Hill climbing in centurion/midrand

[bluewhite]

Hi

 

I’ve been given an entry to do the Swiss epic in August . From what I’ve read it’s 350km over 5 days with 12000m of climbing . I stay in an area where there’s no hills and was wondering if anybody knows of any monster hills to climb in the midrand centurion region

[PieterJvR]

Depends on what you classify as monster hills 

 

Nothing really long, few short steep hills - mostly on tar...  Either way you going to have to do a few repeats...  Longest hill close by is probably Klapperkop, otherwise head west and go over Breedt's Nek a few times (very boring though but good exercise especially from the Shebeen side).  Haven't been there in a few months but probably a bit washed out with the amount of rain in the last few weeks, so a bit more of a challenge.

 

Midrand is also not flat, but nothing major in elevation - so depends on how fast you go I guess how hard it will be.

 

Otherwise the east or Pretoria can also be used, once again doing a few repeats - but Solomon Mahlangu, Atterbury extension, Saints, WTF and Nkwe in a combination can help with hill training.

[FirstV8]

I have lived a trained on the east rand ( very flat ) for over 40 years so have never had the luxury of good hills to climb . We have always treated any elevation in the road as Allpe d'Huez and attack it from the bottom every time . When it came to races i never battled on the higher and longer climbs . If you have the opportunity to go ride high and long climbs and gauge your fitness on them it helps .

[RobertWhitehead]

Here's some hills in the East / Waterkloof area. I tried to break 2000m in the shortest distance without too many repeats. 

 

https://www.strava.com/activities/466400283 

 

PS. by doing the whole Rubenstein towards Solomon, back all the way to Blouhaak and then left onto Rugters will give you around 300m over (if memory serves) 7-11km. By repeating it about 4 times will give you 900m+ in under 40km. 

 

Good luck with the race

[RABUBI]

take a long weekend and go do this

https://www.swartberg100.com/the-routes.html

[Milosh]

https://www.strava.com/segments/3328563 Near copperleaf estate 

[rockrider]

Give Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve near Heidelberg a try. Not very close to Midrand, but it's great hillclimb training.

[Rowl]

Here's some hills in the East / Waterkloof area. I tried to break 2000m in the shortest distance without too many repeats. 

 

https://www.strava.com/activities/466400283 

 

PS. by doing the whole Rubenstein towards Solomon, back all the way to Blouhaak and then left onto Rugters will give you around 300m over (if memory serves) 7-11km. By repeating it about 4 times will give you 900m+ in under 40km. 

 

Good luck with the race

 

Howsit Robert, would like to give this a go.

But when opening Strava says the activity could not be found?

[Dusty]

Norfolk Road in Midrand is the best hill in that area for hill repeats.

[RobertWhitehead]

****, I see that now. Sorry about that! 

 

Let me try to get this sorted. . . . . . . . . . . 

 

Try this one: https://www.strava.com/activities/466400283 

 

If it does not work, I've plotted a route as well: https://www.strava.com/routes/5240266 

 

Howsit Robert, would like to give this a go.

But when opening Strava says the activity could not be found?

[Rowl]

Thanks!

 

Edit: Wowsers, well done on that ride????

[RobertWhitehead]

It was some hard work on a MTB but it was a good session. I have found that what the elevation on the road ends up being and what Strava says when plotting a route sometimes differs by around 150-200m over the total distance.

 

The first time I plotted a route it came to something like 2080m over 75-80km, I then went out and rode the exact same route only to find that I only climbed 1897m. You could just imagine how annoyed I was missing the 2000m by 103m  . 

 

If you do have a Garmin or Polar or whatever that shows elevation (I only had my phone back in the day) you'll see when you break 2000m  .

 

Here's another route which is slightly longer with slightly more climbing 

https://www.strava.com/routes/3700630 

 

 

Thanks!

Edit: Wowsers, well done on that ride

[Sydd]

It was some hard work on a MTB but it was a good session. I have found that what the elevation on the road ends up being and what Strava says when plotting a route sometimes differs by around 150-200m over the total distance.

 

The first time I plotted a route it came to something like 2080m over 75-80km, I then went out and rode the exact same route only to find that I only climbed 1897m. You could just imagine how annoyed I was missing the 2000m by 103m  . 

 

If you do have a Garmin or Polar or whatever that shows elevation (I only had my phone back in the day) you'll see when you break 2000m  .

 

Here's another route which is slightly longer with slightly more climbing 

https://www.strava.com/routes/3700630 

 

Give Open Runner a try for plotting routes and calculating gradient etc. It's a bit more accurate and has some other cool features (plotting weather and wind against the route for a particular day etc which is useful for preparing for a race)

 

As I recall, you can also search for other uploaded/plotted routes on there too. 

[Rowl]

It was some hard work on a MTB but it was a good session. I have found that what the elevation on the road ends up being and what Strava says when plotting a route sometimes differs by around 150-200m over the total distance.

 

The first time I plotted a route it came to something like 2080m over 75-80km, I then went out and rode the exact same route only to find that I only climbed 1897m. You could just imagine how annoyed I was missing the 2000m by 103m  . 

 

If you do have a Garmin or Polar or whatever that shows elevation (I only had my phone back in the day) you'll see when you break 2000m  .

 

Here's another route which is slightly longer with slightly more climbing 

https://www.strava.com/routes/3700630 

 

Are you like a pro or something?!

 

Some nice interval training there.  I've entered the Swartberg GF and would like to nail the climbing. 

[Mokgaga'a mmakubela!]

Give Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve near Heidelberg a try. Not very close to Midrand, but it's great hillclimb training.

 

what this man said and +1000

[Mokgaga'a mmakubela!]

i commute from woodmead to eco park (centurion). there are some hills along R101 but you need MTB due to lack of decent shoulder lane

 

good luck with the race