARK FERGUSON (SPARTACUS) on May 31, 2012 at 19:54

It's not that far away.

Permalink Reply by Rob (Chewbacca) on May 31, 2012 at 13:52
Mark...torrens hill road is left off the Gorge Road to take you up to Paracombe...about 10 percent for 1.1km.
Permalink Reply by greg looyestyn on May 31, 2012 at 12:25

Can you propose a date?

Permalink Reply by Torsten Bunge on May 31, 2012 at 15:12
Would definitely love to have a crack although I wouldn't be breaking any strava segment records.
Permalink Reply by Adam Williss on May 31, 2012 at 15:30

OK...  Continuing to refine (guess who has a slow workload today....).  Check out the latest route - http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1256749

I have found a "thirteenth" hill that is not gravel (bye bye Blockers for now), and not off the original route.  At the 78km mark (second last hill) the route can head up Tays Rd and onto Kintyre Rd and turn around again.  The hill is about 1km long and hits 10%.  Seems to satisfy the criteria.  Won't be the toughest hill, but it brings total distance down to 90.5km with approx 3459m vertical.

Thoughts?  Once we lock in a route, we can debate when to run this thing!!!

Permalink Reply by Dahondude on May 31, 2012 at 15:37

Lock it in Eddie!

Permalink Reply by snappy_don on May 31, 2012 at 15:48

I'd vote for a spring 'Welcome to the riding season' outing.. It'd give me something to train for during the winter months, and time to save up for a 'climber's cassette' :-/

Permalink Reply by rossmg on May 31, 2012 at 15:57

Haven Rd is dirt

Permalink Reply by Adam Williss on May 31, 2012 at 16:06

Aaaaaaaarrrrgggghhhh! Good thing I'm already bald...  Didn't know that.  Must...keep....tinkering....

Permalink Reply by rossmg on May 31, 2012 at 17:16

I've MtBiked up and then up and up and up - Coach Rd up to the top for the MtBike trails down :-)

Permalink Reply by Matt Brennan on May 31, 2012 at 16:32

Just reading this thread brings a tear to my eye.

Permalink Reply by Adam Williss on May 31, 2012 at 16:48

Hilarity ensues...

Hopefully this is it...  http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1256749

Haven Rd scrapped, but in lieu of that, we can head up Old Nortons then onto Horsnells Gully Rd.  Not a steep hill, but about 3km at an average of around 5-6% (by my dodgy calculations).  It is definitely bitumen, but I haven't ridden in before.  Hopefully that will work and kind of fits in nicely as the second last hill...  I am very keen to make the beast that is Coachhouse / Woodlands Way the final hill.

Final calculations will then be 92.4km with approx 3480m climbing.

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