[cofe]

quick one for all you sexy guys in the skin type lovely stuff and the sexy bikes:

we're looking into publishing a pocket book/guide with 100 british climbing challenges - so famous challenge climbs or climbs on sportives. it would be about £6.99, A6 size, nicely designed with a pic of each climb, some background info and info about the climb, profile of the climb, map and other stuff. 

do you reckon road cats would have much interest in that kind of thing? would be more of an impulse purchase than a 'must-have' guidebook thingy.

any thoughts welcome.

ta.

[SA Chris]

Isn't there anything similar already. I have a small book of scottish mountain bike trails and I'm sure I saw a similar road bike one.

[Palomides]

I wouldn't buy a UK-only col guide, but if you did UK, France, Spain, Italy that'd be another story.

And I'd pay more than 10€ for it.

[cofe]

Isn't there anything similar already. I have a small book of scottish mountain bike trails and I'm sure I saw a similar road bike one.

not aware of anything. are you thinking of the pocket mountains bike scotland books?

[cofe]

I wouldn't buy a UK-only col guide, but if you did UK, France, Spain, Italy that'd be another story.

And I'd pay more than 10€ for it.

interesting. thanks for that.

[SA Chris]

not aware of anything. are you thinking of the pocket mountains bike scotland books?

Is the mountain bike one I have

I though


and


were road biking only, but it seems from the description they are a mix of MTB and road trails.

[fatkid2000]

Roadies will but anything if it looks good.

Look at rapha / rouleur - whether they survive the recession is another matter, but they've made money out of stupidly expensive clothes and books.

http://www.rouleur.cc/virtuemart/menusingleissues?page=shop.browse&category_id=5

The rouleur annuals have some great photos in.

Mind you are there really 100 great climbs in the UK? Most of the hills are too short to be noteworthy.

[cofe]

cheers.

i'm informed many hills are quite short, but many make up for it by being crazy steep - like some of the surrey/kent ones.

[SA Chris]

Assume Bealach na Ba will be in. Tiring just driving up it.

[webbo]

i don't know any of my cycling mates who have ever bought a book on road  routes.when out on the road you just want to ride you don't want to be stopping to look at a map/guide.
i've planned routes when in france from just looking at the map and even though i carried it me with never needed to look at it.

[Percy B]

I have a nice 'coffee table' type book on the classic Tour climbs - its exactly what you'd expect...nice photos, a bit of spiel, a bit of tech shizzle (average gradient, length, where to start, finish, advice on gear ratios, etc, etc). However, fundamentally this is a book describing enduro stamina plods.

British road climbs are a different kettle of fish. Mostly short, viscious affairs, but with a wealth of spicy tales behind many of them. I think it could be a good idea for a book - like extreme rock, only in a smaller format with info on the climbs, some nice photos and a bit of technical info. For those who can't think of any significant road climbs in the UK, you're not trying hard enough. Hardnott, Whinnats, Rosedale Bank Chimney (1 in 3, anybody?!?), Bealach na Ba, etc. etc.

Its a niche market, but done probably you'd probably discover that the British roadie niche is quite large and has deep pockets....

As Webbo said, this type of book wouldn't get used on the road, but I think it would probably be used at home to plan rides. The difference being that the big cols in France are marked on the maps so you don't need extra info on where the rides go, whereas many smaller British climbs are not named on a lot of OS maps, or there is some good local knowledge that makes things easier.

[cofe]

British road climbs are a different kettle of fish. Mostly short, viscious affairs, but with a wealth of spicy tales behind many of them. I think it could be a good idea for a book - like extreme rock, only in a smaller format with info on the climbs, some nice photos and a bit of technical info. For those who can't think of any significant road climbs in the UK, you're not trying hard enough. Hardnott, Whinnats, Rosedale Bank Chimney (1 in 3, anybody?!?), Bealach na Ba, etc. etc.

rosedale has a sign at the top asking cyclists to dismount.     Technical info is a good point - gears etc.

As Webbo said, this type of book wouldn't get used on the road, but I think it would probably be used at home to plan rides. The difference being that the big cols in France are marked on the maps so you don't need extra info on where the rides go, whereas many smaller British climbs are not named on a lot of OS maps, or there is some good local knowledge that makes things easier.

wouldn't expect people to carry it on the bike but it might serve as inspiration. i think the format we've been approached with could be expanded. i don't road ride but i'd still be interested in background stuff on the climb, and anecdotes like when Johnny Spandex did such-and-such in 1976 blah blah blah.

we'd avoid coffee table books, ver few of them are really $ucce$$ful.

thanks for comments so far.

[webbo]

cycling weekly do or used to do series on the famous and not so famous training rides which they gave some target times/average speeds.i could imagine that people might buy a book like this so they could tick off whos times they beat.however if its a block head wind and pissing down you won't give shit how fast they did it or if they were wearing their wifes underwear at the time.

[Yossarian]

I wouldn't carry an MTB guide or a road guide with me, but I'd buy both (and then stick a photocopy in my pocket...)

I reckon a book of classic hill road routes would be great.  I went to Devon a while back for a week's road riding, and if I'd had a book full of good routes then I'm sure I would've had an even better time.  When you want to ride somewhere that you don't know really well it's nice to have the benefit of someone else's experience I reckon.

For example, there was a road out of Combe Martin that should've had three Pantani EPO syringe symbols for viciousness...

[Percy B]

rosedale has a sign at the top asking cyclists to dismount.     Technical info is a good point - gears etc.

Apparently, on the recent 'Boggle Hole Smackdown' (the Planet X team weekend) Hywel Davis rode up Rosedale Bank in the big ring for a bet 
Anybody who can ride up a 1 in 3 hill with a standard 53 tooth chainring is a true monster!

[Mark Lloyd]

Looks like you've been beaten to it
http://www.roadcyclinguk.com/gear-news/100-greatest-cycling-climbs-book/5151.html

[jfw]

what about by region?

so peak, dales, lakes, etc (or northern/ southern)

What about for each climb maybe 3 lengths of route (with a start point if people have driven there??)

or link up routes??

The reason I say by region is that if you're not going for the coffee table market - i would guess people are more likely to want to tick things they can get to. (ie differenc between hard rock -coffee table, uk wide vs selective local climbing guide)

[cofe]

Looks like you've been beaten to it
http://www.roadcyclinguk.com/gear-news/100-greatest-cycling-climbs-book/5151.html

guess why i asked the original question...

[Johnny Brown]

Simon Clark "If you don't do it Sky Frances Lincoln will."

Cofe "I'll live with that."

SC "Ah lets forget about all this. Do you like cheese?"

[cofe]

incidentally, someone pitched 'Arm wrestling with Chas and Dave' to us this morning.

[slackline]

incidentally, someone pitched 'Arm wrestling with Chas and Dave' to us this morning.

That'll be a tough one now they've gone separate ways (I'm sure they'll do a reunion tour when they need some more cash though).

[cofe]

but we'll sell fuckloads when they try to kill one another.

[Percy B]

Obviously a bit off-topic (the topic seemingly being finding ways to line Vertabrate Graphics already bulging pockets ) but I've just read this - it was very good

http://www.rouleur.cc/le-metier

[fatdoc]

being a shite roadie with no knowledge as opposed to a mediocre mtber with a fair idea where to go and having used the V-graphics MTB books when in areas where I have little knowledge (the lakes) I'd say this is a winner.... but I suggest a different tack..

The road ability on here is high, very high.

Take it down a level ( to a bigger audience). Look at the sportives... they have gone mental in popularity.. for every sportive rider there's a dozen on the road every weekend in summer.. look at the roads in the peak!!

What about a broken down * best bits of XXX sportive* graphical A6 book to peruse when on holiday in the yorks moors / lakes / peak / Devon etc... and then nip off for a 3 hours jaunt covering the best bits while the family are on beach? The rider gets to sample a classic route ( to which he could then aspire to for a sportive) and the family don't lose the rider for the whole day.. BOOM. New niche book.