My tips – Top 100 Climbs – make your ride count.
I have, through bitter experience, learnt a few harsh lessons about ‘bagging’ The Top 100 Climbs.
It is easy to overlook the plain and obvious steps to ride a segment successfully on the first attempt.
1- If you have the book and the app, then I suggest you rely on the app. In one instance, a segment route in the book was wrong.
This may not be too much of an issue if you are local, but if you need to make a 550Km detour to correct it, then it is.
Developers can easily update apps if they find mistakes, but once a book is published, it ends there.
Apps also integrate with maps.
Map referencing is also a great resource as you can satellite view the start and end points for your own re-assurance.
Bottom line – Apps rule.
2 – I prefer to plot a segment route using “Ridewithgps” and meticulously check it.
I will also check the route I have plotted with Veloviewer.
From Veloviewer, I can see other rides that have been successful and compare. When plotting a route, make sure you start your route before start point and after the end point.
I normally allow 100metres.
3 – Once plotted, I then download for my Garmin.
4 – When I am near the start point, I will confirm my exact position with the app on my phone.
5 – To log my ride, I will use both my Garmin bike computer and my Fenix watch.
I have occasionally had issues with the bike computer and the watch record has saved me.
6 – When I pass the end point, I will stop and check my position with the phone app.
I do not stop the bike computer but sometimes I might stop the watch for confirmation if I have some doubts.
7 – I switch the bike computer off after I have descended.
8 – Upload to Strava and confirm.
It might be a tough ask but if something has gone wrong, and it is better to know now and then re-ride rather than return another day, particularly if you travelled for this segment.
9 – I prefer not to rely on a phone for the route because phone signals can be notoriously unreliable in mountains and remote areas.
Signal strength can also be an issue when trying to upload or log onto Strava, which means having to trust yourself that you did it.
10 – Once I am satisfied that I logged the ride on Strava and Veloviewer, I will delete the watch version from my activities.
The chances are that they will report the segment details differently and I prefer to use my bike computer as the reference.
All the things are obvious, and you knew them anyway, but as I already mentioned, it is easy to overlook them.
Get bagging those Top 100 Climbs!